The 2025 Desert Island Video Game Draft

[Capt. Factorial]

We are SO back! It looks like it has been five years since our last TDOS draft, but we've got a crew of 12 lined up to pick some video games.

As always, you're stranded on a desert island with food, water, shelter, bathroom facilities, electricity, an internet connection...and access to all the electronics necessary to play what we would culturally call a "video game". (Actually, that doesn't really sound like all that bad of a gig!) Unfortunately, your access to the games themselves is limited. You may draft them here, and any game you draft you may then play to your heart's content until your eventual rescue, probably several years down the road.

The draft will be a "snaking" draft, with 15 selections per participant. Following the completion of the draft, the participants will vote amongst themselves to rank each drafter's list of video games, after which we will hold a tournament-style public vote (open to all, including non-participants). As there are 12 participants, the top four ranked lists will get byes in the first round of voting.

I think by now most of us have a pretty good feel for what is allowed in these drafts and what is not. I will set out some guideline rules below, but as this particular topic seems to have a lot of gray area, please note that violation of the letter or the spirit of the rules is not allowed, and that I will be the final arbiter for any dispute.

How to participate

• Make your selection in its own comment. Include both the game title and the platform you will be playing it on. Include as much or as little supplementary material as you wish: write-up, personal love letter to the game, images, video of game play (OK, limit 1 video embed) - all of these are fine if you like. You should make your selection ASAP and return to edit your write-up later if you know what game you are selecting, but do not have time to complete a write-up.
• Make your selection timely. For simplicity, we will stick with the standard 24-hour clock. If you do not select in 24 hours, your time expires and the next participant is automatically on the clock. Missed picks can be made up at any time - including when other players are on the clock - but a participant who has missed one or more picks will have their turn skipped until they make up all outstanding picks.
• Send a Direct Message to the next drafter informing them that it is their turn once you have made your selection.

What is eligible

• Games on any of the following platforms are eligible:
• Console (anything that hooks to a TV/monitor)
• Arcade/standalone
• Handheld
• PC/Mac/Linux/other computer
• Online

What is not eligible

• Any game that has already been selected, regardless of platform. Reissues, knock-offs, community mods, games that are substantially the same game (even if the "levels" are different) on different platforms - all are considered the same game. (Spirit: no repeats)
• Expansions: Any game that requires the purchase of a separate, base game to play. (Exception: If you have already drafted the base game, you may use a separate pick on an expansion that relies on the base game. Note: Normal updates and patches expected with the original purchase would be included with a drafted game.)
• Multi-pack/bundled games. (Spirit: we all understand what one title is)
• Games that are merely implementations of a game that frequently is or could be played without a screen, e.g. chess, solitaire, Risk, Scrabble... (Spirit: it's a video game, not just a game that happens to be on a screen)

Draft order was randomized by an impartial third party (maybe he *wasn't* so impartial, I bet he put me last on purpose!):

1. @hrdboild
2. @Insomniacal Fan
3. @Turgenev
4. @Sluggah
5. @SLAB
6. @Warhawk
7. @Löwenherz
8. @whitechocolate
9. @Padrino
10. @Spike
11. @Tetsujin
12. @Capt. Factorial

The draft will open with @hrdboild tomorrow morning - let's call the clock to start at 8 AM PDT

 

[Capt. Factorial]

hrdboild​

1. Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Insomniacal Fan​

1. Baldur's Gate 3 (PC)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Turgenev​

1. Donkey Kong Country (Super Nintendo)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Sluggah​

1. Counter-Strike: Source (PC)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

SLAB​

1. The Last Of Us (PS5)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Warhawk​

1. Portal (PC)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Löwenherz​

1. Chrono Trigger (SNES)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

whitechocolate​

1. EarthBound (SNES)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Padrino​

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Spike​

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Tetsujin​

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Capt. Factorial​

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

 

[hrdboild]

R1.P01 (#1 Overall)
METAL GEAR SOLID

(Art source: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/yJ0q0K )​

Format: PS1
Year of Release: 1998
Developer: Konami Entertainment
Genre: Action-Adventure / Stealth
Why I picked it: Gameplay Innovation

Once I knew I would be picking first overall (and would have to watch 22 games come off the board before my next selection) there were only 2 titles I even considered taking in this spot. I'm conceding that the second one (a strong contender for best game ever made in my opinion) is almost certainly going to someone else but that's okay because it's tough to beat Hideo Kojima's pioneering masterpiece of interactive storytelling in terms of gameplay innovation, overall artistic presentation, and perhaps most importantly its expansive influence on future game design. Almost 30 years later this series is still going strong with another title slated for release later this year. This game laid out the groundwork for an entirely new genre and it's hard to even quantify how many spiritual successors and copycats have followed in its wake.

