Analysis: Elden Ring and Open World Design

Since its gargantuan launch only a month ago, From Software's Elden Ring has made a massive splash among the video game community, particularly in how everyone views open world design. But what makes this game's open world so good? And how can other developers who wish to imitate it (and there will be some) truly understand how it affects player-driven exploration?
My Elden Ring Review:
• Elden Ring Review - Th...
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➤ CHAPTERS
0:00 Context and Introduction
5:35 A Very Brief History of Open Worlds
8:09 Infodumping and Railroading
14:48 Art Design and Draw Distance
20:43 Transitioning from Broad to Focused Objectives
25:42 Traversal
29:44 Content
39:35 Closing Thoughts
➤MUSIC CREDITS
Sezherad (for non-Elden Ring BGM):
open.spotify.com/artist/2x2Dn...
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#EldenRing #FromSoftware #DarkSouls

[@john_michael97]

The best way I can describe this issue is that Elden Ring feels like exploring a city you’ve never been to by yourself while the Ubisoft Formula feels like being taken on a guided tour of that city.

[@purplelove9455]

👏

[@youngspecial64]

I pray that insomniac will achieve the same thing when it comes to crime and side activities in Spider-Man 2. They persuade the player to explore and find the action for yourself, hear olea or cry for help around the corner... become that Freindly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

[@john_michael97]

@Professor Plebian sure, some people do, but sometimes people don’t, and some people Think they do, but would actually enjoy not having them. Just because “most people” like something a certain way doesn’t mean Some people can’t have and value a different experience.

[@TheScience69]

The one tiny change they made that made exploration less tedious was letting me pick up items without getting off my horse. All the other horse games like the witcher and red dead make me have to get off my horse every 3 seconds to pick up a herb or skin an animal and then get back on

[@mookiestewart3776]

Ghost of Tsushima I think was the first game I saw to do it right I think elden ring took note from sucker punch on that one Edit: spelling error

[@Jim-Bagel]

At least it’s quick to get on and off. Don’t need to go looking for it or wait for it to walk over to you

[@feaweninglorin6035]

@@Jim-Bagel in witcher 3 my horse runs away from me while i am trying to ride him i got a rage once and walked to my quest alone because i really runned a little long distance while trying to cath roach

[@112523]

Fromsoft is one of the few studios i actually respect. As they seemingly don't let anyone tell them how they should make their games. They stick to their vision and i love that cuz you can see it how much they prefer working like this. The end product is amazing and probably thanks to the fact they have this freedom. Really hope no publisher will try to put a leash on them cuz these guys need to be able to do whatever they want

[@Maybelater1018]

Even Activision allowed them to make exactly the game they wanted to make. I feel like Fromsoft is too much of a juggernaut at this point for them to choose to work with restrictive publishers.

[@glb1993]

Right though the fact Activision allowed From Software to do they're own thing with Sekiro shadows die twice is very awesome on the part of the devs in From Software. They refused to allow any publisher to change the vision they have on the games they are developing, I respect From more than any other video game development team. They have put out very high quality games consistently for many many years as of now, and I don't see them slowing down any time soon ^_^!

[@teriyakipuppy]

They just need to take care of their own. The workplace is apparently toxic at fromsoft

[@talkingmudcrab718]

Agreed. Authenticity is an actual treasure to behold these days in a vast sea of soulessness.

[@theblackbaron4119]

Except Bandai Namco does. That's why DS3 had two dlcs instead of one. Where the dlc was clearly only supposed to be one not two.

[@bastardog7998]

Elden Ring level design is just🤯🤯🤯..stormveil castle, mt.gelmir, leyndell capital, subterranean shunning grounds..those places reminded me of the feeling when i unlock the elevator shortcut from undead parish to firelink shrine in dark souls 1

[@foulXD]

Ikr? My mind was blown multiple times when i found the shortcuts. I was like: wait, i am HERE? Fromsoft are masters at level design, its so perfectly interconnected. Many developers should take notes about that.

[@moesalamander7012]

Shunning grounds was trash but amazing game

[@orlando5789]

​@@foulXD the shortcuts are the worst in the series

[@foulXD]

@@orlando5789 thank you for your opinion, but i HEAVILY disagree.

[@orlando5789]

@@foulXD I was talking about the shortcuts in Elden Ring

[@Zeddicus1976]

The cool thing about Elden Ring is, even after 200 hours in the game I explored some new areas. For example the sewers. It's an amazing maze. First time I didn't find the dung eater. After finishing his questline thought, wow, that was really cool down there. Is there more? And it was. I found the deeps to fight Mogh again. Wow, didn' t expect there was more. Absolutely amazing! After that I examined the room and opened another fantastic secret area. At the end of it, I found the three fingers. There are so many things you can and will overlook in your first playthrough. I am generally rarely motivated for another playthrough in games, but Elden Ring did it right. Only open world game in my opinion where exploring is really fun and worthwile. The art design, world building and level design is by far the best I've ever seen in a game.

[@logansaxby7224]

Sewers of where?

[@Zeddicus1976]

@@logansaxby7224 Leyndell

[@Jossages]

You might have already got there another way, but there is EVEN MORE past where you find the 3 fingers =]

[@Zeddicus1976]

@A B I don't think so. Even Witcher 3 was better than Skyrim IMO. But it's a matter of taste I guess.

[@lolicongang.4974]

@A B woah without mods skyrim Is nothing compared to elden ring. Witcher 3 was fun but the legit level capping was boring and bullshit ight.

