We spent a few more hours on Elden Ring in From Software’s open-world before its launch, and have a whole list of extra features and feelings to tell you about.
Only two weeks remain till the release of Elden Ring, which appears to be the game we’ve been looking forward to the most. With that in mind, we just received a final opportunity to check a fresh preview version of the game before the final review, and some new features have been added in comparison to the Beta server we tried a few months ago. Despite the fact that we didn’t see any new regions, we did notice several new advancements and significant features that we weren’t aware of before, and we’ll tell you about them as well as our thoughts on the launch.
During this test, we were given access to ten new classes in Elden Ring. They’re quite likely to remain the same in the final release, although FromSoftware could surprise us. We saw the Astrologer and the Prophet (who have “pure” magic methods and miracles), as well as the Prisoner and the Intelligencer, in addition to the classic ones we already know from Dark Souls, such as the Deprived, the Bandit, or the Warrior (who fight with magical weapons that boost Faith).
The Hero, whose statistics are originally focused on Strength and heavy weapons, the Vagabond, who amplifies his attacks with Dexterity, and last but not least, the Samurai class, which uses a half-Strength, half-Dexterity combat style, are all new characters that battle hand-to-hand. This begins with the Uchigatana, a blade that was previously a classic in the Dark Souls series and returns in Elden Ring, causing your opponents to lose blood. For this Beta version of Elden Ring, we chose the Samurai, then tried the old Warrior for a short time to compare their styles, all in the hopes of finding the ideal starting character for launch.
The introduction we saw in this preview of Elden Ring, which includes a series of scenes telling us about the backdrop and mentioning some of the primary opponents we’ll have to fight, is one of the elements we anticipate will be included in the final edition of the game. Aside from that, our character began in a different location than the Cave of Knowledge, but we quickly returned there. After a brief tutorial in that location, we open the doors and proceed to the Limgrave, the map’s initial area.
The Tree Sentinel, a fully armored knight that patrols the passage between the initial chapel and the spot where the Grace beam instructs us to continue the main storyline of Elden Ring, is our first real enemy as soon as we open the doors and look around. We don’t want to get stuck right away because he’s a tough guy, so we take a diversion while being stealthy until we reach the Church of Elleh, where Merchant Kale awaits us. Instead of being able to purchase the extremely useful summons at your first contact with the merchant, as was the case in the previous Beta, the cost of the Crafting Kit has increased. It appears that the summons, which many people expected to make the game easier, would not be available right away.
We came across some patrols led by Godrick the Golden in Elden Ring, the first boss who awaited us in Stormveil Castle, so we used the opportunity to farm some runes by eliminating the soldiers. While we’re at it, we test our talents with the Uchigatana and a tiny shield, as well as a bow (which the Samurai carries as an additional weapon). The transition between the bow and the sword is seamless, allowing us to take down our opponents before needing to be at a safe distance to execute a lethal move.
We try to get back to the Church of Elleh with the use of the Fast Travel, which is available on the map at any time except during combat, after obtaining the mount, Torrent, and leveling up thanks to a maiden named Melina. There’s another novelty in addition to what we’ve already seen in Elden Ring, in the form of a mysterious person we’ll refer to as Snow Witch so as not to give you any ideas. She’ll be the one to give us the calling bell and the summoning wolf spell to combat the Tree Sentinel. After repeated attempts, he finally succumbs to our katana.
We move in a euphoric mindset after conquering the Sentinel. In the next Site of Grace, we’ll wait until the wee hours of the morning to see whether there’s any difference from the day. Surprisingly, a boss arrives out of nowhere and assaults us in the neighboring ruins that we had investigated earlier in the day. It’s the Deadbird, a horrible avian that appears to have been plucked from the pages of Bloodborne’s Yharnam. We’ll have to postpone the fight until after the review because we’re out of time.
While we wait for the finished product, it appears that Elden Ring will live up to our high expectations for FromSoftware’s most ambitious project, and we can’t wait to get our hands on it. The wait for the release is only two weeks long, yet it feels like an eternity. looking forward to the castle It’s quite simple to get lost in the wonderful world of Elden Ring if you stray from the path provided by the Sites of Grace. One of the things we enjoyed best about the Beta was this. There were no restrictions on how far you might go, and every step you took revealed some intriguing points of interest. The open environment encourages exploration in a way that hasn’t been seen since Breath of the Wild, and it’s heavily influenced by it. NPCs such as Alexander (the cauldron-man we saw in the Gameplay Preview) and Boc, a sort of beast-man whom we saved by casting a spell, even show us locations of interest that may be relevant to their questlines. He thanks us and offers us directions to his loot, despite the fact that he warns us that someone is keeping an eye on it…
The fact that the enemies are dispersed across the globe may appear to be a hindrance to character advancement in Elden Ring, but we discovered a little benefit: there are several skulls strewn over the ground, some of which produce a small glow. We gain consumable runes if we break them, allowing us to level up more quickly. We couldn’t tell if the skulls respawned, although they’re easier to spot at night, so it would be a good time to look for them.