A Casual Gamer's Review of Elden Ring

I have always been a gamer, but I've always been pretty casual. I play games I like and I don't particularly care to be good at them. Most games I play are pretty casual like Animal Crossing, Miitopia, Subnautica, etc. However, Elden Ring caught my attention, and someone I shared my Steam library with had it, so I thought I'd try it!

Funnily enough, even though I knew about FromSoft games, I didn't know this was one! So I was surprised by the amount of 'Git Gud' players on various social media. I was happy to find some people who were very nice and gave me some good tips! But, this was after I dove headfirst into it with absolutely no knowledge. So, here's how that went!

I chose the Confessor class, starting me at level 10 and with a healing spell! Seemed good and an easy choice! Made a character, named him Psalm. It felt fitting. I do the tutorial, run out to look around, meet the Tree Sentinel, and, funnily enough, my demise!

I imagine a lot of people starting out had that same interaction, and went around and met Santa, I mean Kale, the merchant. I love him, by the way. The NPCs in this game are so good and I got SO attached to them. The game itself is masterful. Gorgeous landscapes and architecture. I could go on about how nice it is just to ride Torrent through the game and take in the sights, but it's too dangerous to do that, normally.

After death by jousting, I go around and enjoy the sights, and kill some guards. I find myself in a catacomb and read the messages 'decoy ahead' wondering if they meant mimics. But no! It's living imp gargoyles! And they throw shit at you! It's grand. I deal with them and then get to my first boss! This Erdtree Guard Dog is definitely a cat...and a statue.

I die...so many times. But finally, defeat it and enjoy my spoils of...some ashes. Which, if you are not an Elden Ring Gamer, are these like spirits of things that can aid you in battle! They're so helpful for big groups of enemies and bosses! But eventually, I get into Limgrave, and...oh boy!

I encounter my first story boss...at level 11! And I keep trying because I don't want to lose my 5000-some runes, but I eventually give up because there is NO way I can beat him at level 11, even with the help of Sorcerer Rogier, whom I love dearly.

Since I have given up on fighting Margit, the first story boss, I go through hell and back! After several levels, I wander into Caelid! God, it sucks there! Right before writing this, I saw this article that was giving recommended levels for certain areas, and Caelid has a recommended level of 60-70! So, as you can tell, I died a lot.

Caelid is the bane of my existence. It's weird fungal corals that trigger my trypophobia. The weird T-Rex dogs that are far larger than me! The giant ravens? I didn't get too close to them after the treacherous fight with the T-Rex dogs which I lost...horrendously.

Flitting from area to area trying to grind and level, I come back and fight Margit with the help of a friend and we defeat him! I haven't gotten too far into Stormveil castle at this point and I am now Level 34, trying to get my intelligence high enough that I can use Rock Sling, a fun spell.

As of now, I feel more comfortable in my ability in this game. I finally defeated the Tree Sentinel! I found Boc the Seamster and got his tailor tools back. I love Boc. He's my favorite character along with Rogier, and Varre.

Now, while far more turbulent than described, I have been having a lot of fun. I have like 60 hours in it as of right now, including my second character who is level 11 now, and was a wretch. I just leveled up his intelligence, ran around and grabbed the Meteorite staff and Rock Sling, and cheese everything. I totally cheesed a great boss. It was kind of the best feeling ever.

If you have your reservations about getting Elden Ring, I would recommend it! I ended up buying it just so I could play it without interrupting my cousin's library, and so we could play together. It's a good game with gorgeous landscapes, interesting NPCs, and brilliant enemy design. Give it a try! 10/10