CIRCLING The DRAGONS

One mark of a great videogame is how clearly you remember it. A decade on from Dark Souls, there are still parts of its flame-cursed world I can readily map out on paper – their layouts, threats, and variables hammered into me by a combination of fabulous aesthetics, surgical perspectives, and brutal trial and error.

WHEN I GET THE ELITE BELOW 50% HEALTH, THEY RAISE THE STAKES

I already have a similarly crisp memory of parts of Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s blend of Souls dungeons and combat with an open world and day/night cycle reminiscent of Breath of the Wild. One of the first areas you’ll reach in the early Limgrave region is a crumbling encampment backed by candle-strewn hearses. Guards in red peer into campfires. Others roam the paths, accompanied by wolves. It’s a tidy little murder-maze with some familiar AI behaviours – as in Souls, the canines are fond of circling you before they pounce. Playing as an Enchanted Knight equipped with spear and staff, I do a bit of circling myself – creeping through bushes to different entrance points and felling sentries with Glintstone spells.

STAB LIBBING

One enemy makes it into melee range unscathed – a caped elite with midboss pretensions. It’s afancy dedicated jump button, a small but decisive departure from , which lets you quickly stagger many shielded adversaries using plunging blows. I also make effective use of the new guard counter, which grants bonus damage when you launch a heavy attack after blocking a hit. But when I get the elite below 50% health, they raise the stakes, switching to a two-handed stance with more florid combos. I’m nearly killed by one riposte, but yank victory from the jaws of defeat through sheer Determination – that being a 3-style weapon skill that supercharges your next blow.