One of the key components that makes developer FromSoftware’s Soulsborne series so successful is the outstanding quality of its boss fights. Memorable encounters such as the Tower Knight fromDemon’s Soulsor Ornstein and Smough fromDark Soulshave captivated fans for years, and the Japanese developer continues to raise the bar with each iteration.Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s most successful endeavor yet, features well over 150 boss fights, and the sheer volume of them means that not all of them are classics. Despite this, Hidetaka Miyazaki’s team should be able to take the key learnings fromElden Ring’s many encounters into FromSoftware’s next Souls project, whatever that may be.
When it comes to using previous mistakes to help future projects, FromSoftware is one of the best in the industry. Seen by many as the culmination of its work on theDark Soulstrilogy,Bloodborne,andSekiro: Shadows Die Twice,Elden Ringtook the finest elements of these titles and merge them into one massive game. FromSoftware should already have one eye on the future, and its next Souls project will likely take lessons from the best and worst elements ofElden Ring, including its boss fights.
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Not All of Elden Ring’s Boss Fights Are Classics
In a game the sheer size ofElden Ring, it is perhaps no surprise that some of its boss encounters are forgettable. Many bosses, such as the Erdtree Avatars, Tree Spirits, Crucible Knights, and the Godskin creatures, frequently pop up throughoutElden Ring’s journey alone, as duo bosses, or sometimes as regular enemies later in the game. Some of these duo encounters, such as the maligned Godskin Duo, feel almost entirely unnecessary, as if they were added in to pad out the number of bosses.
While fighting bosses is one of the main draws of a Soulsborne title, this shouldn’t come at the expense of quality, and many fans would happily halve the number of bosses inElden Ringif it meant doing away with some of these unnecessary frequent encounters.Elden Ring’s bosses are at their best when they are unique encounters, the likes of which have never been seen before.Malenia, Blade of Miquella, is widely regarded as the game’s toughest boss, and while there are some who feel the fight is not one of FromSoftware’s finest mechanically, nobody can deny that the unique feel of the fight thanks to its environment and score.
Malekith, the Black Blade, a two-phase fight towards the game’s climax, is another example of a stunning fight that balances precariously between challenging and fair. FromSoftware’s next Souls project may be another new IP entirely, but it is likely it will bare some resemblance to its predecessors regardless, so hopefully encounters such as Malekith and Malenia will be used as blueprints for the future.Boss fights are FromSoftware’s specialty, but its next title should reduce the amount of bosses in order to focus on ensuring the quality remains as consistent as possible.
WithElden RingDLC finally officially announced by FromSoftware, it seems Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team are not yet done with The Lands Between, and there’s also the upcomingArmored Core 6: The Fires of Rubiconto look forward to.It is unlikely that fans will be treated to a new Souls project anytime soon, but when it does surface, many will expect the bar to be raised even higher than ever.
Elden Ringis available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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