Random: Elden Ring And Mario Odyssey Jostle For No. 1 On OpenCritic's 'Best Game' List

HA. No. Botw should be ahead of Odyssey anyways.

I expected something like this to happen. Elden Ring is no different from Cyberpunk imo - a game where the hype is so insanely high that it was going to inflate reviews.

It really looks like a more mature take on Zelda Breath of the Wild.

Which means it’s insanely good probably.

Anyone know if From Software fixed the exploit in the netcode that lets players hack your PC when they invade?

I just have zero interest in FromSoft games. I don't like the gameplay or frustration

I'm sure its good but I suspect this benefits from critical inflation in the same way other specific devs' games do, like Rockstar's stuff

Meh it’s Dark Souls again.

@Tourtus they fixed it, yeah.

@Branches some people don't like to waste money.

@Mando44646 According to Yasuhiro Kitao, the game's producer:

"[Elden Ring] is the perfect title for those who have been interested in our games in the past but who have been put off by concerns about the games being too difficult"

Edit: I get that you weren't just saying that you don't like their games as they're too hard, but it sounds from this, and other things I've read, that this one has a different approach to the challenge and frustration.

Game that's not out yet with no idea of glitches or even staying power, vs a boring Mario game...

I guess because more outlets reviewed it? That seems weird when the score is the same.

In any case, I plan on getting it when it's on discount because I have a backlog and I'm holding strong for Kirby. That game is a priority for me, atm.

Well, we all know Elden Ring will sweep The Game Awards this year.

Just watched a video review of it, it looks good but definitely doesn’t make use of the PS5 hardware. I think we’re definitely at the limits of what games can offer now graphically wise.

That is insane. GOTY contender for sure, then.

I mean, it's another Souls game. It's probably excellent and was obviously made with care and by competent people, but it's still another Souls game at the core of it. Revolutionary? I guess I just don't see it. Glad folks enjoy it though.

@Mattock1987 cool opinion from someone who hasn't played the game.

I am very excited for this and happy for the team that it's getting such great reviews.

Nintendo better step up and make a Mario souls like

@ouchiies Good news then, I thought they were ignoring it.

I'm happy waiting for BotW2. I'm looking forward to what new gameplay they add.

I'll probably grab Elden Ring for my Series S when it's on sale. I'm not really buying into the hype of having to play it day one. But it does look great and I'm sure fans of Ocarin-I mean Dark Souls will love it.

Gotta love that the 10 best games all released in the last 8 years.

Amazing the number of Nintendo fanboys here bashing the game. I will enjoy the hell out of it after I finish Horizon Forbidden West. Then I will likely play Triangle Strategy. Console wars are for children and marketers.

@Dissident Who here is making it about consoles?

There are other video game consoles besides Nintendo? 🤔

Looks like a cool game! Would play it if I had one of the consoles it's on. I've only played one Souls game, Dark Souls 1 on Switch and I love it, though it kicks my butt.

I smell recency bias these lists are a joke!

@MisterMan have you seen footage of it? Watch it for a few minutes and tell me it isn’t just Dark Souls 4.

It's just Dark Souls without calling it Dark Souls. It will eventually make its way to Nintendo soon so I had no interest in it just yet.

I'm a big Souls and Kirby fan so Elden Ring and Kirby and the Forgotten Land are my most anticipated games this year (as well as Silksong if that ever gets announced)

So I definitely excited. I'm calling it now but Elden Ring is going to win game of the year with this hype and these good scores.

@bozz not specifically, but you would not see these comments to this degree on Push Square. So it is an inference that at least some of these comments are from Switch-only owners who don't care about anything non-Nintendo.

@Dissident there’s little to no bashing of the game here.

@Dissident I mean, yeah you would see it there. I'm active there, I've posted that this game doesn't do anything for me and there definitely are a handful of others that agree. Nothing to do with the console.

