Why Elden Ring Made Every Other Open World Feel Like a Checklist of Chores

Most games want you to feel like a hero. Elden Ring wants you to feel like an explorer, and after hundreds of hours in the Lands Between, I realized something terrifying: "Every other open world I used to love now feels like a checklist of chores."

Elden Ring didn't just win game of the year. It fundamentally broke how I look at every other game sitting in my library, and I want to explain why, starting from the very first steps out into Limgrave.

Limgrave opens with only four icons and no objective

Limgrave looks as good as it always has. Honestly, it's kind of looking a little bit better, to be fair. Anywhere you look, you can go to. If I want to go up on top of that mountain, or to that big old castle, I can go there.

Part of the beauty of Elden Ring is how few icons there are. There's literally four of them. In any other game you're playing, you would get icons here, there, everywhere. This one is pretty limited. You've got the Stranded Graveyard and the Site of Grace there, and then the Site of Grace for the first step, and that's mostly it. FromSoftware is telling you: you see where you're at? Just go to a place and you can do whatever you want. I've got no objective. The game isn't telling me I need to go up and kill this guy.

You don't have to fight the Tree Sentinel first

One of the common mistakes a lot of people make is seeing the Tree Sentinel and thinking it's the first boss. Typically in a game, you walk forward and assume the first thing in front of you is the first boss. I went ahead and took it on anyway, and perhaps I'm a little bit out of practice. I haven't played this game in a few years.

You don't have to fight the Tree Sentinel on your first run through. I think a lot of people see Elden Ring and assume it's full of brutal bosses, but in terms of Soulslike games, they're really not that hard, and for a game like Elden Ring, they're pretty approachable. I did get it done in the end, though I'm not going to lie: that took about 20 attempts.

I think FromSoftware took some inspiration from Breath of the Wild

Part of the reason this game broke my brain in terms of open world design is that I think The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom also did a really good job, and I actually have an opinion that FromSoftware took some inspiration from Nintendo here. Aonuma is a legend. All of those people at Nintendo are legends, and the same goes for FromSoftware. It's almost like they're both trying to compete on who can make the most impressive open world game.

The way Elden Ring did it was on a scale that's remarkable, and it wasn't something I ever expected. I was actually a late bloomer, because I was one of those Souls fans who figured Elden Ring would just be another Dark Souls. I was wrong. I was so happy to jump back into the game, because until you've tried this open world, you don't know what you're missing out on. If you're a gamer who likes to explore, I'd say just go discover things.

This open world design is a masterclass from FromSoftware. There are so many different levels to it. Every time you think you've been everywhere, the game takes you to a completely different area. The game is telling you it wants you to go discover and enjoy it however you want. You can go after the first boss, or head over to a dragon in the distance. "There's no law saying you have to stick to the path because really there's no path. The path is whatever you choose it to be." That's what is so beautiful about the game design of Elden Ring. I can talk about Elden Ring for hours, and the same goes for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Those games are so near and dear to my heart because of how good they are.

Torrent is part of the genius of Elden Ring's exploration

At the first church, I was given the ring that summons a spectral steed named Torrent, along with the instruction to treat him with respect. So treat Torrent with respect, everyone. We're all going to be judging you if you don't.

Torrent is part of the genius of this game, because the developers want you to be able to explore as much as possible and as fast as possible. Without a mount, this game is so massive that you'd be sitting there for hours upon hours discovering things, not knowing where you're going. That's kind of part of the appeal, but it's so much better to have Torrent. The double jump is so good, too.

Elden Ring wants you to go south, not forward

After picking up the Lordsworn's Greatsword, I checked the map, and there are a couple more icons now: Gatefront Ruins and Stormveil Castle. The game wants to give you a good idea of where things are as you unlock them and continue, but it's not a requirement. You don't have to go on the path.

A lot of people actually fail because they do go on the path. They figure that going forward or north is how game development typically works. You press W and you move forward. Not with FromSoftware. This game design says that if you really want to experience the game, you need to go south. There's no one forward path. You literally don't have to do anything. I can jump on Torrent and travel as far as I want.

The topographical map is genius level design

Open up the map and you get a beautiful topographical map where you can kind of see the difference in elevation. It's such genius level design, and I really wish more game developers were this intricate with their actual map design. It's very similar to a Breath of the Wild style topographical map, though this one is a bit more detailed.

I keep going back to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom leaning on Elden Ring aspects, and Elden Ring leaning on Breath of the Wild aspects. In my opinion, and this might be a hot take, a game like Elden Ring, even Dark Souls, is very much Ocarina of Time. That's Nintendo game design at its finest, and FromSoftware is so expertly evolving the genre.

Assassin's Creed Shadows feels far more hands on by comparison

When I go back to an open world game on my shelf, say Assassin's Creed Odyssey or even Shadows, and play it after Elden Ring, I'm left wondering what I'm doing there. Jump into Assassin's Creed Shadows and, just from the initial view, there's a bunch of UI elements on the screen. A lot of that you're able to disable, so there are customization options.

Look at the map, though, and there's a lot of UI clutter, which I've criticized them for. They've actually improved a bit, but it's classic Ubisoft, so you can't really complain too much. There are so many icons and so many things you could do. Even with the option to disable some of them, it's a stark contrast with Elden Ring, which is very hands off. Shadows is a little bit more hands on.

The scale and detail of the Lands Between still astonish me

You will stumble across some pretty bad enemies who are not fun to deal with. My approach is to dodge, bob and weave, and run past all of it until I hit a Site of Grace. If that's not how you play Elden Ring, I don't want to hear it. This is the best way to do it.

Just look at how vast this world is. The weather effects are wild, and the level of detail and the scale of everything is out of this world. This is FromSoftware at its best. The first time playing through this game is an unimaginable experience. You really are transported into a fantasy. They throw you into a sandbox and you're completely enthralled. I don't think I'll ever play a game as wild as this was.

Picking a spot at random, I ended up at a dragon communion spot, which is kind of overpowered, but still looks incredible. For the most part, everything you see, you can go to whenever you want, whether that's a tree in the distance or a giant skull. One area I headed into is one of the most bizarre open world areas I've ever played. It's kind of terrifying, and I remember asking myself on my first visit why I was in such a nightmarish place. And that's just one of many. We're not even in Shadow of the Erdtree, which takes the scale up even further.

A once in a generation game, and I hope Miyazaki has one more in him

Every time I go back to Elden Ring and look at its open world, I understand why it won game of the year. Did I love God of War Ragnarok? Of course I did. But this is a once in a generation type of game.

I have no idea what FromSoftware is cooking up for its next big game, beyond the one it already has coming, but it had better be a feast. I don't know if Miyazaki has one more in him. I hope he does. A game of this scale, I don't know how he did it. What's funny is that he has said multiple times this isn't even his final form, and that he wants to do something even more impressive.

At the end of the day, Elden Ring didn't just ruin open worlds for me. It reminded me what it's like to actually explore. It's a masterpiece that is still untouchable in 2026, and I honestly don't know if we'll see another game reach this level of trust with players in a long time. I have probably one or two games that released before Elden Ring, and one or maybe two that released after, that match the same feeling.

Is there an open world game released in the last few years that you think actually beats Elden Ring?