Elden Ring: The Most Accessible Entry of a Formerly Niche Series
Elden Ring is an action role-playing game by FromSoftware set in a vast open world. You, a lowly Tarnished, are tasked with fighting through the Lands Between and the demigods that inhabit them to become the Elden Lord. Across the Lands Between, there are secrets hidden around every corner. Find them all by riding across war-torn landscapes, scaling towering mountains, and delving into the long-forgotten depths of the world. You will need to fight using strong weapons and powerful spells. As you progress you can upgrade your arsenal to take down the powerful foes that stand in your way.
With over 12 million sales since its release in February of 2022, according to publisher Bandai Namco, Elden Ring is shaping up to be FromSoftware’s most popular game to date. With so many incoming new players, there will be a lot of people that might be taken aback by the series’ challenge or might have a certain expectation from the reputation of FromSoftware’s previous games. Players can expect much of the same challenge that FromSoftware’s recent library has presented and can approach many situations much like they were playing Dark Souls or Bloodborne. These games reward patience, analysis of enemy patterns, and learning from your mistakes to come out on top. There’s a certain expectation when going into these games that you are going to die a lot. The series has a past reputation of being associated with its difficulty, so much so that the marketing for Dark Souls would coin the phrase “Prepare to Die” and the community has made a habit of telling other players to “get good”. Discussions about the series’ difficulty and accessibility have been discussed extensively for reasons like this. Many new players may feel intimidated by the series due to community reputation and conversations like these. For years, there has been endless debate on what the “correct” way to play the game is. In different corners of the internet, elitist fans might say that using certain items or summons is robbing the game of its full potential. This way of thinking is a good way to have new players be entirely disinterested in the game you are so passionate about. Elden Ring attracted many of these kinds of conversations, as many of the enemies that you face in this game may require a lot of trial and error to overcome. However, the game’s open world and the many tools it gives you allow the game to be played in a way for people to go at their own pace. That is where the difference between Elden Ring’s challenge and its accessibility lies. Challenge is the skill required to overcome the obstacles in the game and accessibility is the number of options and tools that the game gives you to overcome these challenges. This makes Elden Ring FromSoftware’s most accessible entry in their catalog of titles.
One of the main reasons for the game being more accessible than FromSoftware’s previous titles is Elden Ring’s open world. Not soon after starting the game, and after the in-game tutorial, the player is met with a view that shows a portion of the expansive open world. This perspective can be compared to something like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the sense of serving as a perspective on how expansive the world is. From the starting spot you can see a vast field, your first main goal further in the distance, and the massive glowing tree that serves as the center of the game’s world. Much of the game uses the environment as a guide to show the player where to go, where there will always be a point of interest in sight. It’s worth noting that Elden Ring’s approach to navigation is different from more contemporary open-world games, like the Assassin’s Creed series or Red Dead Redemption. Rather than something pointing towards where you need to go for story progression, it is much more open-ended with what needs to be done with a slight form of direction on the game’s map. This allows the player to have a more free experience where they can go at their own pace rather than be railroaded from each objective. Traversing this world is made all the better by the game giving the player a rideable mount, named Torrent. With Torrent, exploring the large world is made much easier and players are given access to areas that are only accessible by horse. While some sections of the game do not allow Torrent to be ridden, you are going to be spending most of your time on the overworld riding your mount. This open world differs from FromSoftware’s other games, which had more connected areas instead of a world that could be explored freely. The world design of games like Dark Souls has one interconnected map where the player intimately learns the layout. While this has its advantages, the area to area layout could have players run into a wall if the path forward is too difficult. This is not as present in Elden Ring, where if a boss is too difficult for the player they could always come back later when they have explored more of the map and gained more experience. This could make players’ experiences with the first main story boss much different from one another.
It has been mentioned before that Elden Ring gives the player many items to find within the open world. Accessing these items may mean overcoming different kinds of challenges, whether that be one of the game’s many dungeons or a mini-boss in the overworld. It is clear what is a lootable item in the game world by having a distinct glowing white dot over a distinct spot or a defeated enemy. This makes the items stand out in the world without there being worry of having missed out on something in an area. Some of these items are even given by rewarding exploration. The promise of rewarding items to the player makes the previously mentioned exploration worthwhile. A lot of the items that can be given to the player are standard in terms of FromSoftware’s items. There are new weapons you can find and upgrade materials to improve those weapons, but there are also items littered throughout the game’s world that are used in crafting. While many may groan at the idea of a crafting system in a new game, the way it is executed in Elden Ring never feels like it is essential to do. In fact, there are times when you may feel like you have more crafting materials than you need. The way you obtain crafting items in Elden Ring feels reminiscent of the way you get crafting materials in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, where they are obtained naturally as you traverse the world. Crafting materials aren’t used to craft weapons or armor, rather they are used for items that can temporarily enhance those items, get rid of harmful status effects, healing items for Torrent, and throwable items. Access to these crafting items allows players to adapt to many kinds of situations. If there is a boss or enemy type that is weak to fire, you could consider crafting jars of oil that ignite on impact or grease to cover your weapon in flame. If there is an enemy that breaks through your shield too quickly, you could craft items to temporarily increase your stamina recovery and your shield’s ability to block. While not necessary in every situation, crafting these items can help bridge the gap between experienced players and new players. These kinds of items were present in previous FromSoftware games, but the player was at the mercy of hoping to find them or purchase them from a merchant. The ability to craft these items is gained as you collect different cookbooks throughout the game. These can be found around the world, like many of the other items, or they can be purchased from various merchants around the world. It is easy for many players to ignore this aspect of the game, most likely due to the sheer abundance of materials and their nature of not fitting into everyone’s playstyle. However, many new players will find that crafting these items will be a great aid to them on their journey.