[@sdfxcvblank5756]

one really subtle thing i love is that when your missing enough hp/fp the bar stays around so its not a suprise in combat, but also you can bring up the ui any time by pressing triangle

[@MeatSnax]

The horse in Elden Ring actually made Breath of the Wild worse in hindsight because its such a better execution of the same idea. Breath of the Wild seemed like it straight up didn't want you to ride the horse, the main gameplay loop of climbing and gliding meant leaving your horse in a random spot on the map, where it wouldn't be able to follow even if you called it, or dropping it off at one of only a few ranches to go through a menu to pick it up and repeat the same loop. It got to the point where there were very few situations where I even wanted the horse, and even fewer where a horse was easily accessible without wasting time. Torrent actually reminds me more of the bike in Pokemon games, it's a single button press away, it makes you much faster effortlessly, and it even opens up new areas that aren't accessible by foot.

[@Seth_M-T]

Well there is the ancient saddle, which lets you teleport your horse to your location. Plus there's the master cycle zero, which can you can summon practically anywhere. Both of these are DLC items though. I think the biggest problem with horses in Breath of the Wild is that the whistle range is too low, but I imagine this is due to the way the game dealt with far away objects.

[@MeatSnax]

@@Seth_M-T by the time you get either of those though, you already have the high jump + glide, which is easily the best traversal method. Almost seems like they forgot Zelda is supposed to have horses and threw it in at the last minute, lol

[@Seth_M-T]

@@MeatSnax One positive of it is the believability. Having to put up with the horse not being able to go certain places makes it feel more like a real animal, which could strengthen your bond with it. I do still prefer Elden Ring's approach, although you could only get away with it in a fantasy game.

[@uglystupidloser]

You know... you might not be as polished as other channels... But I can always feel the passion dripping off your content. And I am 100% down for that. The level of care and insight you put in is deeply, deeply appreciated.

[@TheExai]

you're mentioning GTA 3 but missing Morrowind which released around that date and wasn't obviously affected by GTA 3 and Morrowind had a lot of Elden Ring type design decisions - unlimited freedom, minimal UI / map information, quests you really needed to READ to understand and discuss with NPCs and similar world that lived rationally and logically and you could understand what and why is happening - towns had farms, mines, land had transport, bandits and cultist hid in hideouts, military lived in forts etc. By the way IF Elden ring had Morrowing style journal that would be soooo goood because you wouldn't have to screenshot every piece of quest information to remember it a week later, journal that didn't help or guide you, just memorized and annotated who said what

[@keiichimorisato98]

It would be cool if the journal was done in first person as well, creating a further sense of place.

[@ehrtdaz7186]

but elden ring isn't based around doing quests like morrowind, there is far less quests in ER too

[@Flashks]

you can do a journal in real life, I mean, why not? :D

[@brainnotbright1563]

u could argue bc daggerfall was waaay older then that

[@vehnashur2771]

True, Morrowind did this a long time ago. A journal would be nice. It wouldn't break anything.

[@preyo6511]

The most important thing that western developers will refuse to learn from this is to stop check listing and sign posting their content. They are destroying the exploration portion of their games.

[@theobell2002]

Elden Ring is literally a checklist game in disguise and guess what? There's nothing wrong with that. You FromSoft fanboys are actually delusional. lol

[@foulXD]

@@theobell2002 its not a checklist, you dense mf. The dungeons are not on the map until you actually found them yourself. In the witcher 3 there are thousands of ?, thats what checklist gaming is. You see a question mark on the map, mark it, go to it and its gone. In elden ring you have to find them yourself, its called exploration, you find those places your self and not through a question mark like every assassins creed ever. Anyway, based on your other replies you are just a troll trying to antagonize people for liking the game. Pathetic and sad.

[@incius8341]

@@theobell2002 Trying to bait an inflammatory response on a comment several months old. lol

[@misaeltoral508]

@@theobell2002 care to elaborate on that?

[@youngspecial64]

Insomniac will definitely be the people to break that mold and INSPIRE sucka's to make an open world that is supposed to be explored. Spider-Man 2 will be their greatest open world masterpiece, i can feel it.... becuase they have the love and passion for it.

[@charlespfister6240]

It’s crazy how you could play the game all the way through and never know about the 5-6 underground regions, and the secret consecrated snowfield, Mt. gelmir and over half of the unique bosses.

[@techreviewerjlox]

All I’m going to say is. EA needs to be taking notes for Fallen Order 2 cause if they implement even half the things that make Elden Ring great we might be looking at the best Star Wars game in ever.

[@veryrare432hz]

Same for avatar ubisoft

[@prysm777]

BRO I was watching this and i thought it was some video that has millions of views. and that you were like the most detailed game ankylotic ever or something. and you mat be. great work I'm subscribed.

[@uglystupidloser]

I can't remember who or where I saw this, but there was a video describing how Super Mario (I think, on the original Gameboy, without color) had the team arguing and laboring for a long time on the very first few seconds of the game. How does the player orient themselves? Ok, they have to move to the right, as they can't go left. How do they know how to jump? How do they know what an enemy is? How do they know what is a power up? How do they access and learn the amount of time they need to jump? ... While we're at it, how do we introduce secret, hidden blocks? And tunnels? And passageways? Though the early developers labored intensively over how to bring video games through the various global and cultural hoops and hurdles of technology (as especially noted by the development of Nintendo games, where each cartridge had its own battery to resolve the save function dilemna for early gome consoles), I feel like the artistic... "eccentric risk taking", for lack of a better term, has ultimately taken a backseat yo the pursuit of the easier, established financial profits that the medium now brings. ... And, guilty. This is a wordy rant by me. But I can't help but think back to George Lucas, where he said something along the lines of: "the desire to create art, creates the technology that allows it to happen". And I could be totally be wrong in quoting him and misunderstanding, but that sentiment always stuck with me. We were humans that fought with muskets 200 years ago? Now we can wage cyberwarfare? What? A few 100 thousand years ago, our greatest technology was fire and finger paintings? As we passed down our survival method ls through culture? I... kind of see video games like our modern books. We interact and engage with it. We our left with the thoughts of the ones who came before us. We may not understand, but we can appreciate. As the very small flashes in the universe, as we hold hands with the stories that are passed between us. ... Don't mind me. I'm tipsy. But thanks for givin me a space where I can express my own thoughts. Cheers.

