Elden Ring Preview: A Bigger, Better Dark Souls

It is the first time that journalists around the world have been able to lend a hand on Elden Ring – and we at GIGA GAMES were there. In our preview we tell you what to expect in the new Souls game from From Software.

Elden Ring is Dark Souls through and through – with an open world

The first few minutes in the Elden Ring test area, which we were allowed to enter on the PS5, showed one thing: Souls blood rushes at the heart of Elden Ring. This game is a From Software title through and through that fans were hoping for. And yet something is different here: Elden Ring combines an open world with the Souls principle; So what still meant large areas in Demon Souls is a gigantic map here, on which you can move freely.

Knights, creatures and harmless animals cross your path; all of them you can defeat to by them Mercy points as well as Materials for crafting to obtain. In Elden Ring there are more RPG elements than ever before: bushes are harvested and your pockets quickly fill up with various items that you can use later. Grace, on the other hand, is comparable to souls – you lose it when you die and can then pick it up again.

Overall, these first enemies seem quite weak, but the test area was only a small area that we were allowed to explore in Elden Ring. In the adjoining and partly hidden caves, on the other hand, the real bosses are waiting: Werewolves and cursed monsters dwell at the end of the respective cave and have to be defeated with a wide variety of tactics. Sometimes two blows are enough for you to die – but of course dying is just as important in Elden Ring as in all previous Souls games.

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The open world of Elden Ring is one thing in particular: beautiful and big. It is not crammed with a number of peaceful NPCs who want to talk to you, but it offers you the Freedom to bypass and choose your opponents. On the integrated Map, which you complete with collectable map fragments, you can track your path and set your markers.

You move over the map on foot or by mount, where you can also use jump spots to thrown vertically upwards to get to a place faster. And as for NPCs: Of course there are here and there, the peaceful inhabitants of Elden Ring, who talk and trade with you, and for whom you can sometimes do jobs. However, they are more reminiscent of those NPCs from the Souls games and not residents of worlds like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.

Elden Ring seems to have adapted wonderfully to the open world mechanics: Healing potions are refreshed, if you defeat groups of opponents and even on your mount it has been necessary to fight so far.

Our little glimpse into the world of Elden Ring confronted us with a wide variety of opponents, all of whom had to be tackled in an original and creative way. The fact that we were in a Souls game was never an issue – although you can now avoid opponents on the map, the fights against the big ones remain bittersweet and heavy as a bone, with the helpful messages from other players always give comfort after a death.

Even the small test area of ​​Elden Ring makes you want more – a final rating can of course only be given as soon as the game is released on February 25, 2022 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and PC.