Gaming

20 Gaming

Elden Ring: Is it Worth Buying?

By Holly Jackson

Elden Ring is a new third person action fantasy role-play game which has been likened to its predecessor Dark Souls. Developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, its trailer certainly boasts some impressive settings, and it also has mostly glowing reviews. The game is available on Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation5 as well as Xbox Series. But is it worth spending £49.99 on? Fextra Life summarises the narrative, stating “Legend has it that the ring holds unimaginable power “that which commanded the stars, giving life its fullest brilliance” and that the ring has been destroyed by something or someone. This then leads to the destruction and decay of the world, the sky burning, and brings parallels to the collapsing sun of the Souls universe.” The comparison to Dark Souls is a common theme in the discussions surrounding Elden Ring, and has become a point of criticism in some ways. PC Gamer highlights how the ‘Bosses’ are remarkably similar to those in Dark Souls, describing how “The reheated boss fights from the previous games undercut the impact. Although many of them are remixed and situated in different contexts, they are all blatant nods to what came before.” Moreover, many players have stated that some of these bosses are nearly impossible to beat as they aren’t matched to the players’ level (there are a lot of guides providing information on how to get past them). In spite of this, I have seen users describe Elden Ring as “phenomenal” and “everything you could hope for” on online forums. The feedback is nearly all positive, and it has been described as a masterpiece, so it seems that Elden Ring is absolutely worth every penny if it’s the type of game you enjoy playing. The game offers players between around 60-80 hours of gameplay, if you’re focusing on its key objectives, but it could potentially take a lot longer if you stray from the beaten track and keep you occupied for plenty of time, so you’ll undoubtedly get your money’s worth from it. As well as its visuals and vast open-world, Elden Ring has also been praised for its beautiful soundtrack. However, players using older consoles may want to think twice before purchasing Elden Ring, especially Xbox One users (unfortunately this includes myself) as it has been criticised as possibly being the worst version of the game. Tech Radar explains that “the differences between visual quality and overall detail is stark. The Xbox One is like a PC on the lowest settings, paring back environmental shadows, grass density, and ambient occlusion.” As well as this, characters and items further away suffer from appearing slowly due to their frame rate. So, if you own an Xbox One and don’t want to compromise on the visual aspect of a game, Elden Ring sadly may not be the game for you. This is disappointing - I was really excited to purchase the game but I’d love to experience it in its full glory. All facts considered, I would suggest giving Elden Ring a go if you’re looking for a new open-world game to try, especially if you have a newer console - everyone seems to be raving about it and there doesn’t appear to be any major downfalls! Despite its criticism on Xbox One, I am still very tempted to buy it and experience it for myself, as it looks absolutely stunning and overall sounds like a great, exciting new game that might take me out of my comfort zone.

Photo: wikimedia commons Photo: wikimedia commons

gaming 21

Forspoken to Be Delayed – Will it Be Worth the Wait? By HOLLY jACKSON

Photo: Unsplash

Forspoken has been heralded as an ambitious role-player game by Square Enix. They describe how “Forspoken follows the journey of Frey, a young New Yorker transported to the beautiful and cruel land of Athia. In search of a way home, Frey must use her newfound magical abilities to traverse sprawling landscapes and battle monstrous creatures.” Initially set for release in May, the title has now been pushed back to 11th October this year, to allow developer Luminous Productions to “focus all of [their] efforts on polishing the game.” It will be available on PC and PlayStation 5. The question is, will it live up to our expectations? The production team are aiming for the “highest quality visuals ever”, which is a bold goal to reach for. However, the visuals in the trailer alone are seriously impressive, offering some beautiful scenery, so if they can achieve this for the whole game, it will absolutely be worth it.

I was very impressed by the settings showcased in the trailer, although I must say the characters’ faces threw me off a little because they look so realistic. The team are also aiming for Forspoken to be a game that can be played for years, so we can only hope that it lives up to this – I’m certainly happy to wait longer if it does makes it more worthwhile. Game delays do make me a little nervous though, I must admit. After waiting eagerly for Cyberpunk 2077, which was delayed three times, once it was released, I took one look at the reviews and decided it wasn’t worth purchasing. The game launch was somewhat of a disaster, with many declaring the game as being unplayable. Initially it too boasted an amazing trailer, and certainly looked like it was headed for success, but nonetheless, it disappointed. When it comes to game delays, there isn’t an awful lot we can do except, well, wait. We can only keep our fingers crossed that the developers of Forspoken will successfully deliver, and so far, it appears that they will. Although game delays can be disappointing, I personally would much rather just wait as long as necessary, than buy a game which has been rushed and discover it’s a flop afterwards.

“Initially set for release in May, the title has now been pushed back to October.”

22 Escape Room Shenanigans

By Laura Patterson

Escape Rooms are fun - each one you go to is a unique experience. Many of my favourite memories have taken place in them. I’d like to share a few.

Of all the places, my first escape room experience was actually in Budapest. On our stay, my friends and I googled things to do in the city, and this was what popped up. After trundling on many trams and getting a little bit lost in the outskirts of the city, we buzzed the intercom to a random block building. After gaining access, we were given directions to walk downstairs into a basement. The setting felt like we had entered a homicidal maniac’s lair. Things didn’t help when the host handed clipboards to us, asking us to sign a form agreeing not to hold him liable if we got panic attacks during the game (slightly concerning). Despite the initial start, we had so much fun playing the game! It was Harry Potter themed and used lots of props that honoured the film – think portkeys and wands! All in all, we appreciated this random Hungarian man’s creativity and effort into designing the game.

My second escape room was in my hometown with some friends of mine from sixth-form college. The theme this time was ‘Armageddon’, which featured a live actor mad scientist putting his drama school experience to good use. Together, we had to stop an asteroid attack – however my friends and I thought it would be funny to get very drunk on cheap cocktails right before the game. As a result, we were horrifically useless and acted like caged up monkeys. The only success was being a source of entertainment to the people running the game. They even gave us an extra ten minutes to finish the game out of pity.

My most recent experience of escape rooms was an interesting one. The invitation was thrown upon me when meeting my boyfriend’s parents for the first time. The premise of this game was to work together in a heist to rob a bank. Not only did the escape room test my intelligence when solving a puzzle, but I had the added stress of making a good first impression on my boyfriend’s family. Thankfully, it didn’t end in tears and was really bonding, but I did have the tendency to snatch things from my boyfriend’s little brother in the heat of the moment!

I don’t really remember the details of each code and lock I had to hack in these escape rooms. What I do remember is the company and the fun I had along the way. Whether it’s a board game, or something more energetic, games bring people together. I look forward to trying the escape rooms out in Norwich with the people I’ve grown close to me here.

Photo: Pixabay