Why are People Refunding Elden Ring?

When I first bought Elden Ring, I was expecting the 10/10 Game of the Year that the media hyped it up to be. Within the first hour of playing, it was clear that the game like all FromSoftware games was extensively hard. For someone who has never taken the time to beat a souls-like before, dying 20+ times to the first boss made it seem like the entire game is going to be as difficult as a game can get.

So, I had my fun being low level and not wanting to grind, so I refunded it. I had other obligations I needed to get done. It was clear that the game required an amount of focus and time that I was not willing or able to commit to. After all nobody is expected to enjoy every game the media talks about. However, after the game had been cleared from my library, after the weekend was over, I couldn’t get enough of it. As I watched my friends and streamers play the game it became clear to me that I had overlooked the exploration aspect, even though I had experienced the core systems in the game. So, I tried it again, this time instead of going straight for the first boss encounter I could find, I went out exploring, and I found something new.

Games are supposed to be fun, if you don’t enjoy hard games you don’t have to play Elden Ring, people who work a 9–5 job and don’t want to spend hours dying to a boss will probably enjoy a more relaxing and casual game. Some games are in fact just confusing to some people. As they don’t have the mechanical literacy built up from playing similar games. My friend who had been playing the game for about 20 hours didn’t even know that dodge rolling gave you invulnerability.

That being said, Elden Ring is probably the most casual friendly and accessible souls-game, and it is the best one because of it. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of catering of actual accessibility options but, when you get stuck on a boss you can just go back to exploring…