Do you think the recent success of souls games like Elden Ring affected the RPG genre negatively?

[Ferdinand]

We've seen the success recorded by most of the FromSoftware's Souls Games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and mainly Elden Ring. After the massive success of Elden Ring, I realised that many modern action RPGs now pick elements from Souls games when building their games. I am talking about punishing difficulties, challenging combats, and others.

So, I would like to know what you think about that? Do you believe older RPGs like Skyrim and most of the Final Fantasy titles are easier to play after your experience with playing Elden Ring? Or was the success of Elden Ring, for example, a positive impact on RPG games?

 

[Lukas]

Still on CK3. Started a new Iberian run last week. It is that kind of game — you tell yourself one more year and then Noor jumps on the keyboard at 1am and you realise four hours have passed.

 

[Oliver]

I'd argue it's mixed at best. The best thing FromSoft did was prove there's an audience for games that don't hold your hand and actually have consequences. That was genuinely refreshing. The worst thing is that every second studio now seems to think the lesson is just to make enemies hit harder and strip out fast travel. Those are not the same thing. Difficult by design is interesting. Tedious by default is not. To their credit, the actual Souls games understand the difference. Most imitators don't.

 

[Tyler]

Sekiro is still the peak for me. Elden Ring is great but Sekiro forces you to actually learn the combat. No summons, no cheese. Just get good or don't.