Right from the opening credits sequence, which plays out like the cold open of a Mission Impossible movie, it's clear that we're in store for something very different. Gameplay sequences are repeatedly broken up with cinematic cutscenes and animated radio conversations which are equal parts game tutorial, story exposition, and social commentary. This was the 90s and self-referential media was very much in fashion. At no point are you unaware that you're playing a game (most infamously in the Psycho Mantis boss fight which I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't already played it or read about it) but what this allows Kojima to do is tell a story about paranoid Cold War hysteria where you as the game player are challenged by the game designer to follow his directions (these are your enemies, these are your mission objectives) while simultaneously being inundated with themes that highlight the need not to blindly follow directions.

Looking back at the game's story through 2025 eyes, one clear criticism emerges. We could all tabulate the abundance of action-spy-thriller movie cliches utilized throughout because we've seen them dozens of times before and since. (Impending nuclear disaster, check. Surly masculine loner protagonist, check. Corporate greed masquerading as patriotism, check. Giant doomsday mechs... if only!) Nothing about this game is subtle. But given how Kojima has gone on to refine his artistic vision, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here and conclude that he's leaning in to the cliches in order to find something human underneath them. The origins of the Cold War go back to the 19th century clash of empire between Great Britain and Russia for complete dominance (economic and military) of central Asia after all -- a period of history which is often referred to (both ironically and unironically) as "The Great Game". Like James Bond and Ethan Hunt before him, our hero "Solid Snake" is both all-powerful as a singular force of destruction and tragically impotent to resist the forces of global domination arrayed around him. The great game of statecraft cannot ever be won, there is always a new opponent to defeat, but it can be lost and so like our heroes on the big screen we try our best as merely a player in this drama to survive each challenge into the next.

But even if you ignore all of the heady intellectual underpinnings foregrounded in the dialog, what you're left with is that feeling which happens every time you slip up and allow an enemy to spot you. It's the feeling of seeing a little exclamation mark appear above an enemy's head, of watching your omniscient map view disappear from the screen, and then the pulse-pounding race to flee from danger while every enemy on the map triangulates toward your last known location. That feeling alone is one of the greatest moments in gaming for me and even if that's all that this game had on offer it would be worthy of a recommendation. What we have here is so much more than just one great gameplay idea though, it is the rare case where a game designer pushed themself to keep raising the bar sequence after sequence from beginning to end and it's almost unfair the extent to which Kojima succeeded. It certainly elevated my understanding of what a video game could be when I first played it and all these years later it stands out as the best example I can think of for why the cultural significance of games as art should not be ignored.




(DM has been sent to @Insomniacal Fan)

 

[Löwenherz]

R1.P01 (#1 Overall)
METAL GEAR SOLID​

That’s a decidedly more exciting Snake than I had envisioned for you.

 

[Insomniacal Fan]

Baldur's Gate 3 (2023) - PC

Let me set the stage for this one. It's been almost 20 years since this board last explored video games in the desert island draft (2008). A lot has happened in that time. At that point in 2008, Video games were coming off of a fresh Supreme Court win that gave video games the same free speech protections that movies possessed. This set up a stable environment for the development and marketing of games that tried to appeal to adults; which led to games starting to have a major impact on pop culture.

At the same time, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) was about to enter a period of decline. A new edition of the rules doesn't sell as well as expected. This leads to the closing up of the novel lines, (including the previously very successful Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance series) and the space going fairly quiet for a while. What eventually saves D&D in the late 2010s is social media, with it's insatiable need for inexpensive content, and a target audience of adults raised on young adult fantasy novels and cringe comedy sitcoms, making them particularly suited to tolerating improvisational storytelling. And finally (in 2023) the stage is set for the first mainstream adaptation of D&D to high production value video games since 2006. Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3)

How do you adapt a tabletop RPG in 2023? Well, pretty much the same way you did in 2006. At the core of the game is the combat engine, where BG3 is rare among big budget games in that it is turn based. It rewards players for deep knowledge of probabilities and edge cases that fall out of the relatively simplified current edition of the tabletop rules. The combats are challenging and varied (if you find your favorite difficulty setting) And new character abilities keep the game fresh as you proceed through the plot.

