Miyazaki started his career in the field of game development very late. At the age of 33, that he was just 33, he had already begun acting as director of Demon's Souls, the PlayStation 3 classic that created the popular Souls-like pseudo-genre that has become an enduring facet of Elden Ring Runes gaming history. Since then, Miyazaki's been recognized as the brains behind the biggest games of FromSoftware, including Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and finally Elden Ring, which released for every major gaming console (apart from Switch that can't normally handle such vast games) on February 25. I've since spent more than 90 hours in Miyazaki's subconscious and I'll admit, it could be quite a spooky place.
Elden Ring is an inevitable climax in Miyazaki's legacy. It's this massive, sprawling game that borrows elements from almost every FromSoftware project that preceded it. The game is (and I'm sorry in advance for having to say it) Dark Souls meets Breath of the Wild. I'm not sure which direction I'm headed to or what I'm doing the majority of all the time, but the experience isn't so unwieldy that it's overwhelming due to the many choices and systems. Elden Ring mostly stays out of its own way, offering users gentle pushes towards interesting things, while offering little resistance should you choose to make your own way, a complete package neatly hidden in the usual ambiguity of the traditional FromSoftware design.
As with all great works, buy Elden Ring Runes is magnificently imperfect, and equally elegant and beautiful. In this age of cookie-cutter paint-by numbers, triple-A development What more could you need than something assured in its absurdity? Okay, excuse me, I'm just 1/3 of the halfway through the game and would like to see at least one of its multiple closings in the coming year.