Generally speaking if you get stuck at a boss in Sekiro, dark souls, blood borne you need to overcome that hurdle or it’s your game over. Am getting this day one, am not a massive souls fan but completed sekiro last year and loved it. I feel the open world is the missing piece of the puzzle in that if you get stuck go somewhere else xxx looking forward to this x

I can't wait to play it this weekend!!!!!!!!

@Mattock1987 @bozz you guys might be right. It just so happened that like the first 4 or 5 comments I saw were negative but now it looks more balanced.

Eh, this isn't that big of a deal for me personally. I'm the reviewers are enjoying it, but the overall score doesn't mean much to me. It doesn't really matter that Mario Odyssey was overtaken in placement. As long as people are having fun is all that really matters in the end really

Makes you wonder if Nintendo is going to jump on the Soulslike train like they jumped on the open world train with BOTW.

I'm beyond hyped for this game. I played the first Dark Souls game on Switch back in 2018 and since then I've beaten the rest of the series, Bloodborne, Demon's Souls and Sekiro. Friday can't come soon enough!

@KirbysAdventure I think an exclusive souls game from fromsoftware for Switch would be better.

I have no interest in Elden Ring, but Mario Odyssey ain't that great imho, so this means very little to me.

Looks like they perfected the Souls formula, which in itself created a whole sub genre and has been regularly at the fore of gaming culture for the past decade. Seems to me the acclaim is wholly warranted. Can’t wait.

All overhype just wait one or two week. Also who cares Mario and Zelda better than this

@Mattock1987 That's like saying BotW is just Ocarina of time 6 IMO

@KirbysAdventure I don't think so. Nintendo doesn't really follow trends--they prefer to try and set them. They were always experimenting with making Zelda open world, but the technology just wasn't there before Wii U.

Well, then maybe nintendo should make again top games like botw and mario odyssey. Both of the games are made in 2017, they never released again something that big.

@JokerCK Yeah, OK. Let's come back and revisit your comment in 1-2 weeks and see who was right...

Have the game already pre-loaded. This will be more than enough for me until BoTW2 gets released. 😎

@ElRoberico Agree, it's the cult of the new. That score will go down soon even if the game truly is a masterpiece. I'm sure the score will stay high, but not 97 high.

When an unreleased game is immediately added to the "Greatest games of all time" list ... I begin to wonder if they understand "all time" includes the future.

Maybe change it to "Greatest Games According to this Specific Moment in Time According to These Specific Reviewer's Opinions".

Nah, I guess that doesn't really roll off the tongue.

It's so clear that a lot of people here are just butthurt over the idea that a non-Nintendo game might be better than Zelda or Mario lmao. Pulling out every excuse in the book to justify it. Like, you may be right, the score may fall. It may just be newness bias as some suggest, except... you realize Odyssey and BotW were new games when they were reviewed too, right?

What the heck lmao, isn't it just another souls like or am I missing something?

@PhhhCough No, you though.

@PhhhCough Who here who has shown disinterest in this game has demanded another Mario, Metroid, Zelda, etc. game?

@PhhhCough

It's so funny because the games it overtook could be described as "just another Mario/Zelda game".

Oh, they'd be quick to point out how those games revolutionized the series traditions with more open environments and player freedom.

But of course they wouldn't mention that Elden Ring does the same. They don't know what Elden Ring is, just that it isn't Nintendo.

@Deepdoop

You can apply this logic to pretty much any sequel (Miyazaki has referred to Elden Ring as a natural evolution to Dark Souls). It is kind of ridiculous to always expect that a game is completely new without any ties to past titles. Especially on a Nintendo-centric site.

Elden Ring: the game so massively hyped that even Nintendo sites are reporting about it.

@BLD You know your entire premise goes out the window once you realize that's it's possible to own both a PS and a Switch and be aware of the features of games on either console? I swear, some of you that complain about console wars and fanboys are really the ones trying to speak it into existence when it's not nearly as much of a thing as you want to believe it is.

It's good that Nintendo gets challenged btw.

