The problem with Elden Ring is that it’s absolutely no fun to play.
The game manages to trigger your defiance and your ambition.
You want to beat it.
Some locations are visually stunning.
Some areas have a great atmosphere and you want to explore them.
But when you’re done exploring… You notice that you only found some junk that you will eventually sell for a fistful of “runes” (the in-game currency, if you will).
Why did you spend hours exploring that dungeon, these catacombs, that castle, that ruin?
You don’t know.
The next time you rest, everything in that place will be reset anyway, just as if you had never been there.
In order to progress the game, you will have to fight certain “bosses”.
Which usually is an exercise of repeatedly dying until you’ve figured out their attack and defense patterns and their weaknesses.
It’s not exciting, it’s not even really challenging, it’s just unbelievably annoying and it’s just another thing that gets in the way of even remotely enjoying this game.
When the obstacle is finally out of the way, it makes you feel nothing.
You’re not even relieved that you can finally move on in the game.
You just feel empty.
And that is why I hate boss fights with a passion.
In any game.
Always have.
Always will.
They just get in the way and add absolutely NOTHING worthwhile to the experience.
When do game designers get this through their thick skulls?
Probably never, because the basement dwellers define themselves over boss fights, and they’re a big chunk of the paying customer base.
All of Elden Ring’s game mechanics evolve around the demands of those basement dwellers.
And that is why after everything is said and done, this game is absolutely no fun to play.