Elden: Path of the Forgotten Reviews

Obviously I'm just getting started, but I like this so far. Unique environment with lots of interesting areas to explore; several enemies to fight, several weapons found so far. I probably just need to "get good", but the only downside is getting slain constantly. Since I'm trying to ration my apples and there's few other way to heal, I found myself restarting several times (at the checkpoint before the trade bird). There I think I ran into a few bugs; the NPC after the first big battle only offers to draw a "heal ring" once, not again after re-spawns. I ran past all of the wraith-like creatures and found the cool trade-bird NPC, but realized I could "trade" apples for the mana-item over and over without actually losing apples. So I ended up with 15 of those, then went back to the wraiths, but died... then I couldn't ever beat them since NPC-man wouldn't heal me after that "first battle", upon re-spawn. Magic helps with the wraiths, but I'm not good at running around while aiming the missiles with my other thumb, while triggering the timed-shots simultaneously. Anyway, I'm looking forward to playing again soon! I gotta get good enough to see what else is in store :)

I quite enjoyed my time in this short but sweet game. But I got it on 70% discount, full price is too much.

This is a game with an interesting premise, but poor implementation. Controls and movement feel about 25% lagged behind what one would assume; boss fights are a bit silly; overworld play consists of trying to find the next savegame pad and dodging fire and shadow attacks (in the second area). This is a game with the open-ended storytelling mechanic of La Mulana and the gameplay and value proposition of slamming your hand in a car door. Between dev-estimated playtime (3-5 hours) and cost ($15.99USD), the overall rating is in the 2-3 scale.

What a fun little game, one of the highlights for me was just getting lost in the world and trying to make sense of it all. It's nice to see a game that doesn't spoon feed you everything you need to know, so it sort of makes you stop and think about what you're doing and where you're going instead of mindlessly swinging a sword and waiting for the answers. It's fun getting lost on the forgotten path.

Such a great game. I love how mysterious everything is, the visuals are beautiful, combat is fun, and with the huge update the dev just announced, it's going to get even better.

The game has good ideas let down by poor execution. The premise is good: make an indie soulslike-type game which uses visual and environmental storytelling only, with (originally, at least) all text in a fictional language. Unfortunately, most players do not appreciate these kinds of elements, and the storytelling in the end product is incredibly basic. While the original narrative loop is closed, the very limited interactions the protagonist has with other people in the world (there are a handful of repeated run-ins with the same two people, plus the item trader) are so basic that is is unclear who they were or what the actual chain of events was. The actual gameplay has some good ideas and I found myself warming up to the combat towards the end, however the weapon variety is limited and the lifesteal rune you can find (which is an item usable on a cooldown) completely breaks the game's difficulty over its knee. Combine this with low enemy variety and poor enemy AI, and the end result is lamentable. The enemy AI is especially poor because the boss state machines can change mid action; this was probably intended to make them more difficult, however the result is that it is completely trivial to break their AI as you can lock them between state transitions pretty much indefinitely. The only boss I couldn't do this with was the third boss (there are four total), which was the only humanoid boss. Finally, this is not a good game for achievement hunters as some of the achievements are broken according to the developer in the discussions, and at least as of 2022 were not fixed. The issues I've mentioned combined with the price ($16 USD) make this a difficult sell even on sale.

So, my experience with this game has been nothing but positive. The sound track is so calming and relaxing yet it has a very creepy vibe to it. I love how you can gather different weapons, and different spells and customize your play through to fit your fighting style. Its honestly one of my favorite games now and i highly recommend it. I can really tell Dylan put his heart into the game. It really does show and its a very fun game. I highly recommend this game, please give it a shot! Its absolutely amazing! I genuinely have nothing negative to say about it. C:

I enjoyed this game, but I feel like there isn't much there regarding content. Levels aren't terribly designed, but enemies are recycled, exploration isn't really required if you don't use healing items, and hitboxes are meh (I'm looking at you, axe). Overall, not a bad game. Short. Buy on sale or if you're into these sorts of games.

The game suffers from clunky controls, vague hitboxes, and general lack of polish. Enemies frequently disappear into the terrain (though at least they are still highlighted when behind the obstacles). In terms of the narrative, I understand that the developer wanted to do purely environmental storytelling, but there's just not enough of it. You see your mother disappear into an eldritch portal, and then you go fight monsters that are hanging out outside your house.

I havent posted a review before but considering the only other one so far was so negative I feel like I should say I'm loving this game so far. It's probably not for you if you like quest markers, maps, dialog, or a generally more guided mechanical discovery experience. Something about the atmosphere in the game makes me feel really nostalgic but i can't put my finger on why. I'm mostly attracted to the art style but the i stayed for the music and the bird. Taking a break because the thing in the castle is too hard.