[@uglystupidloser]

I... think that I oeiginally wanted to say how Elden Ring was a spiritual successor to the intentional game design that Miyamoto and the early team of Nintendo pioneered... Anyways.

[@doublejesusful]

People seem to be a lot less agile with critical reasoning nowadays. Take caelid as an example, I accidently wandered there in my first blind playthrough before heading south and took one look at the place and said no thanks chief. Then went somewhere that seemed a little more inviting which probably saved me a lot of frustration down the line.

[@DimitriX-zq1dr]

The thing about Caelid is that you can be sent there through teleporter trap some minutes from the start of the game. Even more, the game disables fast travel once it happens, which may trick you into believing you need to do something special in order to escape this trap

[@jalenforeman1393]

Extremely well put together video! This is the first time I’ve seen you pop up on my recommended. I’m glad there are people that are willing to put the time and effort into things like this, even if it may not be to a big audience. Continue doing your thing, and I guarantee you will start to grow insanely fast! Take it easy, buddy.

[@MildConviction]

Thanks for the encouragement, I appreciate it!

[@fullswingin]

@@MildConviction Same here - first time I've seen you in my recommended, and absolutely blown away that you only have 1.3k subs given the quality of your script. Also, the one-take footage touring the entire map was absolutely brilliant.

[@RedXWerewolf]

One thing that Elden Rings really really needs and doesn't have is some system or function that tells the player that they have already completed a catacomb/dungeon/cave/etc. Something as simple as the icon for the location on the map having a check make above it upon completion, or have it grey out or X out or something. I can't tell you how many times I've gone back to a cave or catacomb only to realize shortly after, I've already completed it. I have a habit of exploring and unlocking a lot of sites of Grace in places like this early without going deep in to do the locations content and saving it until later. then I'll look at the map, and have no clue on what locations I've already fully explored and what I simply opened the door to and continued on my way.

[@Solsev]

I use the map markers for this, specifically the flag for areas I've completed, and the skull for areas that I need to come back to.

[@edgarsoto5126]

Ir you hadn't completed a cave, you cannot leave the area by fast travel (areas of grace in the map won't be accessible). But if you already killed the boss of the cave, you can leave it by fast travel

[@LucidOreo]

When I was playing Ghost Recon Breakpoint last year, I was doing a quest to find pirate treasure. It took me a few hours and I was actually getting engaged and excited in analyzing the landmarks that lead to the treasure. But it's a Ubisoft game so when I finally find the treasure, I received ONE skill point only... I uninstalled the game. The exploration was great and took a lot of effort on my part, but I refuse to waste my time and energy for something that can easily be gotten in less than 10 minutes of playing the main story. Elden Ring on the other hand truly rewards you just for exploring and I absolutely love it. I've always loved exploring open worlds

[@manjiimortal]

Now this was a great essay explaining why Elden Ring's open world works so damn well. Great work you did here, and I agree there are already developers trying to emulate Elden Ring, who won't be able to get what made it work.

[@adamproductions4529]

My only issue with the game was how the npc side quests were done. A lot of good side content gets missed simply because you can't find an npc.

[@impracticality2312]

This issue can also be found in other fromsoftware games. Most would call it a "feature" of fromsoftware games but honestly, I think maybe they can put some type of hint for these quests so that players do not miss the quest entirely.

[@adamproductions4529]

@@impracticality2312 I just don't think it's very good game design. I get the idea that it's supposed to be more immersive, but it ruins a lot of potential questlines and player experience. DS3 was full of great side quests that I heard about after finishing the main game.

[@impracticality2312]

@@adamproductions4529 Yeah you are right. Hence why I believe maybe From should try to give us fragments of info about that sidequest when we are near the corresponding npc. It would be a fun puzzle solving mechanic as well and when we finally reach the npc and do the sidequest, it would be worthwhile cuz most sidequests in Fromsoftware games are just S+ tier(Gold Standard) 👌🏻

[@theobell2002]

"sO YoU wAnT tHE GaMe To HoLd YoUr hAnd hUh?!" - Souls fans, probably.

[@veryrare432hz]

Thas apart of the charm. You want to find these npc’s ? Explore deeper

[@thefirsttrillionaire2925]

Damn! I thought you had 100k+ subscribers until one comment suggested otherwise! Keep this up and you’ll hit it easily!

[@tizzin2147]

Something I thought about while reading these comments was an aspect of the ‘open world’ feel of the game. When I watched a review before playing, a guy had said that it felt like every corner and nook n cranny had an item behind it. I guess I expected too much from hearing that, cuz I found that there were plenty of areas with long pathways that led to nothing. While at first I felt like this took away from the open world feel, I actually think it does the opposite. If there was an item behind every single walkable area, then world would feel more designed and artificial rather than random and unpredictable. Whether it was intentional or not, I now appreciate that aspect of the game.

[@nielsmeyer7943]

With Logic like that, you Can flip anything to Sound positive. “Oh shit, i just looked behind this corner and Found nothing at all, soooo immersive, sooooo ambiguous”. “Well done fromsoft”.

