My favourite Elden thing
What lies beyond Limgrave?
I honestly dont know.
Its not that I dont like Elden Ring.
Im not struggling to connect with itsopen worldtake on the Souls genre.
The answer is weirdly simple.
A truly interactive tutorial that replaces pop-ups with carefully placed enemies, puzzles and biomes.
I guess theres some truth to the idea that the pair serve the same purpose.
Limgrave, too, presents the player with Elden Rings greatest bits, albeit smaller and less grand.
Caves full of horrible bosses.
Crypts full of horrible bosses.
Vast swathes of quiet, decaying landscape full of horrible bosses.
But Limgrave is so much more than a simple tutorial zone.
There are characters to talk to.
A hulking stone quadruped with a house on its back.
Roaming bands of soldiers.
Fierce warriors on horseback.
This isnt just a simple starting zone.
Limgrave is an entire game.
Over the last few months, a friend of mine has been helping me play throughBloodborne.
They are relentless, miserable things for those who struggle to engage with their specific design principles.
But Elden Rings ridiculous scale makes Limgrave a micro-Soulslikeby virtue of it being the first bit you experience.
All of the touchpoints of a Souls game are here and accounted for.
Two big bosses at the end.
Looping pathways that lead to helpful shortcuts.
Everything folks would whisper excitedly about when they recounted their time withDark Soulsor Sekiro is here.
Thats a whole Souls game!
What more could you want?
There are like, four more waiting for you after this if you choose to keep moving forward.
Fill your boots, pal.
For me, though, Ive got everything I could ever hope for from Limgrave alone.
The perfect Souls game, contained within arguably the best and biggest one ever made.
Its still Elden Ring, after all.
