Blood on moss, tattered horrors taking to the sky:Elden Ringis Eurogamer’s Game of 2022.
And it feels odd to say that, even if it was never really in doubt.
Perhaps it feels odd to say that because it was never really in doubt.
Elden Ring got roughly double the votes of the closest runner-up when we polled staff and freelancers.
In 2022 Elden Ring is inevitable.
Real talk: at first, we were a little underwhelmed by our own choice.
Not by the game, which is a grim marvel.
But by that feeling of giving way to the inevitable.
Elden Ring has a lot of the second part of that, but the first part?
It was never going to feel like a surprise.
And yet, isn’t that the surprise?
And isn’t that the thing worth celebrating?
And isn’t that brilliant?
Everyone has a story about working out - often painfully - how these games worked.
And how these games thought: the choices they made and the choices they wanted their players to make.
It doesn’t explain anything.
I literally don’t know what’s coming next.
These people who were in at the start - they did win other people over.
The sequels were bigger.
Elden Ring was a blockbuster.
The daddy, to use the term beloved of former Eurogamer editor Oli Welsh.
And it wasn’t just From games themselves.
The From Software formula has transformed the Double-A scene, but it’s also warped huge blockbusters.
Even Zelda was paying attention.
They chose distinct games, odd games, games that were worth talking, writing, reading about.
Games that are worth getting angry about when their accessibility thinking falls very short.
Games that took you to places where you genuinely did not know what was coming next.
And this is the final point.
Elden Ring isn’t just the biggest Soulsy game yet.
It also feels like it’s going to be the last one for a while.
This is good too, really.
And we all get to enjoy that feeling that From games have made us value.
Once again, we don’t know what’s coming next.
