They stopped being fun 10-15 years ago. Back then people started figuring out the new touch input for games which lead to many simple, but creative games.

Nowadays, it feels like there exists nothing noteworthy in this space. Most are just boring clones of clones of clones riddled with ads and other garbage. I was unable to find even one game worth installing on my phone the past few years.

I don’t know what I am looking for at this point. I love casual games and play a lot on PC or my Steam Deck and it is so much easier to find something there which isn’t just a cheap money grab.

I am playing Railbound after it got on sale this week. Some of the extra levels are really hard and I have yet to find a solution.

Overall it is a fun little game which works great on the Steam Deck.

I don’t know. All I am thinking is that games like Fallout do a much better job with environmental story telling. Also many blanks are filled by diary entries, manifests, dialog etc. You can learn a lot about most locations and the people that lived or worked there. Literally nothing even close to that was to be found in any of the locations I visited in Elden Ring.

Same for the Witcher where you figure things out and learn about the monsters. Every enemy feels so much more impactful than random monster 164 in Elden Ring.

I have a feeling that it is partly a very intended different style, but it is also an excuse to skip writing much lore. Just hint at some stuff and people will fill the blanks for you in hour long explanation videos. The world does not feel alive though or real. It is hollow.

Otherwise it seems to be a great game, it is just the storytelling aspect which is pretty bad for RPG standards. The world is interesting, but my curiosity is never rewarded.

Not trying to be funny, but the characters motivation feels the same as Pokemon Red/Blue. Just become the very best just for the sake of it. I really really hope I am wrong, because that would be an absolutely disappointing conclusion or rather lack of it.

I bought Elden Ring during the last Steam sale.

The world is intriguing, but there is a real plot hook missing. I still don’t know the real motivation of my character after 40 hours of gameplay. The reason why I am there and why I care. It was never explained why I want to become an elden lord and what that really means. Some of the stuff will be probably explained at some point, but as I said I don’t understand the motivation or why my character started the journey in the first place.

There really is not much story so far. There is probably a lot of lore hidden, but most places, events, bosses, quests etc feel disconnected or shallow. I really would love to pick up some of the books in all the places, but that’s not possible. As I said the world is intriguing, but it is probably all just cryptic stuff with many blanks left. Lore wise it can’t be all a big mystery and it doesn’t feel like most of it is, but it is never conveyed to the player.

The world is beautiful, there are many weird places. Having the big glowing tree in the background is an amazing set piece in an otherwise grim dark world.

Gameplay wise the progression feels really slow and it is hard to change the playstyle due to limited resources early on. I am unsure if I like that yet. It doesn’t invite the player to try out some of the new toys you find though which is a bummer.

Besides that it is the first real Souls like I got into and the difficulty seems reasonable. The lack of quick saves is an interesting design choice. Every failure hits a bit harder, but it also inhibits experimentation.

I can’t really explain why I like this game, but so far I am having fun. The world looks and feels great, the gameplay is fun. It’s just the story or storytelling aspect of the game which could be so much better.