[@tizzin2147]

@@nielsmeyer7943 It’s not like I’m thoroughly impressed or licking the shoes of From because of a lack of items in certain areas. I’m simply saying that aspect makes the game feel more natural to me, intentional or not.

[@Killjeser]

You provide really good and genuine content! Thank you.

[@karakurie]

Just wanted to mention, I've noticed a lot of developers or at least one of the hundreds of people on those teams do actually watch reviews like this. A lot of GDC talks mention Sequelitis and gamer's tool kit etc and even some minor videos. So I am always happy for these analysis videod because it gives a greater chance of better games because you never know who watches this.

[@1981AdamGs]

I've been playing From Software games since King's Field. Miyazaki is most definitely a visionary. He created a genre that in my opinion has never been matched by another developer. Sure, some games have come close. But ironically the games that come the closest to matching these games are the ones that don't try to emulate them. They do their own thing with certain mechanics from the formula.

[@phoenixx913]

I think the only games that have come close are probably Nioh and Nioh 2 which have very similar difficulties and mechanics to souls borne games. Other then them I can't say I've seen many games that have come close to em.

[@theobell2002]

Miyazaki wasn't around for King's Field.

[@brentloy131]

Bro you have described, in great detail, my exact thoughts on open world design in today’s gaming market. Kudos to you. Very informative and entertaining.

[@MHkaserz]

Bro.. at 25:00 when you were done explaining how the open world of ER compares to RDR2 I was like, aight this deserves a like 100% I see the like count and I am confused, less than 1k? I see the sub count and I am confused even further! This was so well put together, cudos to you, a very cohesive video. Keep up the good work and the I hope the algorithm blesses you! Here, have my sub!

[@socratrash]

Batman Arkham knight had also a fantastic traversal system, i loved gliding over the city and grapple hooking to speed up. Fantastic.

[@chuckmynorris]

This is by far the best piece I've seen about Elden Ring. You truly captured the vastness of the world without giving away too much or spoiling anything. You definitely earned a sub 👍

[@demifull1213]

Great work buddy. Im looking forward to seeing more of your content.

[@sorrynotsorry404]

ER actually have kind of script triggered quest line that got me furious, THE THREE WISE "DOG" thing. If you triggered and started the puzzle by interacting with statue, but you ran around too far, the quest would be canceled and no warning of QUEST FELLED or something like that poped out. you had to get to the statue, re-trigger it to restart or continue the quest. I was stuck for like 20 or more minutes. that feeling of frustration sucks.

[@DustDemonTwilight]

imagine a bloodborne 2 with this style of open world but in the gothic horror bloodborne world has

[@Ithinkso11]

Imagine a PC port...

[@Jeff1tgdsghdehhsf]

I know right at this rate we're going to get a Ps4 emulator first hell the ps3 emulator you can now play just about any ps3 game out there now the os3 emulator made a massive leap in progress and now the ps4 emulator has gotten game's to but to the start menu. I don't understand why they don't release the game on pc it would be a best seller and most likely get goty and all they really need to do is get 60fps which is proven to work just fine with the mod on ps4

[@veryrare432hz]

@@Jeff1tgdsghdehhsf too old to re release

[@faithinchaos315]

You killed it! So many great points in this video. This is a skyrim level world, one that only come around every 6-10 years.

[@ahmz1404]

Went back and watched some other videos, keep up the good analysis and reviews.

[@feralsound]

Really well-articulated and well-produced video

[@tylerthecreator5709]

I haven't finished the video yet so I don't know if you mentioned this but I think the way Elden Ring uses the land itself to point you in the right direction is really good. For example, in Limgrave, right when you walked out of the Stranded Graveyard, you can see Stormveil Castle (your final goal), the Church of Elleh (the important church), the Erdtree (the final goal), Varre (the person who explains everything), and your first sight of grace. Also, Elden Ring uses elevation to direct you. The higher up you go, the more important the location is. So, you can explore the surroundings, but you'll always know where the final dungeon is in an area. Of course, this only applies to several regions like Liurna, Limgrave, Caelid (kind of), Atus, Mt. Gelmir, and kind of with the pot in Mountains.

[@GlacierRain]

stormveil castle, what a lovely dungeon it was my first time around

[@eliasgalindo5578]

I personally think the open world in Elden Ring is good. It has great aspects that make it stand out from regular open worlds, but I also think that Elden Ring still has some things to fix before it truly perfects it's open world

[@dawsong5208]

If you still think so, could I ask what things you think it could do better to improve it’s open world? Or what things Fromsoft could do better in their next game if it happens to be open world?

[@geordiejones5618]

This game is almost too big but unlike say AC Odyssey/Valhalla it avoid making you feel overwhelmed. FromSoftware's preference for indirect narrative and more environmental storytelling makes the exploration of this game better than any before it. It doesn't feel like a game with things to do, it feels like a magical landmass forged by cosmic forces and the few remaining major players left around hanging onto crumbs. This game is gonna take me FOREVER just for one playthrough and every second has felt great. I might not buy another game for years bc I have more going on in my life and less and less time for games. Rather stick to the few reliable feelings I want from a few different games and wait to see how games improve over the decade. Bloodborne and Elden Ring are the only FS games that really hooked me quick but god damn I am near addiction. Gotta be careful...

[@Shiroze]

I rarely miss my horse in games so much. But after a long while in some area where torrent is not allowed I am so happy to get back on his back!

[@sho9585]

superb analysis video! u earn a subscriber keep up the good work!

[@viper341]

Great analysis, really well thought out. You probably know more about why elden ring is so good than most if not all of the directors at the competing AAA studios.