The plot works the same ways as previous RPGs, a series of dialogue trees, an exploration of large (if not open worlds.) along with banter and character development. What makes BG3 special isn't the form of the game though, it is the quantity and quality. The entire game has mounds of voice acting, and even the humblest NPC sells their place in the story. The main voice cast of the adventuring party are asked to deliver a range of emotions, from quiet to bold to tragic, and it all works.

With the writing, quantity has a quality all of its own. There are always several ways around every encounter, and often those lead to genuine unique paths that must have taken real development resources to implement. When you multiply the number of routes through the game by the amount of full voice acting, you have a 80 hour RPG that is actually worth playing more than once through.

BG3 wasn't innovative in form, but through sheer production quality it cleared its orbit and became an instant classic. I don't know how anybody's going to make another game like it. It seems like magic

(DM has been sent to @Turgenev )

 

[Turgenev]

Donkey Kong Country. Super Nintendo. 1994.

I remember my mum walking me home from school one day. We were about halfway home when she said 'oh your sister bought a Nintendo. She was playing a game with monkeys on it'. A nice memory to connect with during a period of a conflict with my sister.

 

[hrdboild]

That’s a decidedly more exciting Snake than I had envisioned for you.

View attachment 13664

Don't give people any ideas!


Turns out I was mistakenly under the impression this was a movie character draft...

but I was able to pivot at the last minute and salvage the situation. AI helped.

 

[Löwenherz]

c

Don't give people any ideas!


Turns out I was mistakenly under the impression this was a movie character draft...

but I was able to pivot at the last minute and salvage the situation. AI helped.

Wow, I thought he was dead.

 

[Padrino]

Donkey Kong Country. Super Nintendo. 1994.

I remember my mum walking me home from school one day. We were about halfway home when she said 'oh your sister bought a Nintendo. She was playing a game with monkeys on it'. A nice memory to connect with during a period of a conflict with my sister.

Man... this game (and its immediate sequel) were such a revelation for me. Though there was a lot of shared DNA with other immensely popular Nintendo platformers, it just looked and played so differently. Nice pick.

 

[Padrino]

Baldur's Gate 3 (2023) - PC

Let me set the stage for this one. It's been almost 20 years since this board last explored video games in the desert island draft (2008). A lot has happened in that time. At that point in 2008, Video games were coming off of a fresh Supreme Court win that gave video games the same free speech protections that movies possessed. This set up a stable environment for the development and marketing of games that tried to appeal to adults; which led to games starting to have a major impact on pop culture.

At the same time, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) was about to enter a period of decline. A new edition of the rules doesn't sell as well as expected. This leads to the closing up of the novel lines, (including the previously very successful Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance series) and the space going fairly quiet for a while. What eventually saves D&D in the late 2010s is social media, with it's insatiable need for inexpensive content, and a target audience of adults raised on young adult fantasy novels and cringe comedy sitcoms, making them particularly suited to tolerating improvisational storytelling. And finally (in 2023) the stage is set for the first mainstream adaptation of D&D to high production value video games since 2006. Baldur's Gate 3 (BG3)

How do you adapt a tabletop RPG in 2023? Well, pretty much the same way you did in 2006. At the core of the game is the combat engine, where BG3 is rare among big budget games in that it is turn based. It rewards players for deep knowledge of probabilities and edge cases that fall out of the relatively simplified current edition of the tabletop rules. The combats are challenging and varied (if you find your favorite difficulty setting) And new character abilities keep the game fresh as you proceed through the plot.

The plot works the same ways as previous RPGs, a series of dialogue trees, an exploration of large (if not open worlds.) along with banter and character development. What makes BG3 special isn't the form of the game though, it is the quantity and quality. The entire game has mounds of voice acting, and even the humblest NPC sells their place in the story. The main voice cast of the adventuring party are asked to deliver a range of emotions, from quiet to bold to tragic, and it all works.

With the writing, quantity has a quality all of its own. There are always several ways around every encounter, and often those lead to genuine unique paths that must have taken real development resources to implement. When you multiply the number of routes through the game by the amount of full voice acting, you have a 80 hour RPG that is actually worth playing more than once through.

