Opinion: Elden Ring Is One Of My Favourite Games That I’ve Hardly Played

I have started a new Elden Ring save file on four separate occasions now, and I have absolutely adored my time with each of them. And yet, despite putting 15-20 hours minimum into each new load, my current Switch 2 playthrough is the first time that I’ve managed to push through the ‘tutorial area’.

I need to do some explaining here, because if you have never ventured into the Lands Between, then three save files and 60+ hours spent in a tutorial sounds insane. However, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that bad.

After pushing you through a very brief ‘real’ tutorial — one that introduces you to the basics of Elden Ring’s combat and movement — your Tarnished avatar is funnelled into Limgrave and beckoned towards Stormveil Castle as your first major objective. However, rushing straight to the battlements will put you up against foes and challenges that you are severely underprepared for, so the game encourages you to instead take a stroll around the area and perhaps venture down to the locales south of it in the Weeping Peninsula.

Much like Breath of the Wild‘s Great Plateau, this is the game’s actual tutorial. But I cannot stress this enough, it makes Link’s wakeup spot look tiny.

Limgrave and its surrounding areas are huge and so densely packed with things to do that one could happily play this zone as a game of its own. Heck, for my first three save files, that’s exactly what I did.

I explored the nooks and crannies of all the region’s catacombs, took on mini bosses and Minor Erdtrees, solved environmental puzzles to unlock new gear, and took on sidequests that involved storylines and platforming challenges of their own.

On my first save back in 2022, by the time that I finally pushed through the game’s first ‘roadblock’ boss, Margit (yes, there is a way around him, but I didn’t see that at the time), I was quite content with the 20-odd hours I had put into Elden Ring, and I went off to play something else. Save files two and three saw me go further still, through the game’s first real dungeon and into the boss on the other side. On both these occasions, I polished off Godrick the Grafted (a proper FromSoft name, if I’ve ever heard one) with relative ease, but was deterred by what awaited me afterwards: the proper game.

Just like the first time that you paraglide off the Great Plateau and realise everything you’ve explored up to this point is just a tiny proportion of what the whole map has to offer, stepping into Lunaria of the Lakes is a similarly daunting task. The zone’s entry point even has a vantage point vaguely reminiscent of leaving the Shrine of Resurrection, for crying out loud.

For save files two and three, the scope of what was to come was simply too much. I had had a wonderful time with everything I had played up until that point, and loved how it all culminated in a challenging dungeon and gruesome boss. Honestly, I couldn’t bring myself to do it all over again.

Until the Tarnished Edition arrived on Switch 2, that is. I finally got around to starting save file number four a few weeks back, and believe me when I say, I have not been able to put it down.

I did my usual Limgrave exploration, ventured into the fiery Caelid region (and swiftly realised I was still far too weak for it), and steadily levelled up in various catacombs and hoard encounters. Unsurprisingly, I dispatched both Margit and Godrick in one or two attempts — I’ve played ’em both more than enough by now — and Stormveil was similarly breezy for someone who’s spent so much time in it over the years. But then something unexpected happened: I kept playing.

Despite my previous cowardice, I stepped boldly into the uncharted waters of ‘The Lakes’ and I still haven’t quit. As I am writing this, I have just polished off The Academy of Raya Lucaria (a dungeon that, as someone using a magic build, can get in the bin) and its Good Boi / Bad Gurl bosses, and I still want more.

Aside from the portability perk — I couldn’t put this version down, even if I wanted to — the Switch 2 port itself is absolutely sublime. All those months of convention footage and delays had me worried that I’d never be able to play a game this reliant on reaction times with a choppy frame rate, but it all holds up remarkably well. Performance certainly hasn’t been perfect, and I have encountered some substantial drops here and there, but I’m finding myself enjoying this version even more than my prior attempts on PS4 and PS5 (and I loved those attempts).

Having spoken to some friends that are absolutely head-over-heels for this game, I know that I am very much still in the early stages of what Elden Ring has to offer, and there’s every chance that I’ll butt up against another roadblock down the line and bring save file four to an end.

But for now, I’m just pleased that I’m seeing something new. I always knew that I loved Elden Ring, and the Switch 2 has finally given me the kick up the backside to see even more of it.