Before, it was mentioned that one of the great draws of Elden Ring was the number of different play styles that are presented. Through the main stats that can be upgraded (Vigor, Mind, Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane), there are many possibilities. In addition to this, a new collectible item was added to the game that adds further customizability to the game’s weapons. These items are called Ashes of War and they let you execute special moves for weapons. People that are familiar with Dark Souls 3’s weapon art mechanic will recognize these; Skills that are tied to weapons and use up some of the player’s FP (used on spells and skills) to be executed. They work very much the same in Elden Ring, however many of the weapons throughout the game can have these skills switched out with new ones via Ashes of War. Not only do these allow the player to try out different skills on their weapons, but it also allows the attributes of the weapon to change. What this means is that there are some Ashes of War that are tied to a specific stat and do more damage depending on how much that stat is level, called scaling. These ashes of war can cause the same weapon to be used by a variety of different kinds of builds with different priorities in stats. This plays into the ability to customize your playstyle very well. While some of the more unique weapons in the game can not use Ashes of War, some players might prefer to use their customized weapon rather than a weapon from a boss.
Something that has been present in most of FromSoftware’s recent games has been the ability to engage in multiplayer co-op. The same goes for Elden Ring, where the ability to summon other players for assistance is available for most places in the game. Co-op in Elden Ring works similarly to the other games, where players can be summoned by putting down signs at designated locations. Until the player who summoned the other defeats the boss in the area, the two can play together until one of them dies or needs to rest due to a lack of resources to progress further. Playing with another person in Elden Ring makes for a different, yet still fulfilling experience while traversing the world. When another player is summoned, this means that enemy and boss health is increased to make up for the increased number of participants. This can make for different kinds of strategies between players in how they approach situations. One player might have armor with high defense and a higher health stat, so they could take the aggression of the enemies. The other player could be a more fragile spell caster, prioritizing staying on the backlines while their friend soaks up damage. It is a different way to play, whereas when you play single player there is a more careful analysis of enemy and boss patterns as opposed to multiplayer involving group strategy. However, this is only accessible online, and the amount of AI-controlled summons is highly limited.
This is where the items known as Spirit Ashes come into play. These items are new to Elden Ring and help facilitate the experience of multiplayer without having access to online play. Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring are Spirit companions that can aid the player in combat. As players progress through the game, they will be able to collect Spirit Ashes, which allow them to summon the spirits of fallen warriors and creatures. Many of these summonable creatures are based on enemies that you fight in the game and behave as such. The earliest ones start as a small pack of wolves or a floating jellyfish while some of the late-game ones can be knights and assassins. One of the more popular summons among the community could mimic the player and what they had equipped at the time. These summons largely serve the same purpose that summoning other players do. Rather than cooperating and strategizing with other people, you have to strategize based on the AI’s behavior. Some summons are aggressive, some can take a lot of damage, and some support you from behind. This is not too dissimilar to strategies you would make with other people, the same with there being a tradeoff for each method. As mentioned before, summoning another player means that the boss's health is increased. Along with this, there is a craftable item that is necessary to summon the player in the first place. Luckily, the items necessary to craft it are abundant. Spirit Ashes have a different kind of tradeoff. For starters, using a Spirit Ash does not increase boss health. Using a Spirit Ash means having to use some of your FP or your HP, depending on the requirement of the summon. This means that you might have to upgrade the corresponding stats to even summon the spirits. These spirits also have to be upgraded in a similar manner to weapons in order to keep up with the increasing damage that the game deals. Using summons or Spirit Ashes both have minor drawbacks, but they largely help new players with the game’s notorious challenges. Not a lot of new players will be ready to deal with the amount of aggression and pattern recognition that the game’s bosses require. This is why using summons can help aid new players on learning what bosses can do. Instead of learning the boss patterns by fighting it head on, they can observe the other person or spirit do it and see where the right times to dodge will be. It is completely valid to do an entire playthrough of Elden Ring while using these summons. After one playthrough, new players could try another run without using summons to compare the contrast in experience.
