"Elden Ring", already the best game of the year or even of all time?

• Elden Ring

  , the new game from game designer 

  Hidetaka Miyazaki

  and Japanese studio FromSoftware, was released on PC, PS4/5, Xbox One/Series on Friday.

• The

  Dark Souls

  formula is pushed to its climax, a formula where death and “game over” are at the heart of the experience.

• The

  open world

  component is an opportunity for the player to explore, progress, feel more free than ever, and thus see the light in the depths of darkness.

At the very beginning of January, after a handful of hours controller in hand, it was obvious that

, meeting of the two giants Hidetaka Miyazaki, creator of the

games , and George RR Martin, author of the

, was the event video game of the year.

But a few days before its release, another story begins to be heard in the editorial offices of magazines and specialized sites.

“Wow, I can't stop, I'm at 10 hours in a row.

However, critics around the world had to put the game on hold to write and publish their reviews, and with 98/100 on Metacritic (it has since fallen to 97),

has already won as one of the best games of all time and the best of the

.

Explanations.

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The “Dark Souls” formula at its peak

If the name of George RR Martin is associated with the creation and promotion of the game, we must face the facts:

is above all a game by Hidetaka Miyazaki and his studio FromSoftware.

The author of

is himself humble about his participation in the project and readily mentions "a bit of 

"

The  Japanese

actually pushes the formula of his previous games (

,

,

) to its limit, a formula that puts “game over” at the heart of the player's experience.

"During the development of

[released in 2009], I noticed that, in many games, the death or failure of the player is considered a bad thing, he explains in an interview with

.

I didn't want to recreate this feeling: I wanted death to be essential to progress so that the player can take control and learn.

This unique approach and spirit has since permeated the entire industry, even in blockbuster like 

.

Towards the unknown and beyond

Elden Ring

can be considered a

game , where the player must unlearn to better relearn according to the specific characteristics of each boss, with all the same a new component and not the least: the open world.

If the game takes place, like

, in ever more gigantic and tortuous castles and dungeons, it opens its horizons, to vertiginous mountains, to sticky swamps and, in fact, to a world of desolation.

Not really the same invitation to travel as

, which we necessarily think of.

And yet.

As Hidetaka Miyazaki describes it well, still in

,

invites a "pure and naive exploration of the unknown", because the player discovers the world of the Underworld and its mythology by himself, by a path that he will surely be the only one to take, barely guided by a trail of light.

An equally rewarding exploration.

“Shine with even greater brilliance”

“A boss was giving me a hard time, confides a (hardcore) gamer.

I was able to spend 6 hours doing something completely different, visiting, gaining experience.

I came back, and swept it away in minutes.

It's still

in terms of requirements, but so much better.

“A balance not miraculous but perfectly dosed by FromSoftware, with also new variations of gameplay and combat, such as the Ashes of Summoning or War, respectively spirits to invoke and powers to apply to weapons.

Death, despair, darkness are everywhere in

, but through exploration, progression and freedom, the player surpasses himself, marvels, flourishes.

“I think showing beauty as emerging from something disturbing, depressing and distorted helps it shine even brighter when the player finally sees it,” comments Hidetaka Miyazaki.

The player also begins as a Shinless.

The rest is up to him.

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