Exploring the open world of the Elden Ring

The open world of the Elden Ring contains tons of smaller-scale side dungeons to explore and a myriad of secrets to discover as you tour your spirit steed. However, these open spaces are quite different from many of the hallway areas that have previously been associated with From Software’s action RPGs. What does this mean? It means that yes, you can tackle the challenges of the world with melee, magic and ranged options as you would in other From games, but you can also employ stealth as an offensive and defensive option.

Approaching a caravan full of treasures with care is a smart choice

As is often the case, many lessons and aspects of From’s old games are incorporated into his new projects, and Sekiro’s influence is felt here with a bit of stealth and posture breaking. While breaking an enemy’s stance is somewhat similar to how awesome an opponent would work before, it also offers a critical strike opportunity (similar to Bloodborne’s visceral attack window). So if you see a giant lurking in an open field, you can take the path less traveled and sneak through some bushes if you want. This is probably the right decision when working in an area for the first time. Like Sekiro, stealth is great for both avoiding dangerous encounters and initiating combat, and it can make the difference in success or failure. In a short video, we saw a player pull out a traveling caravan that stopped for a break. Inside, the caravan’s treasure awaits, but there were plenty of guards ahead and to the sides.

These creatures are probably best avoided

TThe player decided to carefully approach and use a sleeping dart to deactivate and kill the first guard, then strategically visited the outskirts of the camp to backstab other guards who were looking at the valuable payload. Sleeping Darts are cool new tools that allow you to disable opponents and crit on their prone form. A bit of magic was also used to obtain the loot, a purple earth blast that is channeled through the use of elements and not through traditional spell casting, so even if you choose to go heavy melee or ranged focus , you can still access some point magic effects through items. And speaking of articles, let’s talk about a new type of article that will prove extremely useful when traveling alone in these vast areas.

Summoning Spirits is a great new component of the From Software action RPG formula in the Elden Ring, and these can be acquired, leveled up, and upgraded in a variety of ways that are not detailed at this time. These spirits can take many forms, but one we saw in this demo summoned a small squad of trolls, including a beefy-style tank troll with a large club and a handful of smaller goblin / orc-looking things. What do these do? Well, in addition to dealing damage and engaging in combat, they serve a critical function in battle: they capture the attention of the enemy. This can be very useful in a boss battle to allow you to land a few hits against an enemy with no windows of opportunity or in the open world where you can take on many different enemies from different directions simultaneously.

Bosses are also in the open world. In the short video we watched, two players carefully maneuvered through the bushes to avoid some giant creatures that were similar in design to Archdragon Peak’s hooded / covered snake-men from Dark Souls III. In fact, the field chief they were targeting also shared some similarities. With a long-edged scythe-like weapon, the area boss had a humanoid form with a variety of extremely dangerous attacks including wide multi-hit combo strikes, point-blank area-of-effect fire, and more.

The boss creature was wrapped in blankets or a shawl (it was a bit difficult to see perfectly and note taking had to be quick), and featured the awkward elongated nature of the aforementioned Archdragon Peak creatures, as on its neck it could pull a Mr. Fantastic. and stretch out for gruesome visuals and a variety of dangerous attacks. This is known as a field boss, and players were finally able to triumph against him, and my good eye noted that the boss’s disappearance revealed a Site of Lost Grace where he was killed, meaning you can acquire checkpoints all over the world. open world killing bosses in some areas.

Everything we saw in the short video felt very soul-like with a touch of Bloodborne and Sekiro sprinkles, but also crisp, clean, fluid, and fantastic. I try not to get excited about the games until I’ve actually tried them, but I’m as optimistic as possible for From’s next title and I can’t wait to see how it lands on January 21, 2022.

If the comments are still shown disabled, it means that a site update is taking place on our side that has caused a temporary deletion. We hope they get back up and running soon so our community can share their thoughts with us again on all things gaming!