[@Illvana]

The one thing I think that sets fromsoft's souls games development from other companies trying to copy them is that they all go back to the initial design ethos of demon's souls. Everything around the game was built to express something in particular, and it wasn't just bits and pieces that made sense mechanically, paired with good art or something. As a comparison, lords of the fallen seems like it's trying to go for an oppressive atmosphere, just to heighten its supposed difficulty, but it fells kinda soulless in that regard, as well as being slow as a snail, which is a completely different point to make. With this, I believe most western developers trying to cash in on from's success will end up getting the wrong messages on the lack of player direction, and won't really understand how to funnel them to specific points on their world, and, as someone else said, while fromsoft doesn't care if you miss some side content, most western developers WANT players to experience it all, to see the fruit of their labor, instead of thinking that should be discovered by the player themselves to be meaningful, instead of a chore.

[@trippyskullz6669]

Yakuza is what Shenmue wanted to be. done better on EVERY level. and with MILLIONS less funding..yet is still better by far than Shenmue anyway

[@BknMoonStudios]

The quality of a game is tied to its creators and the development process itself, not the money spent on the project. Yu Suzuki has openly stated that he doesn't play games at all and he prefers to create without looking at the competition. In other words, he chooses to ignore all the progress and advancements done throughout gaming history, in an effort to keep his work "clean and pure". I find that very arrogant and misguided.

[@dalihadriem1210]

EverQuest, March 16th 1999, was released before GTA 3, October 22, 2001, and featured the same type of zoned level areas.. You could go in at your own risk.. It was also released before Morrowind. This game reminds me a lot of EverQuest.

[@amorimjt]

This was simply incredible!!!! So well written. Looking forward for more!

[@gcates107]

Glad KZbin pointed me in your direction. Fantastic video.

[@GD1_3]

Elden Ring has set the bar for how open world games worlds need to be structured! I've never had so much fun exploring in a game and I've been playing since I was 5 I'm 39 now. The landscape is gorgeous, unique, and so varied. ER is no doubt GOTY!!

[@John-996]

If devs start doing that this is going to become like ubiosft games.

[@foulXD]

@@John-996 if you repeat good content its not bad. What ubisoft does is repeat atrociously bad and uninspired content. Fromsoft found a formular that just doesnt get tired at all, imo. Its also fromsofts FIRST true open world game and for it being the first time it surpassed almost if not all high quality open world games and knowing fromsoft, they will refine and enhance their open world more and more in future games.

[@John-996]

@@foulXD The issue is Good Content is so subjective. But I would argue, That although repeating some Good content is not a bad thing to much good content being repeated can be a bad thing.

[@foulXD]

@@John-996 how is too much good content bad? explain.

[@John-996]

@@foulXD To much good content starts to become repetitive making it bad If there is no vaierty.

[@JustAnotherAlex3D]

1.6k subs??? Only!?!?! Life truly isn't fair 😥keep it up my guy❤️

[@DynamikDesign]

I agree completely. You nailed the description of what is so captivating about Elden Ring. This is my first FromSoftware game and I am blown away how well made it is. It was frustrating without direction at first. The PS5 doesn't have hints on the loading screen unlike other platforms so I just learned one death at a time. I love it.

[@WhatIsGoinOnPeople]

My first playthru of Elden Ring was 140 hours and I loved every minute of it. Started off as a noob (had only ever played DS3 prior to this and didn’t get very far) but got good along the way. The scenery is breathtaking and always makes me stop to just admire the world or view I came across, I loved hunting for more loot or lore with every cave or landmark I came across, trying to find the secrets of the world I was immersed in. I’m now currently 30 hours into a seamless co-op game playthru with 3 friends and none of the charm has been lost, it’s still amazing and fun and I can’t wait to sink another 100 hours in.

[@mclloydeeee5973]

As well as interesting things to do its also having things u can find, win in combat get behind secret walls and many other interesting ways of getting the items. But it's no point in getting things just to get things! When u actually get things that are very interesting and very useful, well that just makes it so much more fun. It is so many different little things in Elden Ring that come together to make it an amazing game! Like the different biomes are so interesting and so much fun to traverse I find myself constantly taking photos and I wish it had a good Photo mode.

[@nightgoblin29]

Great video and info.. thank you!

[@DuBaas007]

Fantastic video, really well explained!

[@MattDawgGaming]

The replayability of undiscovered areas is what stuck with me in Skyrim and Witcher. I never discovered the Theives Guild until my 3rd play through or the Brotherhood of Assassins in Skyrim until my 4th playthrough for example

[@jstratton1981]

All I know is that I hope the DLC is set the floating city before it fell to the surface. I honestly see this and the two TMNT games coming out being all I'm gonna play the rest of the year

[@Omega77232]

The floating city you refer is crumbling forum azula.I think the dlc will be connected to those 8 divine towers,if you see in the middle of those towers there is 1 portion of the sea is clouded,imo that specific area will open if you do some certain things to those towers.

