Recent reviews by Your Stepdad

The game is breathtaking
Very bad release and CDPR deserve to be spanked for it but this game deserves to be played and appreciated nonetheless

Elden Ring feels like the game From Soft have been wanting to make for a long time. It seems like the Souls series was just a tray of appetizers with Elden Ring being the main course.

1. Gameplay:

1a. Combat:
Nothing much has changed when it comes to combat. You still are only responsible for two things; dodging and attacking. Nevertheless the wide array of weaponry in your arsenal definitely changes how you tackle enemy encounters because ashes of war (this game's weapon arts) can be assigned to different weapons and for the most part they do different things and are cool to experiment with.

1b. Exploration:
Sadly exploration for the sake of exploration is not incentivised by the game itself. It is internal (à la Skyrim). That being said, it is very easy to miss out on some one-of-a-kind encounters, weapons ,spells or even bosses and giant areas of the game if you just run to the main bosses and finish the game.

2. Visuals:

2a. Locations:
The game is drop-dead gorgeous...the sheer scale of the game is mind boggling. Castles and structures are something out of a Tolkein'esque high-fantasy fairytale. It is truly magnificent how From Soft was able to encapsulate the sense of wonder when seeing a giant structure in the distance that gets even prettier the closer you get to it. Then when you reach it you are greeted by a slew of new enemies and a unique boss fight at the end.

2b. Effects:
The particle effects for each and every spells look amazing. Powerful spells are manifested as grand light-shows so you can feel their might. Bosses get the same treatment because when you see a boss' special attack you can sort-of feel it's power even if you don't get hit by it. The animations are smooth as butter and rarely do you encounter a quote-unquote "bullsh** animation".

3. Story:
Like previous From Soft titles, the story is very lackluster. You barely get any incentive to go from point A to point B other than "beat boss -> git gud -> finish game". The lore however is very interesting and has a lot of mysteries garnering more attention and curiosity from the player. It is definitely not easily accessible though, seeing as how you need to exhaust npc dialogue and read item descriptions, but once you've investigated further you will be rewarded with wonderful stories about the world and it's various inhabitants.
Side questing is horrendous because there is no journaling or waypoint system. So the player has to either break out a notebook in the real world and jot down every single npc location and solve their riddles to find out where to head next or plead the help of other players via Google or reddit to find out where to go next. This design choice worked well in the linear Souls series but became tedious in an open world game like Elden Ring because I got tired of alt tabbing every time I wanted to know what to do next. That being said, some of the best areas, weapons, bosses...etc are tucked away in hidden areas making it improbable for the player to stumble upon them spontaneously.

In conclusion I think that this game is a wonderful experience and a joy to play and even though I disagree with a lot of the design choices and the abysmal performance on pc, it is still one of the best games in recent years

9/10 would pay 60 bucks to a Japanese company

Never in my 15 years of gaming was I emotionally attached to video game characters.
The writing on this game is absolutely impeccable. CDPR have really outdone themselves with this one.
The characters feel very human in the way they interact with each other and with Geralt. Even if you haven't read the books, the dialogue gives you this feeling that you know these characters and have been their friend/nemesis for a long time, a feat so rare that even the most accomplished TV/movie writers sometimes fail to achieve. Once you encounter the first moment where Geralt and another character sit in a quite place and reflect on the events that just transpired you'll know what I mean.
That being said, I don't consider this game to be an RPG. It's an open-world action-adventure game with RPG elements. You don't have the freedom you can experience in games like Skyrim (That's why I disagree with the notion of comparing the two games since they are very different). You play as Geralt, and the game does that so well you sometimes start thinking and reacting to the world around you as Geralt, and the gameplay accents that in a very immersive way, For example: you do these sidemissions called Withcer Contracts, in which you are hired by someone to deal with their "monster problems". After doing a few of those and reading up on the bestairy, you start following up on the clues and making your own deductions before Geralt even utters a word. That is truly a one of a kind experience (it makes you feel like a withcer xD)
The combat isn't stellar but it does it's purpose. Geralt feels like a freakin Jedi against human enemies but weak against monsters. The variety in monsters forces you to adjust your way of engagement in every other encounter. Human enemies however are very lackluster, they are you're run-of-the-mill dudes with swords.
I really can't recommend this game enough. It is truly an experience that every gamer, be it veteran or newbie, should go through.

CS is the epitome of competitive/tactical shooters. It is a great TEAM! game with so many layers and nuances. Easy to get into, hard to master and very satisfying once you get the hang of it