reed187

Based on 83 hours thus far, I would not recommend getting this game at full price and would wait for a big sale before buying it. This game is soulless. It has no character of its own and it is an uninspired and blatant rip off of other popular games. It's a game for social media clips and for maladapted anime nerds that obsess over form over substance and for casuals that just enjoy the bare minimum as long as it is pretty. It has no depth. The world feels absolutely artificial and perhaps that's purposeful because it serves no other purpose other than to facilitate the power fantasy which this game really is all about. This game is entirely about a power fantasy and about repetitive grind to expand the power fantasy. Once you accept that, it can be somewhat fun and engaging--you get more powerful and then can do more things. But is it immersive? Not at all. There's really nothing to pull you in. It feels very "video gamey" and doesn't hide the fact--e.g., when you summon your horse, instead of running in from some unseen location like in Witcher 3 or KCD2, it literally just appears magically in front of you in an animation made to look like pixels being generated/rendered out of nothingness, reminding you that you are playing a video game. Exploration is NOT good and that's the biggest lie about this game. Exploration in good open world RPGs is about finding new locations, factions, characters that are hand-crafted and well-developed with interesting dialogue, lore, personalization etc. This has none of that. You might encounter a new area or village, but there's NOTHING to be found there--at most, it will be some mobs or a boss, a puzzle, and then possibly some items/resources to farm, it's all about the grind and increasing your power. However, it is undoubtedly a visually stunning and beautiful game. For that one reason, it has raised the bar for games. Also, the sheer visual beauty and detail of the game does help immerse you in the game--if you forget that the world provides zero engaging writing/narrative/worldbuilding on its own, and you use your imagination, the graphics can almost make you feel like you are playing something truly special for a little while. For that reason, it can be a fun game to just pick up and play for some quick grind here and there, until you hit that "wall" and realize you aren't really provided anything to do other than grind for more resources etc. TLDR: it's a fun power fantasy sandbox geared for social media clips, kids, and adult dweebs that still obsess over one-dimensional anime-esque power maxxing instead of enjoying mature storytelling with nuance etc., but otherwise it's a mediocre game that has no business being compared to actual masterpieces like Witcher 3, RDR2, KCD2 etc. As a sandbox to mess around in and play with some of the mechanics, it can provide some casual fun. Buy it on a 50% sale if you're truly interested.

if you like weird fiction that makes you think, e.g. Twin Peaks, X-Files, the Endless etc. this is the game for you. If you like basic games with basic stories and themes, you may not like this at all. But this is a masterpiece that pushes the boundaries of game design.

This game made me laugh. It made me think. It made me sad. A true work of art.

Just kind of boring and monotonous. If you've never played a souls game, or you're a souls-fanatic that can never get enough of the same formula, then you'll probably like this game a lot. Otherwise, it's essentially a uninspired repetition of the same ol' that From Software has been doing for over a decade now. The setting is the same boring, vague Euro-medieval high-fantasy world but without any actually intriguing lore or world-building; the gameplay is identical to Dark Souls except they have added the jumping and stealth mechanics of Sekiro, which is cool I guess except it's still nothing innovative. The only innovative mechanic is the horse combat and platforming which is the best part of the game IMO. Otherwise, the new "open-world" really adds little to ****'re just using a horse to traverse big empty open spaces without any of the interesting characters, random encounters etc. **** open-world game like Horizon Zero, Witcher 3 etc. In conclusion, unless you literally can't get enough of the same old Souls formula, or you've never played a Souls game before, this game is kind of boring, monotonous and not engaging. The high critic rating just shows certain developers can keep releasing the same **** and the industry will applaud...I'm not hating either, Bloodborne was innovative, so was Sekiro, and yet Elden Ring is essentially a step backwards with superficial innovation.