[@GabrielMartins-wg6nx]

Incredible video, and very true, Elden Ring was a breath of fresh air in the open world industry. Open world games today rarely have this type of magic to them, what i am going to say may attract some hate to me but my biggest disapointment with open world games was with the Witcher 3, now don't get me wrong the Witcher 3 is a good game but it's open world is not, let me explain (it's a bit long but i will try my best to make it interesting). I was near the begining of the game and was finishing a quest for kira, the one where you go to a dungeon looking for clues abou Ciri. Well after that quest Kira made me an invitation, but while she was talking my eyes were fixed in a distant tower and my (at the time) Skyrim brain was like: "i want to go there", and so after kira finished talking i ignored her and went on my merry way to the tower. When i arrived i was immediatly drawn by the atmosphere of the place, and so i started to explore and found a dead body that Gerald could interact with and a bunch of magical green mist, i couldn't do anything to it at the time and i tought that if i explored the tower i could find something that could reveal what that was. With all this i was getting excited i mean i tought i had just found this random place and was solving a mystery and it was an awesome felling. So i continued to explore and i enterered the tower and i start to find clues, opening secret doors and reading notes about a mage, more bodies, it was fantastic and then i reach the top and i see this huge green mist bigger than the others and i said to myself: "this is it, this might reveal the mystery", i approach it and .............. .. nothing, nothing happend, i was confused, i mean i climed the tower finding all those clues and nothing happens now? Then i looked at the mini map and see this little icon and i am like: "NOOOOO, THEY (the developers) FU..ING DIDN'T, PLEASE TELL ME THIS ISN'T WHAT I THINK IT IS", i open the map and placed my cursor on top of the icon only to fing the phrase "use Kira's lamp to reveal the hidden memories" (DIES). So what happend was, the game builded my hype around this mystery, going from clue to clue only to kill it at the end telling me that i need a FU..ING ITEM FROM AN NPC, are you kiding me. And that was the begining of me realising that the world of the Witcher 3 was not open, it was condicional, if i wanted to explore the world i had to talk to the right npc's that would unlock the map and areas for me, that's not a good world designed that's stupid, to put in prespective in my 95 hours of play time in the Witcher 3 i encounterd ZERO locations where i could go in solve a mystery and leave without talking to npc's, ZERO. This was a long post but i wanted to explain all this in detail. thx for reading, have a nice day.

[@lolicongang.4974]

@A B I had it. The combat is not that fun to be honest lol. And the over leveling man the levels of the enemies are B's. I was doing the quest for this witch and I got to the end and I found out, I can't hurt this enemy. I can't do shit to him and thats when I went great it's one of these I need to farm levels so I dropped it.

[@foxreno956]

You do it well... Have you played Breath of the wild? That's the father of Elden Ring ( but without those glorious Combats) overall the physics and chemistry engine.. are so awesome...

[@GabrielMartins-wg6nx]

@@foxreno956 Yes i have, but sadly i didn't liked it that much, the open world is good and the mechanics are awesome, but the lack of narrative exploration made it a bit boring for me. When it comes to these types of games like Elden Ring, the Souls collection and bloodborne, i mostly play them for their story and lore, not mechanics, combat or bosses, i would say 60% lore/story and 40% combat/mechanics. That doesn't mean i don't like the challange, because i do, it makes getting pieces of the story more enjoyable. It's this diference betewen the two that makes Elden Ring one of the best games i ever played.

[@ShrekonDVD745]

good stuff man!

[@stridustridu9231]

Another excellent video. I enjoyed it. Thanks for the good time.

[@TheEternalElir]

I hope this blows up, it's so cool 🤘

[@dificulttocure]

12:00 - Yeah and games like Outward take this even further by not displaying your character in the map. I think this is a genius decision and one that makes ingame sense actually, why would a map have a auto-refreshing icon of yourself in it? It's not a gps, it's a f**king paper. Personally I praise Outward for that, exploration and map reading feels so much more rewarding when you are able to deduce your position based on landmarks and not an icon displaying it.

[@Jackraiden500]

I agree to some extent with the criticisms about quest design. It's one thing in a linear game to miss questlines as one can fairly easily playthrough again (like the other souls games). In an open world game though? It takes dozens of hours to go through every inch of the game checking to see where an npc you last spoke to has moved unless you use a guide, that shouldn't be required. I have no life so it's not really an issue for me, but what about most other people with shit to do? Fromsoft has all but acknowledged it themselves at this point as most npcs drop most of the things you get during their questline and they even added the npc tracker to see where they are on the map. I'm not saying there should be full on handholding Ala skyrim, but this definitely needs some work. I missed speaking with corhyn once my first playthrough and didn't know where to find him. Once I beat maliketh what happens? Questline borked. Sorry I didn't put in an extra day of my life combing for him I guess?.

[@jamesohearn2364]

Stuff like that has been why I’ve NEVER felt guilty looking up how to do NPC quests in FromSoft games (because come on, how are you supposed to figure out Solaire’s golden ending without a guide??) - and I generally don’t have any less enjoyment for having looked it up.

[@lolicongang.4974]

@@jamesohearn2364 Um... Those guides someone found the npc or that tricky way to get somewhere, someone found out meaning they put the time in while you couldn't.

[@lolicongang.4974]

The quest are fine just look it up XD you ain't got time others do and they find it.

[@jamesohearn2364]

@@lolicongang.4974, yup! I’ve got three kids and a job. I don’t have as much time for gaming as I used to. (Which is totally fine - because now I get to show all sorts of awesome video games to my kids and get to experience that joy of discovery all over again.) But I’ve got no shame in saying I don’t have the time to comb every inch of a game anymore.

[@lolicongang.4974]

@@jamesohearn2364 Good for not having the shame but don't blame the game cause you don't have the time to actually explore this big world where we'll... You lead the adventure.

[@dancode9738]

The part about draw distances and far off landmarks would be complemented better if the footage wasn't shrouded in heavy fog. 😆

[@yuukiharuko]

39:01 reminds me of something I heard from a reviewer a while ago "Elden Ring isn't Dark souls 4, it's Dark souls 4, 5, and 6"

[@allandm]

I only wish the map didn't get blurry when you zoom in

[@spillycave]

great video!! commenting for the algorithm hopefully a lot of people see this

[@TheVitolo1999]

Really, really great video

[@mysteryneophyte]

hopefully somebody couples most of their formula but with good storytelling cuz I like from soft I really do there's nothing bad about it I just think the stories could be better told, we all know there's so much here, so much lore, it's just so awesome but imagine that coupled with an actual good story you can really get deeply invested in.

