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Robert Tamayo

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First Couple Hours of Elden Ring

Elden Ring is the perfect counterpart to Cyberpunk 2077. Both are highly anticipated games by big game development studios with huge fanbases. Both are open world. Both have celebrity tie-ins, Cyberpunk with Keanu Reaves and Elden Ring with George R. R. Martin. Both received lots of critical praise and acclamation before their release.

They differ in key areas, though. Elden Ring is a Fantasy game, whereas Cyberpunk is a Sci Fi game. One takes place in the wilderness with periodic dungeons, while the other takes place in a city with periodic open areas.

The biggest difference between the two is that Elden Ring is good.

I don't mean that Cyberpunk is terrible. It actually breaks my heart that the game was unplayable at launch, because I really did feel that there was something there. Cyberpunk really did have the potential to be the game it was hyped up to be. Instead, for whatever bizarre reason, they released the game in mid-development and it ended up being too buggy to enjoy.

Elden Ring, on the other hand, is far better at launch. The music is amazing. The visuals are stunning. The enemies are tough, but manageable, at least for 2 hours in. 

The PC version is not perfect, though. The complaints I have about Elden Ring are mainly related to the PC controls. The GUI gives away the fact that the game was designed for being played with a controller, and it makes the PC version feel like a port. This is my only real complaint so far, though. 

The tone of the game is different than what I'm used to. I've never played a "souls-like" before. As far as open world comparisons to Breath of the Wild go, it doesn't feel "casual". I don't really feel like exploring the environment, because enemies are everywhere, and they're trying to kill me. The tone is very serious, and the "humor" is mostly ghoulish. I guess that's the charm of these souls-likes. 

I'm not sure if I'll ever finish the game; if it's really as long and difficult as people say it is, I don't think I'll have the time. But I will say that it has been pretty good so far.
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