Outside of gameplay, there are also a few decisions that have been made to Elden Ring that make it accessible to a larger player base. The ability to customize controls is something that many games have, yet it is new to Elden Ring. There’s no sense in wrestling with the buttons when you’re trying to tackle a boss fight or leap across a wide gap. When people first play any game, the first thing they interact with is the controls. If these controls can not be changed, then they better make a good impression on the player in order to make for a smoother and more natural experience. This was not always the case with Dark Souls and similar titles. New players to the series may think that the series is clunky by design, even with Elden Ring’s added mobility options. Elden Ring’s control scheme by default is very similar to Dark Souls 3 and plays very similarly, except for the added jump and crouch buttons. Some people might find the default control scheme rather awkward, where you can not control the camera and run at the same time. This results in an infamous controller grip where many have had to bend the index finger over the run button and use the thumb to control the camera. With customizable controls for both controller and keyboard, this is no longer an issue, unless you prefer that way of holding your controller. All of the buttons, except for the stick to move and the stick that controls the camera, can be re-binded to suit what feels most comfortable. The ability to customize controls goes a long way for accessibility to a game.
The camera was mentioned before in terms of how it interacted with the controls of the game, but there is something about the camera that makes the game even more accessible to players. In Elden Ring, the player can lock on to enemies to more accurately attack them and to not lose sight of them. Locking onto enemies is crucial in any FromSoftware game, and Elden Ring offers an option to automatically lock on to a new enemy after the current foe is defeated. In addition to this, players can toggle an option to target a new enemy as soon as they land an attack. This makes it easier to manage crowds of enemies while also removing an extra input. In addition, players can switch targets by moving the camera. This makes playing ranged classes much easier, as having a good lock onto an enemy is essential to use ranged abilities to full effect. Being able to lock onto enemies is also beneficial in areas that are low-light situations, like dark caves. Entering a dark area and using your controller to target something in the darkness lets you know that an enemy lies ahead. It may seem simple, but the ability to lock on to enemies makes the experience of playing Elden Ring much more accessible and make combat much smoother.
As accessible as Elden Ring is, it would be disingenuous to not address some of the missteps that the game has made to make it fully accessible. There are a lot of issues that stem from FromSoftware’s earlier titles that are present here in Elden Ring. A lot of these issues relate to sound cues, making it not very accessible to the deaf or hard of hearing. It was mentioned before that bosses and enemies in the series require a lot of pattern recognition. Many of these patterns require visual cues to tell when an attack can be dodged or blocked. However, there are scenarios where it is necessary to be able to hear these cues. For example, there might be a situation where you are running away from an enemy with a bow. If your camera is not focused on the enemy while running, all you have is the sound of the arrow being fired at you. If you are able, you could hear this sound and dodge roll accordingly. Not all people are able to hear this sound, so they are left to take the damage. These audio and video cues blend together in making these bosses and enemies designed to be studied. To take away one of those two cues would be a serious detriment on how the game is played. There is another scenario that is not related to enemy pattern recognition where audio plays a significant part. There is a mechanic in the game where you can stagger an enemy after enough damage is done or when certain attacks are parried. While an enemy is staggered, they are put into a stunned state where a powerful attack can be performed, dealing critical damage. Along with this visual cue, there is a booming sound that plays, letting you know that this critical attack can be performed. Sometimes, the visual cue makes this rather obvious that this attack can be performed and other times it is more subtle. For example, a giant falling onto its stomach is a bit more obvious than an enemy kneeling. Players who can not hear this sound might not be able to pick up on these visual cues either. The window for landing this critical attack is brief, so forfeiting this opportunity can be detrimental to the player. With this in mind, it would be difficult for a deaf or hard-of-hearing player to play Elden Ring to full effect. Elden Ring still stands as the most accessible entry in the series, but sound design from previous games still permeates through the game.
There have been debates in the past on whether beating a boss was legitimate if a summon was used. The argument from that stems from elitism and a projected idea of how other people should play the game. There is no reason that new players should feel ashamed for using the tools that they are given in the game. If Elden Ring was designed in a way for the players to not use these items, then they would not have been put there in the first place. Having this vast world presented to us is a great opportunity to have many newcomers appreciate the once niche series that started all the way back with Demon’s Souls. These added items and features should be encouraged to be used by new players. While some may agree or disagree about the challenge or the quality of the game, it is undeniable that many systems were put into place to ease new players. The amount of decisions in Elden Ring’s world design and customizable gameplay makes it the most accessible entry FromSoftware’s recent games and a gateway to the rest of their library.
