Elden Ring is here, and critics and fans agree the game is fantastic. It's been so successful that the game has already sold over 12 million copies, selling faster than any of FromSoftware's other games including the entire Dark Souls franchise. Even still, there are many more out there wondering if Elden Ring is for them and if it's like other games they know. In this article, we're going to explain if Elden Ring is like Sekiro, Lord of the Rings, Diablo, or Breath of the Wild.
Is Elden Ring Like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice?
Sekiro is another FromSoftware game; in fact, it was the developer's last game before Elden Ring. Naturally, you might think there's a lot of overlap between the two, but this really isn't the case. Sekiro and Elden Ring are vastly different games.
Elden Ring is a sprawling open-world action-RPG like Dark Souls if Dark Souls were much bigger and more ambitious, and Sekiro is a linear action-adventure game with a fairly traditional narrative.
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Sekiro is almost a rhythm game with how its combat plays with constant deflections and counterattacks, while Elden Ring plays a lot slower in comparison, much more similar to something like Dark Souls 3 in terms of its general gameplay pacing and flow.
If you like the responsiveness of Sekiro; the artistry on display in its art design; and the brutal challenge of the overall experience, you can appreciate Elden Ring for those same reasons, but outside of these relatively superficial similarities, these games are substantially different from one another.
Is Elden Ring Like Lord of the Rings?
Elden Ring has a high-fantasy world like Lord of the Rings in the sense that there are all kinds of races and creatures and monsters and fantastic elements and powers in the world of Elden Ring, but this is a very general observation that can be applied to a ton of different fantasy work.
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While Elden Ring's lore and narrative are both fascinating and minimalistic, there isn't all that much overlap with the world of Lord of the Rings. If you like Lord of the Rings simply for its massive fantasy world filled with intriguing things to see and terrifying enemies to face, then you might like Elden Ring.
If you're a huge fan of Lord of the Ring's narrative and its characters and the amazing journey it chronicles, Elden Ring is not that kind of game. Outside of the general similarity the two have due to both being works of fantasy, there is ultimately little to connect them.
Lord of the Rings game tend to run the gamut, and there are some action-RPG Lord of the Rings games, but once again, outside of this general genre similarity there is little to connect to the two IPs beyond the superficial.
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Is Elden Ring Like Diablo?
It depends on which Diablo. Diablo 3 is a more familiar action-RPG that does play differently from Elden Ring, but in general, there's a good deal of overlap between third-person action-RPGs in general, especially in the modern-day.
However, earlier Diablo games had loot driven by RNG drops, which is a very different system from Elden Ring. Elden Ring has RNG drops, like all the Souls games do as well, that can be farmed from enemies, but lots of stuff in Elden Ring is hidden in a specific location or comes from a specific enemy or area.
Diablo games are much more loot-driven than Elden Ring, too. Sure, in Elden Ring you will find cool stuff and earn cool stuff for defeating powerful enemies, but you're not constantly in a gameplay loop where you're picking up an endless stream of loot like you do in Diablo.
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Plus, Diablo has more traditional cutscenes and narrative structure, and the games are a lot less open when compared to the fully open-world Elden Ring. From format to gameplay to narrative to everything in-between, there is little overlap between Diablo and Elden Ring outside of superficial genre similarity.
Is Elden Ring Like Breath of the Wild?
While Elden Ring is a lot more gritty, dark, violent, and challenging than Breath of the Wild, but actually, the games are pretty similar in a lot of ways, even ways beyond the superficial similarity of them both being open-world action-RPGs.
Both Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring have minimalist narratives spread across a huge open-world with gameplay loops driven by exploration and discovery. They aren't as crunchy and loot-driven as RPGs like Diablo, and they have much more in common with RPGs of the past in terms of their pacing and progression.
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If what you liked about Breath of the Wild was exploring the world and finding surprising, interesting things, then Elden Ring will be a great game for you. In a lot of ways, these games try to do the same things, but Elden Ring is simply darker, more adult, and less accessible than Breath of the Wild.
However, Elden Ring is selling like hotcakes, so clearly, it's not such a niche experience. If you liked Breath of the Wild and aren't intimidated by the idea of trying something new, Elden Ring could be a great fit for you. Yes, it will be punishing at times, but like Breath of the Wild, Elden Ring is enormously rewarding, too.
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