Elden Ring has become the best surprise of 2022, at least when it comes to sales, passing the 12 million sales mark. But it’s not about the sales figures, although this might suggest that there is something very special about Elden Ring that needs to be played.
Elden Ring came at a very packed first quarter of 2022. and very stuffed February/March. Elden Ring was released on February 25 on all major platforms (PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows). This by itself allow to game to reach a massive audience.
In February we’ve seen the launch of Sifuotal War: Warhammer III, Horizon Forbidden West, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen (expansion) and many others. Definitely, that month and the one following were packed.
But Elden Ring felt like something new and exciting, both for those who were fans of the souls series and waiting for a refreshing take on the game, and also for those who haven’t played souls games before. Many things have been made to appeal to a large audience who like the theme of souls game but weren’t sure about it due to its high difficulty.
I think the high anticipation came due to the game feeling more welcoming to new players with the ability to tackle the difficulty in many ways, the open-world game design, being a dark fantasy world, the beautiful art direction, that amazing early feedback from the technical preview, the evolvement of George R. R. Martin in writing the story for the game, and being multi-platform.
Let’s say it like that. If the game was good, it had a potential to be a huge success—and it did it was.
For me, the game stood out from the rest and I preferred picking it up than playing a sequel, remastered version of another game, play a game with a theme and story I didn’t like (looking at you Forbidden West).
But it’s only the quality of the game that will make it stand out. Indeed, not without it’s issues (especially technical issues regarding performance on PC), the game delivered big time.
The art direction was second-to-none, an immersive fantasy world that so enjoyable to explore. It felt rewarding discovering hidden areas. Combat is top-notch, boss fights are epic, the relatively high difficulty made triumph more satisfying, the game is massive full of things to do, music was stunning to match, enemies look superbly creative, the world level design made so well, there were tons of items to discover and experiment with, and more.
Media reviews were off the chart, with 10/10 flying like there is no tomorrow. The game is currently ranked 96 on Metacritic (PS5) and with an aggregated rating of 95 Top Critic Average, 98% Critics Recommend and OpenCritic “Mighty” rating.
Elden Ring, for a fact, is one of the highest-rated games of all time.
Elden Ring did get review-bombed by many PC players who were disappointed with its performance. As one who played on the PS5, I didn’t have any issues to complain about.
There are some things that you just can’t describe and no aggregated score in the world can make you understand how amazing Elden Ring is. I could easily dismiss the game because of its dark soul’s difficulty, but then I would have missed The Best I’ve Ever Played.
I was blown away by how immersed I was in the game, playing 2 days straight sleeping at night and that pattern repeated for like 2 weeks. I just didn’t want to take a break, I Was so immersed with it.
I am no different compared to so many others who felt the same as I, including media reviewers and players. We all experience something special. A gameplay experience that you don’t experience often.
Finally, an open-world game that was designed so well, with a deeply impressive scope and depth. Game felt so rich and I really felt it was my own adventure, not a scripted one.
Is Elden Ring “The Best Game Ever”? — Well, for me and I’m sure for many others, it was. It’s definitely a Must-Play. Even FromSoftare, its developer didn’t expect such a massive reach for their game.
Elden Ring delivered in areas where many other open-world games before it failed. It was tweaked to be more accessible and answered the need for something new and refreshing for many players, both veterans of the Souls games and newcomers and it did it brilliantly.
Will such an amazing game design, the ability to attract so many players to what before seems like a more nich-y genre and a complex-difficulty game, FromSoftware’s Elden Ring is very likely to become Game Of The Year (GOTY).
We just don’t see such amazing games being released that are as impressive as Elden Ring is–Triple-A title or not. Elden Ring not just delivered beyond expectations, it marked itself in the hallmark of The Best game ever made. It will be a “crime” not to acknowledge that in my perspective and it should win GOTY in 2022.
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