Elden Ring is reminiscent of a classic DnD adventure.

The impact of DND games on video games cannot be underestimated. However, while many of the best RPGs owe their mechanics to tabletop games, it’s hard for digital adventures to replicate the style and theatrics of classic DnD adventures. Enter Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s latest Soulsborne game, which according to hours of online testing is poised to capture the creative drama of a dedicated dungeon master.

Sure, mainstream RPGs like Baldur’s Gate, Divinity, and Dragon Age also mimic tabletop storytelling and do it well, but Elden Ring’s pacing and vibe is just as authentic without sticking as close to Wizards’ fantasy world. of the Coast; wherever you go, you feel your adventure dovetail perfectly with the dungeon master’s turn-based narration.

There are many similarities between Les Jeux Soulsborne by Hidetaka Miyazaki and Les Aventures Papier, Cependant, en embrassant un monde complètement ouvert, Elden Ring became a chest with a treasure of decision and opportunity, or a chaque perspective that felt like a bifurcation. on the road. Are you chatting with a friendly looking pot? Explore the ruins there? Fight a knight on horseback? Or try to sneak past them?

Like any good DnD campaign, the world of Elden Ring is full of mystery and curiosity. It’s reasonable to compare Miyazaki and George RR Martin’s collaborative setting to open-world games like Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but by placing Soulsborne’s mechanics in a sprawling fantasy sandbox, we get the feeling. that the game world unfolds in the role of a dungeon master, relieving the feeling of hair-raising wanderlust through every meadow, valley, cliff, and cave.

If you allow it, the sprawling valleys of The Lands Between will happily draw you to your gem, giving you enough information to make an informed decision about the route you’ll take to get there. Elden Ring doesn’t have a sneaky DM glaring at you across the table, so he uses the show’s “prepare to die” philosophy to show you the way. Caution is the key to success in the Elden Ring – just because you don’t listen to the dungeon master doesn’t mean he isn’t kindly getting you into trouble.

Optional bosses like Tree Sentinel, a tall armored knight on horseback, can be approached in a variety of ways. Since there are no dice rolls, your perception depends on what the terrain of the world allows you to see. In this case, you can see this Mossy Marauder patrolling the grassy hillside from afar. It looks like the Elden Ring invites you to challenge this warrior, but that’s not the only way to go, and if you accept this fight too early in your campaign, you’ll likely be brought to your knees.

But bad luck isn’t set in stone, and just like rolling 20 on the table, you can end up defeating this powerful foe with skill and a bit of luck, unintentionally generating deadly attacks and dealing enough damage to knock your opponent down. enemy. Alternatively, you may realize you’ve bitten off more than you can chew and run away from the fight after taking damage. From start to finish, the entire encounter follows the same rhythm as the Master: you have a clear choice between participating or avoiding; it’s impossible to know exactly what you’re getting into if you decide to fight; and the outcome of this first battle is as unpredictable as a roll of the dice.

Rogue enemies are common in The Lands Between, but not all monsters want to kill you. If you approach certain situations the same way you approach a DnD encounter, with an open mind, ready to listen to your DM’s wisdom, you can avoid conflict altogether. A brief online preview of Elden Ring featured several characters who served as more of a distraction than a threat. Like previous Souls games, the inhabitants of The Lands Between are elusive, but they all seem to have valuable information and treasure for you. Granted, you can’t interrogate FromSoft characters through the dungeon master, so there isn’t much room for conversation, but these encounters still have some of the darkness of their desktop counterparts, complete with passing commentary. These are often teasing snippets of the story, warnings, or hints at important loot.

Each NPC in the Elden Ring seems to offer something different, which is quite different from the random quests you find in most RPGs. You have people like Alexander, a big handsome guy who just needs a helping hand to get him out of a hole. Then you have more sketchy characters like Bok, a demihuman ape that you’ll need to find by following his voice through the grove and pressing the correct one. It’s almost like a random encounter: something your DM saves for a random day, in case they need to distract impatient adventurers going through the session content too quickly.

And the comparisons don’t stop there. There are dungeons. And yes, sometimes you will come across them and be seduced by a shiny object that is out of your reach. Likewise, you’ll find bear-like mini-bosses to whet your appetite for the main boss fight, and the Elden Ring’s collection of monsters seem to have their own answers for Dungeons & Dragons denizens like the man-beast Farum Azula, the graves. guardian, pumpkin head. and Gravetree Watchdog.

While Margit the Fallen Omen is the only big boss we’ve fought so far, her dramatic performance and monologue serve as the perfect prelude to the fight, reminiscent of tabletop villainy at its finest. Soulsborne games have always felt like an unseen dungeon master is in charge, and they play dirty.

FromSoftware knows how to create a strong fantasy environment, and by expanding the canvas, the studio has more options to create unforgettable adventures. Sure, the gameplay has almost nothing to do with the hopeful dice rolls of DnD, and you’ll never have as many options as a good dungeon master can offer, but the world feels like a seasoned dungeon master’s creation. I just hope that the whole game can show the same sense of adventure that I saw in the online test.