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"IIIIIII F***ING LOVE THIS GAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

This was my opinion of ELDEN RING (ER) just after I bought it four years ago and played it on release day like a possessed maniac. However, the difference between me and other people, is that I just finished that first playthrough I started back then, TODAY.
That's right. It took me four years to beat the game once. I did as much completionism as I reasonably could, ending up with about 120 hours of playtime on my save and generally took my time with everything.

Now, that's not enough for a playthrough to take 4 years, of course. The thing is, I randomly stopped playing the game a week after it came out even though I was obsessed with it at that point. A year later, I played a few more hours. Another year later, I put in some actual time again and over the year that followed up until now, I have played the game on and off with months-long brakes in-between.

Getting here was a journey and a great many aspects of my life have changed throughout it. Most notably, I have beaten all other soulslikes of FromSoft at least twice (except Demons Souls, which I beat once, and Nightreign, which I haven't finished yet). I've spent a significant chunk of my life on FromSoft's library of games and after all of it, ER has become my least favourite of them all.

I cannot help but compare it to the others and thus, ER falls short in a handful of big ways for me:
* The controls feel clunky and are sometimes literally unresponsive
* The recovery frames on most actions make me want to cry (especially after a Bloodborne session)
* The camera and lock-on are as bad as they've always been
* The input-buffer is easily the worst out of any game I have ever played
* Exploration feels underwhelming and is generally only worth it for the sights
* The dodge roll feels awfully slow, as if there was a 25ms delay even after releasing the button, which is a problem I cannot explain, but one that I've only ever had in this game and none other
* And a final, minor gripe is that the menu controls are just bad compared to DS (using the D-pad to cycle up and down is awkward when multitasking)

Out of these, the controls-related things are what caused me many anger-filled playsessions, especially at times when I switched to this game from Bloodborne, which has very fast and responsive controls as well as very few recovery frames.
When it comes to difficulty, the base game doesn't really have it. Even without summons, defeating most bosses is only a matter of patience and using a weapon that isn't garbage, which is how I've been able to first-try a good number of major bosses. At the same time, this somewhat inflames my previously mentioned gripes, because the times when the game does get difficult, the controls-problems become glaring.
I love being stuck in my attack that I started about 15 years ago, when I'm getting hit by the boss and trying to redirect myself with a dodge-roll, just cuz the input buffer decided that that's the way to go.
I love being traced by enemies like a CS-aimbot, whilst my own attacks miraculously miss half time even with lock-on auto-targeting.
I love enjoying the wonders of the slowest dodge-roll and estus flask out of all FromSoft games.
I love dying to a boss that flies off-screen, dashes around like a madman and cannot be locked on to just before a big re-entrance.
I LOVE the embrace of the on-release dodge-roll, among SO many other aspects of combat in this game.

Anyhow, I feel like I've complained enough now, lest I risk running out of characters for this review. Thus, allow me to segue to the aspects of this torture chamber, that I did actually like.
The artistry of the world and lore is almost certainly my favorite aspect of this game. The vast vistas, breathtaking caverns and generally phenomenal visuals of the Lands Between is truly special. It is without a doubt one of the most beautiful and artistic worlds out there and a good chunk of my playtime consisted of staring directly at it. FromSoft's artistry paired with an open-world has proven to yield incomparable results, with a certain cost. The sheer scale and nature of the open-world means, that this game's level-design is very limited in a certain aspect. Namely, that it can't have Dark Souls 1's interconnectivity, which is truly a shame, because this is one of the biggest aspects that holds this game back from being better than DS1.

Another aspect in which ER loses out to an older FromSoft title is its atmosphere.
Playing Bloodborne (BB) makes you very aware of this. You can feel the madness and bloodthirst of its world simply walking its streets and forests. The twisted creatures of the hunt leave a lasting impression and the progression of the insanity as the night continues turns your stomach more and more as you begin to tangibly feel the nightmare you find yourself in. Infectious and immersive describe this atmosphere better than any other and though ER has a fairly compelling one in its own right, it doesn't live up to BB. I feel that this disparity is caused by the rift between the subject matter of the games. This is very subjective, but BB world hits me much closer to where it hurts and does a better job of engrossing me despite this game's artistic superiority.

Another truly beautiful part in which ER doesn't win is its soundscape and ost. Sound design-wise, the game does what it needs to do and I don't have much else to say, besides the fact that I've still heard more satisfying parries and hit-sounds in other FromSoft titles (namely BB). As for the ost, it's terrific, truly fitting for a world of such proportion. However, I can't help but compare it to DS3's ost, which I find unbeatable by any other FromSoft game since or prior.

And with that I've touched on all the subjects I wanted to in this review. I realize I've been mostly negative about this game, which may make my positive review of it somewhat confusing, but I have a good reason for this:
I care. I believe that this game could have been much greater, much more ambitious and much improved over what reality has shown. Artistically and viewed as a whole, this game is unmatched, at genuine marvel of the world of videogames. And yet it hasn't managed to beat its predecessors in so many of its aspects. On the contrary, the DLC, which I have yet to finish, is on a significantly better trajectory when compared to the base game and I'm excited to convey my feelings about it, once I'm able.
My negativity likely also stems from the fact, that I cannot see this game as anything but the successor of its predecessors, a culmination of Miyazaki's experience to create something greater, more epic than ever before, pushing the envelope of his game-direction. In this way, to me, ELDEN RING fails. And yet, I encourage you to play it.

I can see, that on its own, this game has breached a cultural barrier, bringing a cult-franchise to the mainstream. It's accomplishments, along with all the minds behind it are undeniable. And despite what could have been, I have enjoyed ELDEN RING!
As a game that may very well be used to describe several years of my life, I have grown attached to it for this very reason. Not to the point of changing my thoughts on it, but I've certainly developed a connection to this game.
For this reason, my final words for this game can only be:
Get it, play it and enjoy it! Let its success allow for even greater games of the future!

8.4/10