[@mayankbisht7691]

36:21 as ASOIAF fan this hurts

[@vmanog67889]

This is a great analysis and I love the perspective of 2 games in one always had this ds3 feeling wen I got to legacy dungeons and a unexplainable feeling during open world traversal and equally love both feelings and to love anything equally as much as ds3 is a testament in itself

[@EdwardViaTomato]

8:32 Literally exactly what I did in Elden Ring. Even the greyed out map shows the obelisk to reveal the map. The map shows ruins, some caves, etc. Sites of Grace literally point you where you should go. There's not a plethora of different UI icons for different activities, sure, but that's because there's not a plethora of different activities in the first place. This whole thing is basically just about double standards.

[@mick9707]

Difference is, the ruins etc don’t show up on the map until you actually go there. The map shows you topography only for the most part. Which is the best way to do a map, and much better for exploration than any Ubisoft style open world map. Putting icons for points of interest on the map is terrible for exploration. Icons should only show up for places you have been, to remind you what they were and where they are.

[@jankriz9199]

On the minimap: I loved Witcher 1 (for the time it was good) and simped Witcher 2 hard. I was so looking forward to the open worlded witcher 3, and was so let down by the minimap destroying everything. They patched it later on to be on/off switched, but the game was already destroyed for me by handholding everything to the player, meanwhile making huge unorientable map which could not easily be remembered. I felt like a child minor roadie for geralt & boys consantly being confused where to go, never enjoying the action. Elden Ring is what i wanted from witcher, tripled. Thanks for awesome video, I owe you a sub.

[@JEREMCEE]

Definitely getting this game soon!

[@Mr.N0B0DY.]

When it comes to spiderman. I actually forgot that it has fast travel. Never used it

[@tonyogar6936]

Excellent piece.

[@yofomojojo]

When correlating quantity and quality with open worlds and map size, my favorite point of reference is the Elder Scrolls series. Ranked by map size: Elder Scrolls 1: Arena - "9,000,000" km (purported, untestable - game breaks down the farther you travel.) ES 2: Daggerfall - 160,000 km (Unstable procedurally generated sandbox. Roughly the actual size of Florida, somewhere between the size of England and all of Great Britain.) ES: Online - 300-500 km. This is the game that got me to permanently swear off pre-ordered collectors editions for the rest of my life. ES 4: Oblivion - 41 km. After the success of ES 3, they let themselves get a a bit risky, hunting for the largest practical size an open world can be. ES 5: Skyrim - 37 km. Walking back just those couple of steps as they refine their open world down to it's precisely honed optimal radius. Would set the new standard for open world games for years to come. ES 3: Morrowind - 17 km. The game that truly put Elder Scrolls on the map, as it were. Finally realizing that size meant nothing if the world and vibe didn't feel alive, they made a world exactly big enough to justify all the regions, kingdoms, ruins and wilderness needed to create their first true open world, released only months after GTA 3 but with double the map size. 2002 was the year the open world was born. Editors note: While I won't claim it is objectively the best of them, Morrowind is unequivocally my personal favorite Elder Scrolls game, and might truly be my single favorite game, period; with hundreds of hours racked up across a good few years. And here's the kicker: I never even knew there was a main story until after Oblivion was out. I honest to god just thought it was a pure sandbox experience and I loved every minute of it. No quest markers or objectives, no map towers or progression railroads. Just the natural immersive progression of entering a new world and experiencing it, living out a life in it, making it a home. And I refuse to ever play it again for fear of sullying those pure memories of endless exploration and wonder I felt playing it, barring maybe a full-fledged FF7 level remake. And despite them making three more games in that series since, with Skyrim becoming a sensation and household name even to non-gamers... Elden Ring is without question the closest any game has ever come to recreating the absolute purity of those Morrowind days.

[@OlExtraRegularBass]

Bruh. I'm old so finding everything is something that Mario hammered into me at a young age. I'm SO many hours into Elden Ring and I haven't even finished it because I keep exploring (probably too hard). But even Ubisoft games don't stop me from combing the map. I can't even fuck with any Sims game because I'll be locked for eternity.

[@DekkarJr]

I liked the Ubisoft towers :3

[@consumeproduce]

thanks to the algorithm for bringing me to your channel. great videos dude. (also, only 4 minutes into this one but waiting to see when BOTW gets credit for a lot of the innovation in player driven exploration that Eldin built upon and Witcher 3's 30 seconds from a new encounter / point of interest game design - see No Clip's series for more on this design principle.) GTA 3 wasn't the first open world game. The first Zelda was....

[@Yora21]

Making the video relate to the audio would be nice.

[@os6829]

All these people whining about reused bosses when there's still like 70 unique designs through the whole game, which is bordering on an MMO amount. If reused bosses are that big of a deal to you, your favorite Souls game better be Demon's or you're just wasting everyone's time with your hyperbole. From's been reusing assets for over a fucking decade now.

[@shawnmarcum8078]

Even that game reused Vanguard. But that was a rematch. Every souls game has at least a reskin.

[@os6829]

@@shawnmarcum8078 Already seen someone complain about Elden Ring reusing bosses and in the same breath say Sekiro is better. Laughable.

