In case you missed it,Elden Ring is great, and it made me feel very small. It’s probably the most approachable soulslike from the acclaimed studio yet, but it’s not perfect, especially in the latter part. As I neared the end, more problems emerged, ruining the experience and leaving a bad taste in my mouth. It’s as if the game was rushed, and the team didn’t have enough time to properly figure out all the endgame areas.
With the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion approaching, I’m actually looking forward to anElden Ringexperience that will almost certainly be more condensed and focused than the main game, because despite being a clearly brilliant game,mandoes it outstay its welcome.
Once you step out ofLeyndell, the Royal Capital, several annoying issues become hard to ignore. The difficulty spikes significantly with wonky balancing and frustrating enemy placement that often feels unfair. Like, imagine running across some really narrow bridge filled with deadly poison flowers when being bombarded from afar by silly-looking white dudes with trumpets (they’re called Oracle Envoys) you can’t even reach. Yet the stubborn urge to beat it after clocking over 150 hours and some really awesome endgame bosses kept me going.
Probably Should’ve Ended Earlier
I hadn’t experienced any real annoyances with Elden Ring until I hitMountaintops of the Giants, kicking off the endgame section. From there, it’s all about beating a few major bosses to get one of the six endings. Chances are that you’ve fine-tuned your combat build at this point, collected all the gear and upgraded it, and are loaded with tools, ashes, and summons to face any threat. Every reward now feels kinda pointless, and to keep the momentum going, the game suddenly throws a whole bunch of curveballs your way.
Up until that point, I never stumbled on any boss for more than an hour, and once I figured out their moves and tweaked my strategy, I could overcome any obstacle. I’d never summoned other players for help, and everything felt square, balanced, and crystal clear.
Elden Ring: 15 Hardest Bosses In The Game, Ranked
Elden Ring is full of fantastic and challenging bosses, but which ones give players the most trouble? Check out this list of the hardest bosses in the game.
However, the game’s last zones, likeCrumbling Farum Azulaand Miquella’s Haligtree, mess with that lovely simplicity and go a tad overboard. Instead of slowly introducing tougher enemies you’ve never faced before, these areas just toss all the trickiest earlier foes at you at once. The final room design boils down to “here’s a bunch of powerful enemies squeezed into a tiny space—please deal with them before moving to the next identical room.” This artificial difficulty spike got old real fast, sucking all the fun from exploring those twisted levels.
Take the optional area ofMoonlight Altar, for instance. It’s swarming with dragons, Crystalians, Red Wolves, and even terrifying and odious Royal Revenants–now regular mobs instead of bosses, yet still capable of ending you with a single successful combo due to higher-level scaling. You won’t even get a chance to take a sip from your healing flask.
It’s after taking on a menacing black horseman known asNight’s Cavalry, optional bosses I’d already faced repeatedly,but now seeing two of them riding at me back to back, it hit me that maybe the game should’ve wrapped up sooner. No need to stretch it out for so long, especially when it clearly runs out of steam long before the credits.
Besides the harsh difficulty spike, the game’s structure becomes way more straightforward, shelving the rewarding exploration from its earlier hours. Sure, some of the final locations are still top-notch, nailing it in both level design and visual appeal, like the legacy dungeons of Crumbling Farum Azula, Miquella’s Haligtree, and Elphael. But two of the game’s major areas–the snowy regions of Mountaintops of the Giants andConsecrated Snowfield–ended up feeling half-baked, lacking life and substance.
Riding on Torrent, your trusty jump-horse, it’s easy to just ride past the beefy enemies duking it out at every step. The map’s sudden abandonment of an interesting vertical design, along with limited optional spots containing only a handful of ruins, caves, and dungeons, and the almost complete lack of NPCs and their side quests, made this part of the game far less exciting.
No Game Makes Me Feel As Small As Elden Ring Did
Sorry, Final Fantasy 16, I know you tried.
It’s when exploring these regions that I recall Jonathan Blow’s (creator of The Witness andBraid) controversial take on Elden Ring–he said it “doesn’t really have design per se,” and is “just a huge map full of bosses.” Back then, many disagreed, and for the most part I do too, yet those two areas felt pretty much exactly like that. It’s like, here’s the snowy field, here are several bosses to deal with, or just cruise past them to the next spot and be on your way. A massive shift from the intricately designed and twisted areas like Limgrave or Liurnia of the Lakes, packed with impressive verticality, hidden passages and detours, and as many friendly NPCs, optional bosses and secrets as you can handle.
Endgame Redemption
But with a huge game like this there are bound to be ebbs and flows, and no matter how disappointing the last areas might feel, it’s all made up for by the sheer awesomeness of some of the final Elden Ring bosses. Goddess of RotMalenia,The Black Blade Maliketh,Dragonlord Placidusax,Hoarah Loux,Radagon of the Golden Order, andElden Beast–every single one of these battles could easily pass as the epic final showdown in any other game, and nobody would say a thing.
Taking on even the toughest bosses, like the iconic Malenia, feels way more engaging and fair compared to battling legions of beefy regular enemies that can one-shot you. Every time I reached another boss in those last 20 grueling hours, it was a relief. I knew I was in for a challenging but interesting fight that I could overcome, rather than having to slog through swarms of enemies with no chance to strike back as they all pounce on me at once.
Here’s What I Want From Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree
Bows, new builds, and answers about the Haligtree, please.
Furthermore, as you near the finish line, the story’s pacing becomes more intriguing than ever, unfolding with jaw-dropping revelations and climactic dialogues. It’s hard to put the game down when you know there are just a few final tests left to pass before finally becoming Elden Lord. If only the last areas introduced more unique enemies instead of throwing at you the cheap rehashed versions of ones you’ve already defeated.
Will Expansion Fix The Difficulty?
It’s typical for games to raise the stakes and amp up their difficultyin post-game DLC, when players already boast high-level skills and gear. And I sincerely hope that won’t be the case with the upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. Elden Ring’s endgame already proves that you can’t keep cranking up the difficulty endlessly for 200 hours straight; you need a more thoughtful approach, unique enemies and scenarios, and new rewards to keep players hooked and satisfied.
I’m not sure howFromSoftwareplans to handle the difficulty in this next chapter, but I hope they don’t just jack up the challenge by throwing more enemies with bigger health pools at you. The studio has a track record with well-received expansions likeBloodborne: The Old Hunters, so I’m pretty confident that Shadow of the Erdtree might bring some justice here as well, offering a sizeable but satisfying sendoff ina year that promises to be full of great expansions.
