Let me start by saying that I had very little experience with From Software's games until now. Just a little Sekiro and Demon's Souls (remake), a bit more Bloodborne, but I always reached a point where, due to the difficulty, lack of the necessary skills and patience, I would give up. I had told myself, therefore, that these games were not for me, or I wasn't for them. However, over the last 2 years, seeing all the hype around Elden Ring, the rave reviews, and the awards, I was experiencing a sort of FOMO about this game. Its world, the little I knew about the lore, and the visual spectacle I saw in images and videos made me want to play it. So, when the DLC was released two months ago, I decided it was time to dive into the game.
And (Elden) Lord, it fucking delivered!
After 115 hours, countless deaths, dozens of main and optional bosses, and after having explored the entire map from end to end (and top to bottom), I completed the main game yesterday and slowly started exploring the Realm of Shadow. Is it my favorite game? Probably not, because there's always The Last of Us. But is it the best and most complete video game I've ever played (with perhaps only RDR2 standing alongside it)? A big YES! I've never seen such use of an open world, so much detail, everything has a reason for existing within the game, from the smallest crevice on the edge of a cliff to the tiniest pond; the aesthetic of the world is indescribable, some areas of the world are straight out of your worst nightmares (f@cking giant winged ants, seriously?), lore, music, everything is crafted down to the last detail. And the best part, for an inexperienced player like me, is that the game gives you so many tools that, if used correctly, make your experience more manageable; it doesn't make it easy, but you don't get bogged down in difficulty. If something isn't working, you go somewhere else, get better, and come back.
Did I use summons (Co-op and ashes), OP weapons, spells, potions, the blessed messages from the community, and other tools that made my life against bosses quite a bit easier? ABSOLUTELY!
Did that affect my experience or the satisfaction I felt overcoming a tough boss (Malenia, you good)? Not in the slightest!
After all, if the game's creator didn't want you to use them, they wouldn't have put them there in the first place.
All in all, one of the best and most complete experiences I've had in the roughly 20 years I've been playing video games, a milestone in the field, infinite respect to Miyazaki and his team.