Eldon Ring of Law is a hot topic right now, and if you're one of the few people who missed the news, Airdon Farback's latest game is now available. My massive comments on it should have been posted after this post, but spoiler warning: the game was highly praised by all sides. Interestingly, some of BB Sports' developers cast a shadow over the game, saying it did a good job because of "poor user experience" or "poor control" In today's post, we'll dissect why Eldon Rings resonate with so many people, ignoring every convention of open-world design over the past 20 years.
Open world
When anyone thinks of today's open-world design, they are likely to think of a game from Ubisoft, or a game with a similar design. I used to joke that I didn't like this open-world style, or "open design" design, but what does that mean?
The open world design of many games is about a very macro experience: there are tons of MacGuffin games, ancillary missions, and "things" to do. These games usually have several mission types that are repeated in each area of the game. One of the most famous examples is having to climb a tower or high-rise building to unlock a map of an area and get a full list of chores to do there.
When it comes to actual instant games, these games are usually simple. Battles are usually played in the same way, and the mechanics at this level remain basic so that players can focus on goals and bonuses. At the time of the release of Eldon's French Ring, another big-name game at the time was Dying Light 2, which claimed to have hundreds of hours of things to do in the world. Then there's the horizon: forbidden west. By the way, neither of these games I'm interested in playing because they're open world games.
In most stories, the world needs a hero, someone who wants to go out and save the princess, defeat the bad guys, and bring back joy and sunshine at the end of the game. You know, as a player, the game doesn't end with you losing or the bad guy winning.
However, in the world of the source of the soul, you are not a hero, and the world cannot be saved. One of the main themes of these games is that the world cannot be repaired because of all intents and purposes. Anyone who can save things is either dead or depraved. Even the villain has already won, but is just a shell with no other purpose. At best, all you can do is restart the cycle for centuries after the world inevitably collapses underground. I've said before that while soul games are generally terrible at storytelling, they're amazing when it comes to environmental design and legends.
Learn to relax
What is the implication of all this? Is The Eldon Ring of Justice perfect? I would say no, I would talk more about some of the general issues of the game in my comments. From an open world perspective, the game does a great job of laying out this world to explore and invite players to where they want to go. Instead of having the game tell the player to do X, it's about letting them create their own route through it. The player is the one who creates a mental map about rules and discoveries. It's too early to say, but I'm curious to know if the churn rate will eventually stabilize in the game for about a year or so.