Despite it being out for a few weeks now, many players have yet to beat Elden Ring. Though the main quest of Elden Ring can technically be finished in just 30 hours, or dramatically less when using speedrunning strategies, to reach 100% completion, most players are having to put in well over the 100-hour mark. With the incredible scale of the game, it's no wonder that FromSoftware had to reuse some assets.
As players begin to explore Elden Ring's massive open-world, they'll start to come across a number of underground dungeons and mines. After a good amount of time with the game, players may start to see the same textures being used for these areas, and they might start to see the same bosses crop up every now and then, but FromSoftware has gone out of their way to ensure that every experience feels unique and distinct regardless of the environment or bosses' appearance.
Elden Ring's Reused Assets Are Kept Exciting
Though the same general room structure is present in most underground dungeons, the layout is always kept unique, so while a player may recognize their surroundings, they won't know what's around each corner. This can often lull some players into a false sense of security, tricking them into thinking they've got a leg-up on the game only to have the rug pulled out from underneath them as an unexpected enemy barrels around the corner.
Every dungeon offers a distinct challenge, even despite its reused assets. A great example of this is the Leyndell Catacombs dungeon. This dungeon appears like most others in the game, with the same light gray stone walls encouraging the player down a linear path, but this dungeon poses a unique challenge: it loops. Players will need to work out how to break the cycle of the dungeon and will need to find the correct path to the boss. So although the Leyndell Catacombs look no different from the rest of the game's dungeons, FromSoftware has still put a great deal of thought into the actual gameplay within.
This extends to the game's plethora of superb boss fights. As the player starts to fight their way towards Elden Ring's mid-game, they'll start to notice some familiar faces. Bosses that can be found in Elden Ring's early game are frequently used in the mid-game as duo, or even trio, boss fights. For instance, a boss fight in Caelid brings together a Crucible Knight, along with Castle Morne's Leonine Misbegotten.
These duo/trio boss fights are simple, but very effective ways to offer the player a new challenge using the same assets. Though some players may find it a little disappointing to face the same bosses again, the best duo/trio boss fights in Elden Ring reward the player for remembering their previous fight with each individual boss, with the player having a much higher chance of claiming victory if they recall the bosses' movesets.
Even when bosses aren't used in a duo or trio fight, their reuse at a later stage of the game is still often kept exciting through the introduction of a new moveset. One of the best examples of this is the boss fight with Margit, the Fell Omen, and the later game fight with Morgott, the Omen King. Though the two bosses share essentially the same appearance, their movesets do differ significantly. The first phase of Morgott's fight sees him use much of the same moves as Margit, but his second phase unleashes some brand new AoE attacks that are sure to surprise the player and put them on the back foot. Elden Ring ensures that no matter how things look, the player is always challenged in new and exciting ways that genuinely affect the gameplay.
Elden Ring is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
