GOTM: February ‘22
I spent the first few weeks of February bouncing between a handful of new releases as well as a couple of old favorites. Heading into the month I was sure that either Horizon: Forbidden West or Lost Ark would end up being my game of choice, but I bounced off both of those games within a few days and, at least at the time of this writing, I don’t plan to return to them anytime soon. OlliOlli World held my attention for a bit, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is growing on me somewhat, and I’m having a lot of fun revisiting both World of Tanks and No Man’s Sky, but within an hour or three of booting it up for the first time, I knew that my second game of the month for 2022 was going to be Elden Ring.
As much as I like to think that they are, Souls games generally aren’t my cup of tea. I convince myself that I love them every time a new one comes out, jump in to feel like I’m part of the zeitgeist, and promptly give up after some boss or other hands me my ass one too many times. Perhaps I’ll never finish Elden Ring either, but around 20 hours in it’s a game that I don’t see myself putting down anytime soon. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed exploring any game world as much as I am the Lands Between, and since bosses have always been my least favorite part of these games, I love that I’ve been able to reconnoiter so much of this incredible landscape without ever feeling compelled to confront any.
Even while avoiding bosses completely, I felt like every minute of my first 15 hours or so was well spent. I leveled up a bunch, of course, but just as importantly I found new weapons and armor, upgraded my healing flasks, gathered loads of crafting materials, and uncovered vast swathes of the map that I can now fast travel around using the surprisingly generous Sites of Grace network. I’ve also had some truly memorable experiences, not all of which involve me sneaking or racing past giant dragons, giant bears, giant lobsters, or other enemies that I’m clearly not equipped to deal with yet.
One of my favorite Elden Ring moments thus far doesn’t involve any enemies at all. While galloping through one of the many areas that I feel like I have no business being in yet, I tried to reach some higher ground by jumping on one of the geysers that act as springboards when you’re on your mount. Expecting to land safely atop a cliff overlooking the geyser, my mount and I instead ended up perched precariously on the rooftop of the nearby Lenne’s Rise tower.
Feeling like I’d discovered something that perhaps no other player had yet, as I often do in Elden Ring, I was mildly disappointed to find messages from other players up on the roof. My disappointment was short-lived though, as upon entering the tower via a balcony I found a treasure chest containing a Memory Stone that allowed me to memorize an additional spell. Prior to this, I had mistakenly assumed that the geysers sprinkled throughout the Lands Between always propelled you up to the exact same spot; a theory I quickly disproved when I tried to recreate my unintentional roof landing.
So many of my favorite moments in Elden Ring, like this one, don’t feel scripted and could very easily be missed, but I have no doubt at all that the developers at From Software knew exactly what they were doing when they placed that geyser and that balcony. In so many other games, using a jump pad to reach an otherwise inaccessible high point would almost certainly feel pedestrian. In Elden Ring, where you’re so often rewarded for exploring rather than for chasing the next on-screen waypoint, it feels amazing.
At the time of writing, I’ve finally gotten around to beating the first of Elden Ring’s story bosses plus three or four optional bosses. None have taken me more than three attempts to kill, not because I’ve suddenly become good at Souls games, but because Elden Ring has afforded me the freedom to play the way I want to from the moment I chose a starting class. I daresay there are a number of other bosses out there that I’d stand a good chance against after spending so much time leveling and obtaining gear; I’ll get around to them at some point. For the moment I’m gonna keep exploring the Lands Between at my leisure, hopefully find a better shield, and maybe try my luck against one of those dragons that I’ve gotten so good at avoiding.
