I'm very excited to see this.
Perhaps we will actually go back to games that focus on design and proper difficulty instead of focusing on movie set pieces. I suppose there is a time and place for both, but I'm really tired that every single 'block buster title' needs to look like a movie. This game does it perfectly, it almost never takes away control of the player, and it never stops you from exploiting something you can exploit. The protagonist is silent which means you're free to do whatever you want or not want to. There is no order of things you must follow, you can say no to everything, etc. It always makes you feel as though there is something to lose even if there is technically not. It makes you explore and rewards you properly for it.
The list of things it does right goes on and on. I feel like this is a gem from the golden age of gaming just brought back to life here.
I hope it's doing as well on consoles.
To add to this, I hope more games go back to just focusing on a vision of what the developer wants to make in their game versus what seems almost like a checklist of things that they feel the most consumers will like.
While From Software did give a nod towards making a Souls game ever so slightly more accessible to a wider audience, they still had a vision for their game that they executed on and ... pardon the expression ... no shits were given as to whether some consumer focus group would like it or not.
In that sense, Elden Ring has that feeling of an indie game. A game that was created almost like a passion product of the developers. A game they wanted to make because it's a game they'd like to play and not a game that incorporated things just because they felt it would increase sales of the game.
In the end it feel so epic, unlike games where the developer feels like the player needs to have their hand held every step of the way. It's like Frodo setting off on his journey to destroy the One Ring. How is he supposed to destroy it? Where is he supposed to go? How is he supposed to get there? What's he going to run into along the way. He hasn't got a clue. Much like how I started this journey in Elden Ring. I have some vague notion that perhaps I'm supposed to become the Elden Lord. But how am I supposed to do that? Where am I supposed to go? What am I going to run into along the way? I haven't got a clue.
Ah, I love every moment of not knowing where I'm going or who I'm going to meet or what's going to try to kill me or who might try to help (or hinder) my journey. I love someone tasking me or asking me to do something but there's only a vague description of where I need to go or who I need to find. I loved seeing a wolfman up on a wall I can't reach and wondering what they are doing there or even if it's someone I can talk to or if it's someone I can kill. Then sometime later in the game accidentally finding a way to contact them and then finding out they're just a bit player in a larger quest that's tangentially related to what I should or maybe shouldn't be doing.
People in the world who ask me to do things aren't necessarily doing it for me. In fact, most of the times, they aren't doing it for me, but for their own purposes.
I haven't felt like this while playing a game in a very very long time.
Regards,
SB