BG3 wasn't innovative in form, but through sheer production quality it cleared its orbit and became an instant classic. I don't know how anybody's going to make another game like it. It seems like magic

(DM has been sent to @Turgenev )

Excellent pick! I bought this game right after moving from Sacramento to Northern Virginia in August of 2023. The journey out here was... challenging. I've not told this story at KF.com, as I'm generally a pretty private individual, but now feels like the right context for sharing. I caught COVID (for the first time!) on my second day of driving a moving truck solo across the country. My wife was going to join me later in the year after wrapping up her professional commitments, so it was just me out there on the road, coughing my guts up while hauling the vast majority of our earthly possessions from state to state, sleeping in sh*tty little highway-side motels and dining on lozenges for relief. Then, just one day before arriving in Virginia, as I was passing through Indiana, I got a phone call from the property management company that oversaw the rental we were moving into. A pipe had burst on the upper floor of our three-level townhouse, flooding the entire unit and collapsing both of the lower ceilings.

The rental was toast. We were given an off-ramp out of the lease, but I still had nowhere to go. I was effectively homeless upon arriving in the region that was meant to become my new home. I did not know anybody and I had no recourse. So I booked a hotel room for temporary accommodation, then booked a storage unit and unloaded all of our possessions by myself, still coughing my guts up. After a couple of days on the mend, I needed less expensive and more flexible lodging, so I booked long-term accommodations at a sh*tty little Extended Stay, where I lived for two months while adjusting to a new job and a new state, and searched for a new rental.

In that two-month span entered Baldur's Gate III. I was in desperate need of a worthy distraction as I managed the fallout of our failed attempt at a smooth transition to Northern Virginia. I adore the job that brought me out here in the first place, and my colleagues are wonderful, but it's tough being in a new place by yourself with no friends nor family nearby to offer a helping hand. So instead, I had Kryssak (my Dragonborn paladin), Shadowheart, Astarion, Karlach, Lae'zel, Gale, and Wyll to keep me company. It's a tremendous game, and affords the player tremendous freedom, and living inside the stories I created with those characters every day really got me through an extremely challenging period of my life.

My personal story has a happy ending, though. The rental we ultimately ended up moving into was more expensive than the one that flooded, but it was in an absolutely beautiful neighborhood with immediate access to a massive trail system. My wife and I are very outdoorsy, and we absolutely love it here, so much so that we just bought our very first home back in March. It's a fixer-upper in the same exact neighborhood, right around the corner from our previous rental, and we spent the last two-and-a-half months renovating it to suit our tastes. We just officially moved in last week, and as of yesterday, we have officially closed the book on our lives as renters, which also feels like closing the book on Chapter 1 of our time in Northern Virginia. Now we begin a new chapter, but Baldur's Gate III will always stand out in my mind as the necessary salve for a difficult transition, and I will always love it for that place it holds in my memory.

 

[Sluggah]

Title: Counter-Strike: Source
Format: PC
Year of Release: 2004
Developer: Valve (and others)

Counter-Strike: Source is a team-based tactical first-person shooter, a remake of a mod of another draft-worthy game, and one of two that I’ve played competitively (technically CS 1.6, but don’t want to open up that can of worms).

Diffuse the bomb…rescue the hostages…kill the other team. The no-respawn round based gameplay lent itself to a lot of exciting heroics or crushing failures. AK and desert eagle for life.

I could look up the amount of hours played on Steam, but it would probably be a bad look for me. Was hard to go to class when I could spend all day being accused of hacking as random dudes rage quit.

 

[SLAB]

Pick 1: The Last of Us

Going back and forth between two games here. Went with the pure emotion/feels and top-level storytelling over my other choice. This game evokes more emotion in me than any other game I’ve played. I remember being skeptical going in, but had tears in my eyes within the first hour. I can feel the same feels I felt when I originally played this when I simply think about story beats. It sticks with you.

Ups. Downs. Action. Stealth. Absolutely beautiful in its latest release form.

Pick 1: The Last of Us Part I - PS5

 

[Capt. Factorial]

View attachment 13670

Pick 1: The Last of Us

Going back and forth between two games here. Went with the pure emotion/feels and top-level storytelling over my other choice. This game evokes more emotion in me than any other game I’ve played. I remember being skeptical going in, but had tears in my eyes within the first hour. I can feel the same feels I felt when I originally played this when I simply think about story beats. It sticks with you.

Ups. Downs. Action. Stealth. Absolutely beautiful in its latest release form.

Pick 1: The Last of Us.

Which platform?

 

[Warhawk]

Portal
Developer: Valve
Year: 2007
Platform: PC (Steam)

This game is short, fairly simple to understand, and basically consists of a first-person shooter where you don't "shoot" anything. But oh, my goodness, did it grab me when it came out.