I hope they'll accept the challenge.

@BLD gotta remember, Nintendo's fanboys are the worst. Nintendo can't do any wrong(nso and cloud games) and everyone else are just imitators. Funny too, as much praise as BoTW gets in THIS comment section, elsewhere it's a "bland, empty, boring game, with no dungeons"

@Devlind nope, the Zelda games are genuinely different in terms of graphics and style (if not much else), but put screenshots of Elden Ring and screenshots of Dark Souls (any of them) infront of the average gamer and watch their confusion.

@Mattock1987 what a myopic comment

Lot of damage control on here. Lol

Reviews only matter when its a nintendo game.
Elden Rings looks amazing. Its a shame it would make the Switch explode.

Just checked in on NL to see how they were going to manage to write an article about a game not releasing on Switch to cash in on the hype.😂

@PhhhCough I'm going to go on a limb here and assume you're a time traveler from the year 2008.

First, welcome to 2022, this must be a lot of information for you right now.

You should also know console wars never existed in the first place, it was just a momentary attempt to control the market for rival game companies. This ended up resulting in "exclusives" that overall meant less game variety for all gamers. Now, in 2022, we just buy what we like and avoid what we don't like, regardless of the console.

@Branches Yes, if you had an unlimited budget and time to play all the games that seem at least a little interesting to you, then yes, who would care about critics' reviews. But as that is not the case for most people and you need to choose, universal acclaim like this definitively encourages you to try the game. I played 8 out of 10 of those games listed above, and for me, critics were right

@MisterMan thanks!

This game is why I want a PS5 really, to go with my Switch Lite. Not that I can find one yet.

@Thatsalie You gave yourself away too easily.

A good troll doesn't flat out say "the Switch is Garbage" because it implies the troll likes visiting sites that exclusively discuss things they hate, which is pretty pathetic if that's the case.

You can do better.

@Mattock1987 I mean, if they get confused, they definitely aren't average gamers 🤷🏻‍♂️

It's very likely one of the best games ever, so this is no surprise. As for OpenCritic, first time I hear of it. Metacritic is still the most popular aggregator.
The real surprise will be when the BotW sequel dethrones everything. People have a lot lower expectations to that game and it will work to its benefit.

Look, much like how Dark Souls owes a debt of gratitude to Ocarina of Time, Elden Ring obviously has a lot to thank Breath of the Wild. So even though it has the highest score ever, it's really credit to BotW. Because Nintendo make the best games.

(Hopefully that will really infuriate folk in to console wars lol.)

@Friendly
Would your mother be more mature if she was scarier? Stop using the word if you don't know what it means.

I know it's unlikely but would love this game to come to Switch!

I’ve skipped them all since demon souls back on ps3. It’s not a super interesting series but I’m glad it does well. Keeps some people happy. The fans of it need to relax though. Anything somewhat negative about the series like “it’s not for me” “it’s too slow” is just met with an earful.

Aand Mario Odyssey is number one again... maybe you shouldn't release news like this before all reviews are in. It could still go either way.

@PhhhCough I'm surprised you haven't had to change your name lol! Impressive.

I find this all kind of silly to be honest. Aren't reviews just opinions? Does it really matter which game is #1 on this list? Come on people! Play what you want and make your own list!

That game looks awesome! I wish I had a PC/PS5/X! Doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the heck out of Odyssey and BotW. I couldn't stop playing Odyssey until I finished it. BotW sucked me in too.

@Cia bloodier and more gore.

I know what the word means.

Mario odyssey was a great game but didn't deserve top spot. BoTW was miles better and so was other games in that top 10

The score may go down over time. Oot always stays the best, for me at least.

@Cia 100% of the critics so far recommend Elden Ring, while ‘only’ 98% of the critics recommend Odyssey though.

@Friendly
I'm not sure what list you're looking, but in open critic both games have a score of 97, Mario being in the first place.

