There’s no damn beating about the bush on this one folx, SF: New Genesis by NuTSR, TSR3, or whatever you want to call them. The leaked playtest spits on the original, and I imagine that game if buried, would be spinning so fast in its grave as to dig a hole right through to the other side of the planet. To break it down, it’s reprehensible to use a word that I picked up from a Brit I know.

The Lands Between are an unforgiving place in Elden Ring, with much of the lore wrapped up in various quests, side-quests, and locations which require dedication to get to. It’s a beautiful game, starkly so at times, and delivers some of the most rewarding exploration I’ve experienced in an open world game to date. It really isn’t going to be for everyone, and for as many people as I’ve seen laud the game as one of FromSoft’s best since Sekiro, there are dozens who bounce off it harder than heavy attack from a greatshield.

From Software are known these days for Dark Souls, or the *Souls-like genre of games which are marked by their tough encounters, difficulty, and tricky systems to master. You can learn them, but you won’t master them for a long time. People in my circle, fellow gamers and console nerds gave me some odd looks the other day when I dropped a pre-order for Elden Ring down.

OPINION PIECE | Let’s start with H.P. Lovecraft, the massive racist who’s literary legacy these two companies continue to ride.

OPINION PIECE | Cast a wider net, because there’ll still be work for the white authors in the field, the marginalised writers won’t take all that cash away.