Elden Ring — Capturing, Crushing and Captivating the Hearts of 20,000,000
A harsh gale whips through my hair as I stand atop the battlements of a cold, grey castle. To my right, crenellations provide pitiful protection against the thousand-foot drop into a lethal marsh, and on my left is an equally deadly fall into an exposed courtyard. The only way forward is through. I tighten my grip on the five-foot long, razor sharp claymore resting on my shoulder, the only thing standing between me and certain death. It’s saved my life countless times, and failed countless more, but it’s all I’ve got. A heavy clank ahead of me signals the arrival of my adversary — a banished knight, standing taller than any commoner in the Lands Between, hefting a halberd with the casual confidence that comes from a life of glorious victory. We square off. He leaps into the sky, borrowing the strength of the very gale trying to push me off the wall, and the battle begins. It’s an elegant dance, choreographed by hundreds of practices, as we swing and dodge back and forth atop the battlements, until I make the fatal mistake of getting too greedy and swinging my sword in for the final blow. He sees it from a mile away, and drives the halberd straight through my chest. I die with a smile on my face, safe in the reassurance that I’ll have the last laugh next time we dance. YOU DIED. I set down the controller and have a stretch, ready for the next round. This is Elden Ring, the latest rock-hard action RPG from the mind of Hidetaka Miyazaki and From Software, the legendary creators of the Dark Souls trilogy, and its brutal, unforgiving, addicting combat has captured the minds, hearts, and wallets of millions around the world. But what is it about this game that made it sell double the copies in ¼ of the time of From Software’s previous release?
Let’s have a look at the past releases of Japanese developer From Software, and the trail their games have blazed for the worldwide gaming community. A lot of the staples of modern soulslike games can be found in their first release, King’s Field, which hit the PlayStation in 1995 and refused to take it easy on players (Ciolek.) This early foray into action RPGs ticked most of the boxes — A dark setting, sharp learning curve, and punishing real-time action combat. But it wasn’t exactly a hit with gamers of the ‘90s… The first game never even made it to North America, and sequels King’s Field II and III couldn’t stand up to the competition from other popular Japanese RPG’s like Final Fantasy. After the King’s Field games ran their course, From worked on the Armored Core series of mecha action games from the late ’90s until the fateful release of Demon’s Souls in 2009. Led by Hidetaka Miyazaki, this game is often heralded as the first true soulsborne game, pioneering almost every mechanic that From Software uses to this very day. While the initial reaction was bad, fans quickly saw the appeal in the game’s intangibly satisfying combat and gameplay, and they couldn’t get enough. The release of Dark Souls in 2011 cemented From Software’s reputation, and the rest, as they say, is history.
While they were popular, and received immense critical acclaim, the Souls games and spiritual successors Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice were really polarizing. People either loved them to death or hated the very idea of a game that wants you to die. The tremendous physicality and exquisite timing of the combat system garnered diehard fans, but some people just bounced off (Welsh.) What changed, then? Elden Ring sold 20,000,000 copies in a single year, that’s twice as many sales as the previous FromSoft game (Dark Souls III) got in four years. I think it all comes down to how friendly Elden Ring is to new players. It expertly blends the stupendous combat of the previous Souls games with an amazingly in-depth open world, along the lines of wildly popular RPG’s like Breath of the Wild, so they’re already appealing to an entirely new group of RPG fans. There’s never a point in Elden Ring where players are at a loss for things to do (Saltzman.) If somebody’s stuck on a boss, they can go explore, level up, find a new weapon, and come back stronger and more skilled to push forward. That freedom also extends to the combat system, where weapons can be customized with interchangeable unique attacks, builds can be changed at the drop of a hat, and magic is more intuitive and spectacular than ever. Stealth gameplay, jumping, and area verticality also make a return from Sekiro, adding an entirely new dimension to most encounters.
Hearing why critics and reviewers like this game is all well and good, but I want to close this paper with a little segment about why I love Elden Ring so much, and why I chose to write this article about it. First of all, let me say that I am a relatively new convert to the Soulsborne(kiro)(ring) games! I’ve always been fascinated with them, and wanted to have a go, but I never had the chance until I picked up the Demon’s Souls remake last summer. I was instantly enchanted by the combat, and since then, I’ve never been afraid to challenge myself a bit and bang my head up against that wall. And I can’t even describe it well… Every single detail feels like it matters, and while it initially seems unfair, the timing and weight of every action just feels so perfectly handcrafted. Of course, being the first game in the series, Demon’s Souls had a fair bit of jank. Healing items were consumable, which means if you run out during a boss fight, you have to kill enemies to farm or buy more, which I felt ran directly against the whole point of the game, which is that death is meaningless and you can try anything until you get it right. Then, I got my first taste of Elden Ring and never looked back… It took everything I loved about Demon’s Souls, that captivating combat system and darkly beautiful world design, and elegantly smashed it together with the open world RPG’s I love so much, like Dragon Age Inquisition and Witcher 3 to form this uniquely incredible experience.
Elden Ring is the Avengers of modern RPG’s. It was a bold idea, finally combining elements of popular role-playing games into one seamless experience. Critics and longtime Soulsborne veterans were satisfied with the latest installment from From and Miyazaki, and new players were welcomed by some innovative concessions that never detracted from the intrinsic difficulty. This game is a perfect example of how something classic can be revitalized and reworked to include the next generation.
Works Cited.
Ciolek, Todd. “The History of From Software.” IGN, 16 Mar 2015, www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/16/the-history-of-from-software. Accessed 2 March 2023.
Park, Gene. “The Souls games by FromSoftware ranked, including ‘Elden Ring.’” The Washington Post, 26 Apr, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/04/26/every-dark-souls-game-ranked-elden-ring. Accessed 2 March 2023.
Saltzman, Mitchell. “Elden Ring Review” IGN, 23 Feb, 2022, www.ign.com/articles/elden-ring-review. Accessed 2 March 2023.
Tassi, Paul. “One Year Later, ‘Elden Ring’ Announces 20 Million Copies Sold.” Forbes, 22 Feb, 2023, www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/02/22/one-year-later-elden-ring-announces-20-million-copies-sold. Accessed 2 March 2023.
Welsh, Oli. “Dark Souls.” Eurogamer, 3 Oct, 2011, www.eurogamer.net/dark-souls-review. Accessed 2 March 2023.