@GrailUK 🤣🤣🤣

Some of these salty takes remind me a bit of comments from PS fanboys when BotW first released to rave reviews, lol.

A game doesn't score this high if it's not excellent. And, for a developer like From Software that was pretty darn niche a decade ago, it's a really impressive achievement.

People who know me know I'm deeply unimpressed with the FS games I've played previously (Bloodborne, Enchanted Arms, and a bit of Dark Souls), so I'm in no particular hurry to play this, but I'm happy for the Souls fans who are clearly getting a high-quality product with Elden Ring.

I feel like the Souls games are ones I would have played obsessively and gotten gud at had they been out when I was a teenager with limited income and lots of free time. But alas the first one came out in my 20s and I didn't even discover them until a couple of years ago. Don't have the time or patience to sink into them despite repeated attempts, but man are they ever cool!

Mario Odyssey was okay at best certainly not the best game of all time, Mario 64 is still a better game imo, and Elden Ring taking the #1 spot is just people being in hype overload, personally I'd give it to Ghost Of Tsushima.

@BionicDodo I'm glad to hear that. It might drive me to actually try it after I finish Horizon

Mario Odyssey is anyways overrated, so I'm happy it lost it's undeserved 1st place.

@Tourtus For Elden Ring they did, but Dark Souls games are still offline on PC

@Branches I agree that you shouldn’t care about reviews when it ultimately comes to forming your own opinion of a game but reviews are valuable when it comes to deciding whether a game is worth your time and cash to begin with. This list isn’t a definitive “best games of all time” list and nobody should see it as such, but it is a good indicator of games that are almost unanimously agreed upon to be excellent- it’s at least a good place to start for people not well versed in games yet

@Thatsalie I'd be obliged to play along with your charade that I'm a Nintendo fanboy, if only you weren't trying so hard.

If I own a PC and XBSX, what reason would I have to be mad about a game being successful?

@PhhhCough "Funny too, as much praise as BoTW gets in THIS comment section, elsewhere it's a "bland, empty, boring game, with no dungeons""

You mean the game that still has a Metascore of 97 five years after its release, or a different Breath of the Wild?

The amount of copium on this comment section is insane. I bet half of them would be losing their minds over this game if it were in fact on Switch

@chipia
Except it retained the first place already.

Yes, let’s listen to paid companies to find out if it’s good or not. Sorry I’ll wait, this isn’t some greatest game kind of game by no means.

I did find it funny how the PS5 version is rated so high but the series x version isn't. It's almost like Sony fanboys are trying to justify their clown console 2 years in... still.

@Thatsalie You are full-on LARPing right now.

Are you describing a conspiracy novel you're reading or are you insisting we're all fanboys and console wars exist in real life, despite you being the only one propagating this?

Do you also fart in elevators and blame other people for farting?

@Mando44646 To be fair, Liam over at Push Square says he doesn't think it's any easier or more welcoming to newcomers than their previous games!

@Cia I agree, the definition of "mature" in the context of video games is pathetic. In real life, people who prefer to act violently are often considered immature, so I don't see why it should be any different for games. Part of the problem is probably the ESRB "Mature" rating, which gives some people the wrong impression, that the content of the game is actually mature. Maybe it should be just called "18+" or something.

If it's not finding new From software fans, it ain't finding me. It's easier to self-flagellate than enjoy one of their games; I don't want to get game-overed on the startup menu.

@Thatsalie I never claimed to be mature, I'm responding to you after all.

Lol well yeah. This is the game of the decade likely

I find those "Dark Souls" games "meh" at best, why would you want to fight the same boss 100s of times just to get lucky enough to kill it?

Those games aren't hard, they are unfair. I wouldn't rank any of them above 4/10

And yes, I even have given Dark Souls (1) a fair chance. But I really quickly learned that this isn't the genre for me.

I’ve liked all the FromSoftware games except DS2. Still going to wait on this for a while.

The difficulty isn’t even that bad in their games.

