Here’s the hip-hop track I’m a big fan of called Money Dance by Rick Ross. It has little to do with From Software’s upcoming action RPG Elden Ring, but there’s a simple lyric in it that perfectly sums up my early practice with the upcoming game. check network closed: “Caution, I’ll approach you with a business mind / Take two steps lightly when I check the time”.
For three days last week, I actually came across my friend’s PS5 (that I, uh, ‘borrowed’, because sadly Elden Ring’s closed-net test isn’t available on PC this time). If you signed up for CNT and got selected, you’ll be able to experience everything I’m about to tell you for yourself starting this Friday, November 12, until Monday, November 15. Although my practice with the Elden Ring was brief, I am confident that this is the Soul taking a step in the right direction. It’s at once new and familiar, yet forever exciting. I want to go back.
Since I’m playing the game on PS5, I can’t guarantee how it will run on our devices, but what I saw made me extremely happy. Even at this early stage, the Elden Ring runs beautifully, with very few errors and dropped frame rates on my 1080p TV. Without the support of a dedicated frame rate counter, it looks pretty close to 60fps by my best estimates, so it should feel pretty similar to what can we expect from the PC version when the game comes out in full next year.
So let’s set the context, Tracked. I had to explore most of the open area of the Elden Ring, Limgrave. In addition to barrier testing for certain parts of the larger game with walls of invasion, I also have free control. I can explore catacombs, level up, try co-op, ride back; so many, so much. Stormveil Castle towering over the horizon? Yeah, I might even take on a main boss there. Bliss, I tell you. Happy. Anyway, without further ado, let’s dive in.
Character creation is not available in this initial build, so we have a choice between five preset classes. I chose the Prophet, mainly because I wanted to test magic, and because they paired a wooden wheel scarf with a cut yellow bowl. Others like Bloody Wolf and Enchanted Knight are also available, each with different stats, initial weapons and the like.
And from the very first edit of the thumb, Elden Ring feels familiar. This is a good Souls game and feels like it was built from the bones of Dark Souls 3. You use the same amount of Estus to replenish your health, you have a diamond shaped HUD at the bottom left of the screen, you have a health bar on top of the green fitness bar. By the time of full release, combat will likely take many forms, but at the base level, this also has Soul rhythms and rhythms; this is definitely not Sekiro or Bloodborne.
This does not mean that the Elden Ring is a Recycled Soul. Far away from it. Entering its world for the first time only evokes a feeling of extreme excitement The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild hooked me. Instantly you’ll head to the golden tree towering in the sky and look out over the verdant hills and realize that this is an ambitious thing. It’s unlike previous Souls games that weren’t a place where vast spaces and open worlds intertwine, but survival often requires you to hold your breath and squint in the dark for the next bonfire. Here, there is room to breathe.
This is made more obvious by the breeze, which grazes through the Graces (your equivalent of a campfire) and leaves behind these glittering golden streaks suggestive of someone else’s location. You can rest at these places to replenish your health reserves, replenish your supplies, but also new things! Like changing the day/night cycle or equipping Ashes of War, both of which I will cover in a bit.
From this first area at least, what surprised me was the difference in how Elden Ring’s open world structure was compared to previous Souls installments. Limgrave reminds me of a spider diagram. At its center is a stunning landscape with attractions. Enemy encampments and fallen ruins serve as a haven for giant bats. A huge army of crabs around the swampy swamp. Twin giants towed a wagon full of loot, as a swarm of the undead slyly followed behind. Don’t worry, friendly NPCs also dot the place. A funny helmeted warrior warned me of a nearby dragon. Another shady sorcerer hoping I’d die in a ditch somewhere. As always, they leak character.
Like Breath Of The Wild, your map in the Elden Ring starts out as a black abyss that you’ll animate throughout the game by finding map debris. I happened to see the fragment of Limgrave in a large plantation of undead soldiers. After picking it up, the Limgrave region came to life in this wonderful hand-drawn style. I also understand how big a game’s map can be. Limgrave feels pretty big for a starting area, so it makes you wonder, how much will they gain as you progress?
However, branch off from the broad central avenues of Limgrave, and the game is limited. In these moments, it feels like the game transitions from the free-roaming Elden Ring to classic, linear Souls. Perhaps a better way to explain this, is that the Elden Ring draws from an archive of Souls’ greatest hits. Even early on, it was clear that the game didn’t lose its history.
For example, I happened to enter the entrance of a cave hidden at the edge of a field. When I went down, the atmosphere changed. That Elden Ring expands and curls into suffocating Souls, with a bright exterior giving way to a dark, cold interior. I came to a set of catacombs, with narrow corridors and thick metal doors closing them. The walls carried flames and little stone goblins jumped down from the ledges. After a bit of rummaging around, I pulled a lever that led to an optional boss fight with what could only be described as a large statue of a dog with a sword. It’s nowhere near as cavernous as the Catacombs from Dark Souls, but it certainly feels like a taste of what’s to come.
The way the Limgrave is put together also affects the way things turn out. Spirits often take you to areas where you are forced to inched forward, checking corners and pulling levers; it was a person hesitantly crawling through a series of tunnels. My time in Limgrave couldn’t have been more different. This is not a barren world, but a uniquely curated and isolated collection of meaningful things. There’s a real sense of discovery, of “Oh damn, what is THAT?!” Perhaps not surprisingly, more often than not, I learn that anything it wants to kill you. You have space to explore the crabs and wagons. This way the game goes as fast as I want it to. It was only when I ventured to Stormveil Castle that this changed.
To say the least, the journey to the castle was breathtaking. A fellow journalist and I ventured down this difficult road together. As we ascended, a fierce storm hit, obscuring our view and sending the flora around us whipping. After dealing with wolf ambushes and sentry patrols, we encountered the demo boss. And hoo boy, we’ve got a time.
A good time there. Here’s a tall guy with a Western accent, a bony stick and a chip on his shoulder. Even with the two of us, it took a lot of effort to defeat him. He is a typical Souls boss, with attacks that show signs of hitting HARD. Never unjust, but always dirty in his tactics. Knock him down to half health and he swings out a lightning hammer, a lightning sword, and a lightning dagger. We took him down with magic, a little cheesy feel, and a repetitive touch. However, the tension is unbearable and the win is amazing.
Knocked down bosses give you Runes to spend, but Ashes Of War can also be used. At Graces, you can attach these to weapons and they’ll add great abilities to them. I got a slap from the lightning man on my club and it electrified! Not only that, it also gives me the ability to deal a thunderbolt to the surrounding enemies. I like that I can steal boss-specific moves instantly, as opposed to bundling with an expensive crafting material like in previous Souls games.
From then on, we went deep into the castle. Experimenting won’t let us go any deeper, so we can only taste its intricate structures. Again, it’s very soulful. Ladders and ledges. Burning bombs and dark rooms. Glory, though, only glory. In the end, my only thing was not knowing where I stood in relation to the enemy in Limgrave. I’m not sure if I’m over or under, or how. But perhaps I can delve into this another time.
There’s so much more to my Elden Ring appetizer, but I can’t hold you back forever. I’m sure I missed a lot of things too, but I hope I’ve at least told you how it plays in those early hours and how it compares to old Souls. Stay tuned for more impressions, but if there’s one thing I want to leave you with today, it’s this: The Elden Ring is bold and ambitious, but knows its limits. As a result, we can be in an open world that truly crosses boundaries once in a while.