Portal is basically a puzzle game wrapped up in a beautiful package of a slightly dystopian "research facility" being controlled by the quirky GLaDOS, an AI operating system that took over the facility and killed everyone in it. Your challenge is to work your way through training areas in an attempt to escape.

The most beautiful part about the game is both its simplicity and approach. The only "weapon" you have is the "Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device" (the "portal gun") that only makes "portals". Portals are intra-dimensional openings between two flat surfaces. If you walk through one portal you instantly come out the other. The cool part is when you start playing with physics using the portals. You can use conservation of momentum to fling yourself across maps, over barriers, etc. (per the blatantly stolen graphic from Wikipedia below). Per GLaDOS: "In layman's terms: speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out." Also, you can use them to move, drop, or otherwise eliminate enemies, etc.



Valve cooked up a dark atmosphere for the game, but the hilarity of the malfunctioning GLaDOS, the presence of the totally inert (yet compellingly heartwarming) Weighted Companion Cube (typically used to hold down floor plate switches or help you climb into inaccessible areas), and the cute but fatal sentry guns you have to work around suck you into the game and don't let go as you progress through increasingly difficult challenges in your escape. Seriously, I found myself laughing through large portions of the game at the stuff GLaDOS says at you. Dark comedy and satire permeate the dialoge.

The gameplay may sound a bit boring, but it was so immersive and groundbreaking when released it is widely recognized as one of the best games ever made. The writing is absolutely fantastic. The initial levels are quite easy. They obviously progress in difficulty as you play. And the only tool you have to win is physics.







The video has spoilers - just FYI.

DM sent.

 

[Löwenherz]

I have a ton to say about my first pick, but I’m in a time crunch at the moment.

Let’s keep things moving, and I’ll time travel my way back here to make things right.

Chrono Trigger (SNES) - 1995

 

[SLAB]

Which platform?

I’ll go with the newest iteration of it. TLoU Part I on PS5.

 

[whitechocolate]

EarthBound - SNES, 1994

If you asked me at any time in the last thirty years what my favorite game is, I would say EarthBound. I still have the cartridge from when I was a kid. I think I just really connect with its vibe. I have to start with the music. I think it's the greatest music in gaming. It draws from many styles and sounds, many of which tap into exprimental electronic styles, which are my favorite genres today. The dub influence has always stood out to me too even though I don't listen to much reggae. The list of influences is long, and the end result is something truly unique. The entire soundtrack is an earworm. No matter how catchy or atmospheric it is at any given time, it is memorable. The music also matches the different settings throughout the game perfectly. Settings go from ordinary to exraordinary. Both of which place emphasis on each other. Battles have psychelic backgrounds and you fight regular people and random werdness. Dialogue is also interesting, going from social mores to a surreal sense of humor. Even the story swings from typical to obscure. As bold and unique as the game is, it succeeds because of how sharp and brilliant it is. The vision behind it is touching and eccentric. I like it. Also it's a turn based rpg.

 

[Padrino]

Gaming is more popular than it's ever been, but interestingly, video games are a far less populist medium than movies or music. There's no Godfather or Casablanca or Sergeant Pepper's or Pet Sounds of video gaming that will represent an obvious top selection that an individual may regret missing out on because they've got a less favorable first round seeding. The first eight picks of this draft seem like evidence of that to me. In fact, if you had asked me to predict the video games that would have come off the board before my selection, I would not have listed any of the above.

That does not mean that there are no masterpieces in the top-8, of course, or that video games cannot scale the heights of, say, an operatic film like The Godfather. I simply mean that consensus is harder to achieve when determining the "Best Of" the medium. For me, that unpredictability makes this draft more exciting. In all the Desert Island drafts I've participated in, I've been driven by whim and personal connection more than perceived "pick value". And with this draft, it seems like many other drafters are pursuing similar strategies. It almost doesn't matter where you've been seeded. I imagine there's a good chance you'll be able to draft most of the games that matter to you.

That said, there are at least two picks in the top-8 that were on my list of possibilities for this draft. I've found strong identification particularly with the Baldur's Gate III and Chrono Trigger selections. And maybe that's the difference between video games and movies. Because of the many niches that game developers serve, and because of the deep interactivity of the medium, video games are sometimes far more personal to the player than other mediums can be. That's made it difficult for me to determine what game I should pick first. What do I care about when I'm playing a game? What matters most to me?