I see all the Switch only players are bitter for some reason.

Wow, the comments section is really disappointing this time. Anyway, I can't wait to play it on Friday!

@sanderev You actually play them? Because this comment is so far off the mark.

Made some trades so the final price will be around $6 for Elden Ring. Horizon was 39 cents. I got my PS5 less than two weeks ago and it’s working out pretty nicely. My switch is getting a long-deserved break while PS5 gives me new releases and breathes new life into my PS4 collection.

@WallyWest I tried Dark Souls, the original game. It really didn't work out for me.

@sanderev Congratulations. This is by far the most ignorant comment in this whole article. You've either never touched a FS game in your life or just found got mad because you kept dying and couldn't beat it

That's good news, if it helps spur on BOTW2 development we will be in for a treat.

@WallyWest
Yeah, I don't get it. We got like 100 good games on Switch and some people get bitter over one game ( allegedly, I don't see anyone bitter here). Just because it used to have the first place on open critic about an hour ago.
The Switch owners should be happy what we'll be getting in the future. I, for one, cannot wait for BotW 2, Metroid Prime 4 and Xenoblade 3 just for example.
As for Elden Ring, I'll get it on pc one day when I upgrade.

@ElRoberico Nothing like Cyberpunk. From never lied for starters, also the game being excellent is a giving considering its From, i mean its like the next Scorsese film being fantastic what did you expect?

@Lem1697 I couldn't beat it? I couldn't get past the first proper boss in the game. Well actually I couldn't without losing any interest I had in the game.

@Cia Last month we got Pokemon Legends and providing no delay Bayo 3, Xenoblade 3 and BotW2 are coming this year so its a win no matter where you game. So far its looking to be a fantastic year for gaming for everyone.

@sanderev Of course you couldn't lol

@ElRoberico If you think Elden Ring is like Cyber Punk, then you know nothing about From Software's reputation vs. CDPR!

@Branches How can you make an opinion about a game without playing the game?

@sanderev Did you try running left? I mean you didn't seriously try to beat the first boss with the broken straight sword, right?

I kinda have a love, hate with these games. The uncompromising difficulty drives me absolutely insane at times, but I love the combat, and the beautifully haunting worlds they create keep me coming back. I'll likely pick this up, I just hope it runs well on PS4 as that's the version I'm limited to.

@BloodNinja Ofcourse I didn't fight the boss with the broken sword, well at least not more than once.

Elden Ring seems like a fun romp, but I haven't seen anything truly exciting about it. Something game changing, like the open sandbox/climbing in Breath of the Wild, or the capture mechanic along the top class level design in Mario Odyssey that truly set those games a class apart. It very much looks like a much more open and polished Dark Souls, which is great, but I am completely burned out of Dark Souls games, and I didn't even finish the third one because of this. Although Elden Ring is not identical, it is still not miles apart; I just don't understand the hype at the moment.

@sanderev You gave Mario Lost Levels a 1. Idk man, it seems to me like you just can't handle challenging games

@Specter_of-the_OLED Switch won't be getting it unless its cloud, there's a big reason DS3 and Sekiro aren't on Switch and its the same for Elden Ring.

I'm super hyped for this game. Looks so damn good and the review scores seem like this will be really be Miyazaki's Magnum Opus

@Branches I WONDER IF THE REVIEWER CAN HELP IN MAKING AN INFORMED DECISION?!?!?!

::shock and awe::

There will be one or two reviews in time that rank it so low, it affects the overall score by point. There always is. I had hoped BOTW 2 is so good that it takes one of the top 2 places, for a BOTW Best Game of All Time double haha. That said, if this is as good as the reviews say, then we have another all time classic which can only be a good thing. It's meant to have a lot of performance issues. But then BOTW had issues at launch, although only in certain locations. .

Very excited for Elden Ring as Souls is my second favorite game series after Zelda and both Bloodborne and Dark Souls are in my top 10 of all time.

