Over the weekend I was fortunate enough to take part in the Elden Ring beta and take a look at From Software‘s latest dark fantasy action RPG. I’ve always had mixed experiences with their other games, but there have been enough enjoyable experiences to keep me interested in whatever they do next. Elden Ring will be released on last-gen and current-gen consoles – as well as PC – in 2022, and I don’t doubt that it will devour hundreds of hours of fans’ lives as they pick apart the world and face whatever challenges await them. I don’t own a current-gen console yet, and my PC will be able to run the game in theory, but if I can enjoy it on a last-gen platform like the PS4 I was using this weekend, that will be more than enough. What follows is a short account of my experiences with the Elden Ring beta (during the hours when I was able to play) – I’ll try not to use too many references to other From games so that readers don’t get too lost, but stop reading now if you want to go into the final game blind.
Guidance in the Elden Ring beta
As you start the Elden Ring beta, your journey as the “Tarnished” begins quite abruptly. You configure your options and pick your player class (classes are essentially initial “character builds” with stat points distributed between various attributes – although you’ll gain more points to spend as you level up throughout the game), and then you’re dropped into the first environment and discover your first site of grace – essentially a checkpoint that you can activate to replenish health, level up (when possible) and manage certain aspects of your character’s belongings. The first location you’re in is a well-lit cave area, and after a few run-ins with enemies, you open the door to Limgrave and get your first chance to explore part of the game’s striking open world. It’s here where you discover a site of grace that reveals a “grace guidance” system – golden rays that flow from a site of grace and give a vague hint of where players might want to direct themselves. It’s a nice way of giving players a gentle nudge in a particular direction, but since the Elden Ring beta was broken up into limited time slots I imagine a lot of players wanted to find their own paths.
The open world provided in the Elden Ring beta was more of a chunk of the open world than a full experience – players eventually found themselves rubbing up against impassable walls – but there was still plenty to see and do. A map is available from the outset and highlights various points of interest. Furthermore, players are able to place markers on the map that act as custom waypoints. When your character dies in Elden Ring, they have the option to respawn at the last site of grace that the player visited. The experience points gained from battle are lost if not spent, but can be retrieved if a player navigates from the site of grace to the location where they died. Not only does this emphasise the importance of studying the map for safe routes between a site of grace and a player’s unspent experience, but it also encourages players to know their surroundings. I would often pre-emptively create custom markers close to where I wanted to go, if I could see various enemies patrolling and didn’t rate my chances of survival. At least this way, I had a record of where I was trying to go, and I prevented myself from blindly wandering about the place.
Trusty steed
As you explore the world, you can run into enemies hanging out on their own, “patrols” of enemies that need to be approached methodically, and larger enemies that feel more like mini-bosses. The basics of combat have you equipping armour, weapons and shields, attacking and blocking as necessary, or manoeuvring and rolling to create space for your character. The class I used was an “Enchanted Knight” and had limited magic projectiles in addition to their armour, shield and sword. The resource management and the large groups of enemies can lead to overwhelming situations, but the open world allows players to plan their attacks more carefully, whether that means avoiding enemies entirely or taking them by surprise. Players also have access to a “spectral steed”, which is essentially a horse that can be summoned to allow greater mobility around the world. Sometimes this is useful when you just want to get to a custom marker you’ve placed, but it also helps players who want to make a quick retreat. Whether you’re retreating or just covering ground, there are various items that can be discovered, such as upgrade materials or things that can be traded. In a way, I can say that I rarely felt like my time spent with the Elden Ring beta was “wasted” – even when I wasn’t figuring out a particular enemy encounter, I was still finding new areas as I explored the map, or picking up things that I found on the ground.
One aspect of the open world that I find most interesting is the presence of various caves and catacombs. Sprinkled around the environment are entrances where you can head underground and explore what’s essentially a self-contained dungeon – one where you can navigate your way around, deal with enemy encounters, maybe find items and ultimately face a boss for a chance to grab more rewards. I found that the range of challenge presented on the plains of the open world could be overwhelming at times – maybe I’d just be dealing with a few human enemies, but then I’d head in a different direction and run into a dragon. The caves and catacombs, on the other hand, can be treated as something to be taken in isolation. They’re tight and satisfying challenges and I hope that completing more catacomb experiences will allow players to explore the open world with more confidence. When the full game is released and those impassable walls fall, I’m already considering the possibility of seeking out more of these underground entrances and building my character through these experiences.
The Elden Ring beta – a positive start
I think that if you’ve never been too keen on From’s games because of their reputation for challenge, it might be worth considering Elden Ring. No matter what I was struggling to do in one area, it wasn’t long before I found myself being distracted by another part of the map. The map and custom markers prevent players from being completely on their own (and as mentioned, they’re a great “mental checkpoint” if you don’t rate your chances of surviving an area), and there will surely be a healthy community for co-op multiplayer when the full game is out. If the open world is dense enough to keep players busy with manageable activities as they build up their characters in preparation for more formidable ordeals, it could be a great experience.
The Elden Ring beta was played on PS4 for this article – the full game will be released on February 25th 2021 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and PC. More information can be found at Bandai Namco’s website.
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