[Fignuts]

I don't say it should go over ragnarok lightly. Elden Ring was more than just a great game. It challenged how we look at open world games in an era where they are immensely prevalent. It put the rest of the industry on blast so hard that some devs couldn't handle it and got defensive on twitter.

Its ripples it caused are going to stretch beyond this year and influence how people make open world games in the future. That is why I give it the edge, combined with why it innovates so much. Every piece of the map combined with the enemy placement in that geography, all specifically placed to offer unique challenges. Nothing just copied and pasted. Everything there for a reason, and so many subtle details and hints that people are still discovering to this day.ACTUAL exploration, and discovery. Not just climbing a clearly visible tower and having 50 icons on your map, telling you where to go and what to find.

And I've felt this way since the first dark souls but the extreme vagueness of the story and lore is what adds to the incredible mystique and atmosphere of the games. Dark Fantasy is my wheel house and in almost all the different series I've experienced, it always gets to a point where you've learned enough about the world and experienced enough exposition where it doesn't hold that same mystique as when you first started.

If souls games have mastered anything, its retaining that feeling of mystery from start to finish while still giving you just enough where you have cool relevations and plot lines coming together as you connect the dots. To me, that is just as impressive as a more substantial, more traditional well told narrative.