Picture this. You’re minding your own business while playing Horizon Forbidden West on story difficulty. You are almost entirely unaware that a game from the Dark Souls developers called Elden Ring is about to launch. Gaming to you is about cinematic storytelling and not the stress of difficulty, so From Software’s popular giant didn’t pique your interest. Suddenly, out of nowhere, perfect 10/10 Elden Ring scores come flying at you like social media dodgeball, including from your own coworker. Terrific, now you have to see what this is all about.
Initial impression: Death Simulator
The first disappointment comes from spending an obscene amount of time in character creation only to have their face shrouded under a helmet. What is the point of designing a character when there is no option to hide it? A glint at the edge of a cliff with the message “Try Jump” by another player trolls you into death number one. Five minutes later and you suffer death number two by a giant crab-person monster. Apparently this was supposed to happen. You don’t face that enemy again and awaken in a new area of the cave, opening doors to a world ripe for exploring… while completely unaware that you missed an actual helpful jump message to a tutorial area.
The next twenty minutes are a blur. You venture outward and get absolutely deleted by a giant golden horse man, hear a horn go off and get swarmed by soldiers, then finally reach death twenty-something caused by a ballista to the face. Instantly you alt-tab and request a refund from Steam. Where is the fun in wandering aimlessly and getting murdered?
This was my introduction to Elden Ring… I didn’t get it…
The opening act of your first From Software title is a lesson in patience, and surprisingly brutal. I thought refunding the game would be the end of it, but every corner of the internet continued to talk and hype it up. I repurchased it again and uncorked a bottle of wine, determined to find the magic that this game was giving so many others.
Learning to enjoy a challenge
I set out exploring The Lands Between with no direction except a horse. This made me feel safer for all of five minutes before another horseman impaled me while riding it. I started to wonder if the peak of perfection in the eyes of gamers was a world in which you are a literal punching bag for masochistic NPCs. I couldn’t play for more than fifteen minutes at a time, often going to social media to ponder why I was unable to find the fun and regretting trying again.
Someone suggested that I seek direction from the internet to ease my troubles with the game. I looked up how to survive as a caster. This lead me to advice and details on how to obtain the Meteorite Staff and Rock Sling spell, which I then used to tackle a few easy bosses. I was finding myself staying engaged a little more with this method. Winning felt much better than losing. One last search put me on the path to the first cutscene since starting the game, and a successful defeat of the menacing story boss, Margit the Fell Omen. Alright, that felt good. It was more challenging than anything yet. Overcoming it sparked a sense of accomplishment in my brain that I didn’t get in other games by just turning down the difficulty when met with a roadblock.
Once you pop the fun doesn’t stop
After this I started exploring without help, only seeking it when I was lost long enough to feel like I was wasting time. I began to realize that dying in this game was part of the experience, and only a minor setback to trying again with newfound knowledge and determination to succeed. I didn’t even notice that in real life, time was being consumed at a rapid pace. I had found the magic that comes from the high of learning a challenge and being forced to overcome it.
I said earlier that I enjoy games for cinematic storytelling. I use them to relax and enjoy a good tale. The story in Elden Ring doesn’t hold your hand and is a little fragmented, but over time you realize that the boss fights and world immersion are the story of this game. Letting yourself get lost in it, not knowing what’s ahead or how to win is just as good as witnessing a fantastic narrative. Except now, you feel more like the main character because you carved the path and figured out how to overcome the obstacle. Every encounter is a puzzle that tests your mind.
Lessons learned
At the time of this writing I can say that I have explored a great many parts of The Lands Between. I have defeated every story boss, and even basked in the glory of overcoming the challenging optional Malenia encounter. I have shouted at the monitor in anger plenty of times. I also strangely noticed I would give myself pep talks out loud or criticize my last boss attempt as I ran in to try again. All of this made me laugh, however, and I never really found myself anxious anymore in defeat. I was just eager to get back in and try again with what I had learned.
I never thought my attitude on this game would change. It was too stressful and too vague, but it also became the first time a single player game has ever engaged my drive to overcome the difficulty instead of tweaking it. Will it fundamentally change the way I play single player games in the future? I doubt it, as seeing the story will still always outweigh the challenge for me. However, when the point of a game is that challenge, I might just not disregard it from the start now.
