Is Elden Ring A Dark Souls Game

Why you lot should skip Dark Souls and play Elden Band instead

(Prototype credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Developer FromSoftware's games may be set in separate worlds, but because of the DNA they share, fans grouping them together as the Soulsborne series. Elden Band is the latest championship to join that family, and like Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice before information technology, this monster-filled open up-globe RPG is a notoriously hard game that fifty-fifty the near seasoned thespian will struggle to best. However, this reputation makes the Soulsborne games a divider: for some, information technology's a badge of accolade to complete them; for others, information technology's a series to avoid.

While the Soulsborne games are every bit enervating as veteran players claim, they're also fair, and a game that punishes your mistakes isn't the same as 1 that simply punishes you. Still, it can exist deeply frustrating when someone on the internet tells yous to "get good" without maxim how.

In celebrating their skill, the community around Soulsborne games, Elden Ring included, can put yous off trying the series for yourself. And it's easy to bounciness off these titles, especially equally each new game breaks the rules y'all learned to complete the previous one. Each Soulsborne game leans into a different style of combat: Demon's Souls and Dark Souls reward cautious defensive play, Bloodborne demands ambitious, close-quarters melee, and Sekiro drives you to develop your frame-perfect parries.

But if you stick with a Soulsborne game long plenty to master it, your reward is a brutal fantasy story full of bizarre sights, unique monsters, and a globe that draws y'all deep into its depths with teasing lore.

It tin be tempting to start at the commencement with a series equally steeped in legacy as the Soulsborne games, and The Demon'southward Souls remake for PS5 makes that option more than accessible than ever, but I'd propose Elden Ring is a much amend entry point.

The combat'south better than ever

The draw of all of FromSoftware's games is their combat. The worlds and story are fantastic, but you volition be spending nearly of your time fighting, so yous should showtime with the game where it is about developed.

Where Elden Band differs is its open earth.

Elden Ring's intricate combat mechanics may seem birdbrained at first, but that will soon articulate. After you accident by the early game'due south Cave of Cognition and consummate a gainsay tutorial, you'll option upward all the basics: rolling, blocking, and when to launch an offensive on your enemies. These tactics apply to the other Soulsborne games, but where Elden Ring differs is its open up globe: if yous notice an enemy type that'due south also much for you, you tin can back up and travel somewhere else to find a different foe and experiment with a different gainsay fashion.

Bosses are no longer bottlenecks, preventing you from progressing until yous've mastered them. You lot frequently have options of who to fight and when. Yous can step away, level upward your character, change equipment, and come back stronger.

A character in Elden Ring charges towards a boss — (Epitome credit: Future)

In that location'south a broad diverseness of unique weapons to discover and learn, with each type behaving differently. Combined with the diverse bonuses and skills y'all unlock and your weight limit (determined by your stats and the equipment you're wielding), there'southward a dizzying number of things to consider, even with the smallest, most insignificant scuffle. That'southward what makes Elden Ring satisfying to play; you accept to effigy this out on your own – and you feel all the better for it by the end.

Yous play at your own step

There are just a few bosses in Elden Ring that you absolutely must conquer if y'all desire to stay the course and attain the end of the game. Other than that, you tin can explore the Lands Between at your leisure. If you're comfortable taking on that massive pot-shaped enemy despite existence a low level, accept at it. If y'all want to skip an entire section because you know you'll be dead earlier you can make a move, yous tin often do that. In that location aren't many games, let alone Soulsborne titles, that allow for this much freedom.

As a beginner, it helps yous ease into Elden Ring and its challenges, giving you a sense of control over a dangerous world. (With that in heed, we've some Elden Ring tips for beginners.)

Information technology's full of foul, unsettling creatures

Having played many Soulsborne games, I idea I was set for weird sights but, subsequently spending over 100 hours in Elden Ring, I was wrong. I'm still struggling with the image of a young woman eating eyeballs like grapes. Then there are the monstrous centipede-like guards that pounce on you from the shadows.

Elden Rings' curious horrors don't repulse, they intrigue.

Elden Ring is a surreal nightmare that demands further investigation. The inhabitants of the Lands Between are all dealing with unique, exquisite suffering that manifests as grotesque creatures, manic dancing, and unsettling behaviors. These curious horrors don't repulse, they intrigue, pulling y'all deeper into this strange world.

The globe of Elden Ring is fascinating, and it pushes you to explore every nook and cranny, get stronger to defeat those difficult enemies, and open up every part of the map and so y'all can suss out answers to all of your questions. There'southward a world to explore with a pulse of life that you lot can't deny, creativity springs from every pore. And somehow, despite the weirdness, the rot, and the expiry, in that location'due south hope at the end of it all. That runs in stark contrast to many of the other Soulsborne games, and that's 1 slap-up reason to submit yourself to the wild and wonderful earth of the Tarnished.

There is something Bloodborne does better than Elden Ring, though...

Brittany Vincent is an accomplished freelance video game, technology, and entertainment writer whose work has been featured in diverse online and print publications. She'south been writing professionally for xv years and her work can be constitute in dozens of print and digital publications such as Multifariousness, Playboy, Rolling Rock, Wired, Maxim, Official Xbox Mag, and more.