[@ogkdr]

The immense dislike for reused bosses is a bit puzzling, seeing that it gives players a chance at experiencing growth and actual joy at having mastered a boss and being able to demonstrate that in a subsequent encounter. At least for me, some repeated boss encounters put a smile on my face, knowing "this time I can do better, I know most of the moves", or even "I got owned hard last time, but now I'll show the boss who's really boss". Additionally, imagine all ~200 bosses would have been different and you only fought each boss a single time... only getting a single chance at experiencing a combat you maybe really liked and wanted to repeat without starting anew in such a huge game. The Fallingstar Beasts for example were always thrilling encounters. I liked the design and the challenge, and thus enjoyed repeats of the fight (and in that case the fights even all differ from each other a bit).

[@MehmetCanKaya35]

I am okay with open world of Elden ring first 20-30 hours is enjoyable then its getting boring but its okay game is dont u force to do like other open world games. But major problem is boss design. DS3 is far better. I finished the game yesterday and i only remember memorable and enjoyable boss is Miquella. The others are very chaotic many times u dont know what boss do they stamping ground constantly, shooting laser beams everywhere etc. I dont feel any learning progress in Elden Ring but in DS series i was getting more and more better with every encounter and i feel like im duelling with the boss.

[@morgannyan2738]

@@ogkdr Theres this thing called Boss replay (Sekiro) or you know New game +. Yeah id rather have something unique versus something not unique. Crazy i know.

[@thegourmetgolfer5544]

As a lover of Dark Souls PvP, the balance in Elden Ring needs a TON of work. That's simply a result of the scope of the game. There are so many weapons/spells/ashes which haven't been properly calibrated for multiplayer. That being said, FROM always continue to balance their games post launch and I have no doubt that with time this could be the best PvP offering. The variety is unbelievable and makes for limitless build possibilities

[@ipodblade]

Yessir you just earned yourself a new sub!

[@ajpend]

Cliffhanger. Did you defeat that spectral horserider at the end?

[@McShag420]

Funny that developers think they know what we want when they are yearly losing numbers on their sales of copy-paste, hand-holding titles which are usually sequels to already played out series'. UbiSoft is obviously the worst offender, but almost all big game companies these days are failing badly. Good critique of the critics and good exposition, but a word of advice; if you have the game music on in your recording, don't add weird music over the top of it, it just sounds distracting and bad. One or the other.

[@ph0kused]

Lots of good comments here, great vid! I think the balls/confidence fromsoft had to make full zones the size of DLC/a full game itself, but they had the balls to HIDE it, and make it completely optional. Western game devs would never let their assets they created be optional. Then consider elden ring did that multiple times with multiple zones and bosses. I think the western dev ego, or lack of respect to the player to count on the players to be good enough/love the game enough to find these secret zones is a lesson i hope they learn. It is truly mind-blowing how much of elden ring is optional.

[@sneekmuch]

39:30 u know u can zoom in with the telescope, right? Up & down on the D pad.

[@yuesu2325]

I love the open world in Elden Ring, but I still prefer the Storm Veil castle, the Volcano Manor, the Leydell capital,... level design. I hope they make a sequel to Bloodborne without the open world.

[@Theizxgamer]

Such an underrated channel

[@omar_mtl]

My man you deserve a million subscriber

[@lummoxicide1502]

I've only played dark souls 3 for several hours, but elden ring is my new obsession, I'm gonna easily pour many many days into this game

[@glb1993]

Yeah I agree with your view on rage 2 the games combat was incredibly fun, but the open world was much to large and bland for the gameplay loop causing it to unfortunately become stale. Now I think the open world for rage 2 would have been awesome if they actually put plenty of cool interesting things to see and do. I still enjoy rage 2 and remember having a good bit of fun in it but I also know that it disappointed me through it's open world aspect.

[@tamimhossain6682]

subbed!

[@pogtuber5146]

I think the draw distance is a bit of a mixed bag. Yeah the terrain has a very far draw distance, and that's great, but it's not anything new in the genre at all. The draw distance of actual points of interest, items, and enemies is actually pretty short and doesn't give the player a good idea of what they might actually find from their vantage point.

[@veryrare432hz]

Sound like u just complain for the sake of it

[@paullove729]

Great job

[@trashcat7501]

Fromsoft has been one of the best for a long while now. Finally that get the love they deserve.

[@Deadforge]

Great video as always and I love the open world design of Elden Ring. Rage 2 had such amazing combat and would have been better structured like Borderlands 1 or Doom. The open world and story were awful hut that combat had ne coming back.

[@John-996]

Yeah i always use Rage 2 as an exsample why games dont always need open worlds.

[@nothing4youhere540]

Elden ring is every kind of art that humanity has ever devised executed in awe inspiring and beautiful harmony.

[@lloydthesage1164]

I love everything about it except one thing, FARMING is exhausting…i love the fact that there is many many Bosses but the problem is they are not rewarding enough, they should make them drop huge amount of runes to enhance the experience and pushes u to find them because now i’m looking for the night time bosses only for the sake of finishing them, but we need huge REWARDS to hunt!

[@marshallgears9743]

Lol its huge enough for me.. The reward is absolutely helping.. Maybe because of my build. Hahaha

[@jaypboro]

farming is exhausting? git gud.

[@veryrare432hz]

Night time bosses ? Where ?

[@lloydthesage1164]

@@jaypboro yes it is exhausting spending hours and days, and yeah i’m that Good

[@ryanartward]

I never played a game where if felt like every square yard in the world feels like it serves a purpose. So many open world games opt to have large worlds with compact activity area dotted around in a wilderness (cough couch Far couch Cry cough) I don't feel like I'm walking in a distant land, I feel like I'm walking on a giant corpse and I am trying to find the cause of death.

[@evacody1249]

That's part of what makes an RPG and RPG. Not all open world games are RPGs. But those that are need that stuff.