Many AAA game developers feel powerless to figure out where they are in the modern gaming industry. We've seen Ubisoft soullessly launch one online game after another, and then no one knows. We've seen EA legendaryly destroy its single-player studio, forcibly trying to transform it into an online game factory. We've seen Square Enix blame his studio for poor sales of games that are shackled by the greed of so-called executives and are rife with microtransactions that don't make sense in full-price retail games.
However, there's always a shining star in the night, and in an increasingly homogeneous sense of the game, Eldon's Ring of Law goes beyond the hierarchy, breaking with every quiz and low convention to achieve a truly awesome 12 million sales in just a few weeks. There are some simple, special, and pure things about Eldon's Law That many AAA publishers today seem to be increasingly ignoring —making a good game first.
FromSoftware has stuck to high-quality games for the past decade, and The Vast and Expansive Feel of Eldon's Law Ring remains as much as the company's growing fans have come to expect. Instead of turning their signature style into a burden to an online game, they simply expanded it to give players a bigger world, more tools, and a more interesting experience. Eldon's Ring of Law is easily one of the best Xbox games of all time.
First, the construction of the world is better than Hollywood
Skyrim is a frequent comparison of Eldon's Circle of Law, and I don't mind making that comparison. Neither game has particularly in-depth research on cinema, and while the few films that Eldon's Ring of Law has are completely admirable, there's one area where that's not, and that's world-building, which refers to efforts to provide a consistent, trustworthy world.
In Eldon's Ring of Law, it feels like every item in the game has a place in the story and game world. Nothing is randomly placed there. From the logos and designs of weapons and armor, to the locations of certain monsters, everything has a unique meaning. I know that thanks to the reputation That FromSoftware has built over the years, everything here is inevitable. By looking at item descriptions, as well as through relatively light exploration, a complete world reveals itself to the player. The world seems to have endless depths, which really stimulates the imagination of players, and it should be more about allowing players to use their imaginations.
Bethesda Games follows these precepts in The Elder Scrolls games, in Fallout games, and no doubt in Starry Sky. But, for whatever reason, few other developers really take their world-building too seriously beyond the most basic superficial level. For some reason, they argue that spending money on heavy Hollywood-level acting is a better use of money than building a convincing world.
Even if you don't read all the item descriptions in Eldon's Ring of Law, the hints and details you'll give you throughout the game will make the world more alive, believable, and memorable than the dozen assassin's creed games of the past. Moreover, there is a market. People discuss the mysteries of the game in detail on social networks, sharing what they have found.
Eldon's Ring of Law does a great job of exploration, while other games don't. In the current Tomb Raider game, this really upsets me, I do these tomb puzzles in places that have not been touched for a thousand years, and my reward is some... Shotgun parts? Inconsistencies between world design and game features simply don't exist in FromSoft games, and even the co-op system is designed with the game's legend and storytelling in mind.
Second, respect the wisdom of gamers
As someone who's been playing World of Warcraft since its inception, I think one of the biggest mistakes Blizzard has made is "downplaying" the game. I'm not entirely sure why they're cutting features and spells from the game, while also simplifying stats so much that you don't even have to make a decision about the choice of equipment anymore. Today's World of Warcraft looks very shallow, with little research need for the game beyond a basic guide on how to rotate damage and what to play. Blizzard even seems to stop trying to balance the different pairings, letting the community figure out which is the best and keep it stuck on each character, choosing instead to make small level adjustments every few years.
If you're going to build an action game like Eldon's Circle of Law, which many publishers will choose, and no doubt for years to come, there's nothing wrong with having a little more respect for players' willingness to learn and adapt.
Third, there is no greed for near-success and short-term profit
There's no cuts to content, no in-game "shops", no loot boxes, and nothing to pay for. The purity of Eldon's Circle of Law is valuable. But sadly, in an industry dominated by shareholders that demand short-term profits above all else, this sort of thing is becoming less and less common.
EA, in particular, seems to be balancing the greed of its shareholders, but it's hard to make a good game. Battlefield 2042 is an obvious example of a game that blames decisions at the execution level. No one has ever asked EA to join a paid operator in a game. A flurry of greedy decisions left Battlefield 2042 an orphan, with fewer people online than Battlefield 5 or even Battlefield 1.