In the spirit of trying to answer those questions, and with the 9th pick in the 2025 Desert Island Video Game Draft, I'm selecting:

Elden Ring (2022)

Developer: FromSoftware
Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Game Director: Hidetako Miyazaki
Musical Score: Shoi Miyazawa, Yuka Kitamura, Yoshimi Kudo, & Tai Tomisawa
Genre(s): Action RPG; Open World RPG; Souls-like
Platform: PC

"The fallen leaves tell a story. The great Elden Ring was shattered. In our home, across the fog, the Lands Between..."

There's no doubt about it. Hidetako Miyazaki's games are a mood. He's a director who operates with a very specific set of very divisive principles. Many players can't get on with his aesthetic choices nor his storytelling methods nor his approach to gameplay. And that's okay. Not everything must be for everyone. But for those who vibrate on his wavelength, his games are something truly special.

Miyazaki has long been interested in crumbling worlds and the broken beings who inhabit them. His player characters often seem to enter the frame long after a civilization is passed its peak, and longer still since decay and rot has claimed whatever's left of it. Elden Ring is no exception. There's something terribly beguiling about the Lands Between. It's striking, hypnotic, even beautiful in its decrepitude. But from the minute the player steps out of the opening catacombs into Limgrave, death waits around every corner. A hulking Tree Sentinel. A descending dragon. Evergaols full of sealed-away horrors.

As is the case for many, my first foray into Souls and Souls-adjacent games was a maddening experience, as I threw myself at enemies time and again, getting annihilated in the process and not exactly enjoying it. The difficulty curve was steep, and I was inclined to give up on it. But there was some part of me that was utterly taken by those worlds, by their hazy, uncanny strangeness, that it felt worth it to keep banging my fist against the proverbial door, hoping to be let in. And then, almost without meaning for it to happen, my fingers found the key for the lock and I turned it.

It's a funny thing, when you finally establish your footing in a Souls game. You realize the necessity of patience, of timing, and that conflict within their worlds is more of a dance than anything else. It's balletic. Rhythmic. I play the drums, so after awhile, it all started to make sense to me. That said, I'm a better drummer than I am a gamer, so I'd hardly pretend that I don't still get regularly waxed by a variety of goons and bosses in FromSoft games. But by the time of Elden Ring's release, I had enough confidence in my ability that its massive and mystifying world wasn't completely unapproachable.

In fact, the Lands Between is an absolute delight to traverse, particularly astride Torrent. The openness calls out to the player to roam, to poke and prod at its corners, to investigate every crack and crevice, to marvel at its cliff faces, to wander languorously through its blighted environs and gape at its colossal structures and monstrosities. The scale here is... towering. It is to be an ant in a world of boots. Was something lost in the transition from the precisely-knotted level design of the Souls series to the vast open world of Elden Ring? Perhaps. But an arresting sense of place and a staggering sense of awe lie in the shadow of the Erdtree. The Tarnished player character is guided by Grace, certainly, but also by their curiosity and their willingness to challenge an order and an ecosystem that, at every turn, wants them dead.

The grandeur of the Lands Between extends to the game's storytelling, as well, which is typically cryptic for a Miyazaki joint. Finding "story" in his games is a bit like playing archaeologist. You have to be willing to dig for meaning, to mine for bits of understanding. Elden Ring is perfectly enjoyable while paying no attention whatsoever to the slew of Important Proper Nouns™ and the dripfeed of context that gives those proper nouns their significance, but there is something genuinely compelling to be found in the story that begot the quest for the next Elden Lord.

George R. R. Martin, he of Game of Thrones fame, apparently had a hand in developing the backstory of the Lands Between. But truth be told, everything about Elden Ring's storytelling lives within the hauntingly suggestive Miyazaki milieu. The tragic story of Blaidd the Half-Wolf, shadow to Lunar Princess Ranni. The somehow even more tragic story of Melania, Blade of Miquella, and her fair-hearted brother, Miquella the Kind. Then there's Placidusax, the ancient dragon who was once Elden Lord and ultimately abandoned by his god. And Fia, the deathbed companion who wishes to become mother to Those Who Live in Death. Or the Living Jars of Jarburg and their yearning for a potentate. There are so many strange and intoxicating layers to peel back in the Lands Between, so many characters worth the puzzling to unlock their interactions, so much to discover if you're willing to meet the game on its terms, if you're willing to venture forth and conquer its world, one Shardbearer at a time.

"Oh, arise now, ye Tarnished. Ye dead, who yet live. The call of long-lost Grace speaks to us all..."