Not long after the preview trailer of Elden Ring was released, the online community became overwhelmed and a little obsessed with Elden Ring gameplay videos and reviews. You would even see Elden Ring ads playing in the background on Wikipedia pages now and then. Predictably, the game is now nominated for the Most Anticipated Game of The Year Award at The Game Awards.
Elden Ring gameplay videos have displayed combat and boss battles similar to Dark Souls. However, being able to jump and bind weapon arts to different weapons may have significantly raised players’ expectations for the game. The open-world and the newly installed map system insinuates the possibility of a much bigger map than any other Souls games, as not a single Souls game had a map system and player always had to navigate themselves or use online guides. Many players enjoyed showing Elden Ring‘s gameplay and game look riding on horseback. Some videos also showcase the spirit system, which seems really cool and easy to use. Being able to summon spirits also makes the game a lot easier for newcomers. From Software had stated that one of their goals for Elden Ring is to broaden their audience. Although the game hasn’t been officially released yet, they are already making huge progress toward this goal.
If a game re-uses many resources from its prequels, it is likely to be criticized for not adding enough new things. However, that is far from the case of Elden Ring. To be frank, there are quite a lot of re-used resources. Souls players can easily distinguish the weapon arts and movements in Elden Ring that were used in other Souls games, but there are so many awesome new things in Elden Ring that these re-used resources can only make the game better by combining the classiness of previous Souls games and the uniqueness of Elden Ring.