I find Opencritic ratings a tad problematic in some cases if same game has an inferior release, like in case of Breath of the Wild the WII U ratings lower the overall a bit. On Metacritic Breath of the Wild with a rating 97 is still ahead of both Elden Ring and Super Mario Odyssey.

Game review aggregators don't make much sense to me and this is a good example. A lot of people love these kinds of games and maybe game journalists tend to be those kinds of people too, but I don't like them. It doesn't matter what the aggregate score is. I know I won't like it. Find individual reviewers with similar tastes to your own. That's the value of game reviews.

That said, it's still interesting industry news even though I have no intention of playing the game. I guess the value of aggregators is to find out what's popular and what's not.

@PhhhCough
"Funny too, as much praise as BoTW gets in THIS comment section, elsewhere it's a "bland, empty, boring game, with no dungeons""

Yes it was just only voted as the best game of ALL TIME by IGN on their recent top 100 games list.

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-best-100-video-games-of-all-time

Not to mention the countless of other best games of all time nominations and endless amounts of praises even five years later.

@Branches Which is why I said "informed decision," implying whether or not to buy the thing. lol.

@Rika_Yoshitake Different reviews dude and the PS5 version got more reviews.

8 out of 10 of the top ten list are ps4 games.
All 10 games were released in the past 8 years.

This can ONLY mean we're reaching gaming perfection...right?

right?

@Branches You didn't.

I asked you a question regarding your statement: "Play the game or not, make an informed decision based on your own criteria."

How can you make an informed decision based on your own criteria without playing the game?

I agree with your reply to @bloodninja "Buy the game, don't buy it"

But please tell me how to make an informed decision based on my own criteria without playing a game.

Let's say I don't have any internet, no news about games. And suddenly I see a new game in my local store.

How can I make an informed decision about a game without playing it?

I just hope Elden ring doesn't become another Cyberpunk.

I really want people to Enjoy this game as they have been waiting for it for a long time.

As someone who plays dark souls games almost exclusively now, I’m beyond stoked for this. Yes, I’ve had it preordered for the longest time (not as long as Metroid prime 4 though obvi 😂)
But yeah … there’s gonna be haters and the formula won’t be for everyone but I went from absolutely hating the first game (on switch) to absolutely loving it. It just had to “click” first. You need to break a lot of habits made by other games. No going in guns blazing! Take your time and study enemies and don’t get greedy with attacks. Boss fights should take a while.

@Cia if you click on the game you see how many % of the critics ‘recommend’ the game.

@Cia elden ring: ESRB rating 17+ - Mature
Zelda: ESRB rating 10+- Everyone.

So yes, more mature.

@WallyWest @BloodNinja Oh, I have no doubt of the quality. Sousborne games aren't my thing AT ALL. I mean to compare the two in the sense that there's always one game that has unrealistic hype for it. It was Cyberpunk last time. The time before that was Red Dead Redemption 2. It's Elden Ring right now.

@Snatcher Nah mate, I don't even know why some people compared them. Cyberpunk was in development way longer, was way more hyped and it's beta showed that the game didn't look nowhere as good as on trailers, had many missing features and was broken on many aspects that were as bad on release. This game has already been tested by reviewers, youtubers and other lucky people and it's definitely what has been advertised just like previous entries. They are on entirely different situations from what I see. I'll be sharing my thoughts about it in some days haha, I'll play as soon as it's available.

Sure, it's hyped like ANY really popular game, but that doesn't mean that reviewers are praising it more than it deserves. Besides the same could be said about BOTW and Odyssey and many people think that way, but personally I think that those games earned their score and I don't doubt that this one does too.

@Purgatorium Not really though. Inherently, review aggregators have nothing to do with popularity. Just look at the recent House in Fata Morgana review situation, for example. Reviews are sometimes affected by hype, though.

I mean, look at how many games have gotten 10/10 on many publications at launch, only for them to drop to a 7 or 8/10 later when they are remastered or otherwise rereleased. Those are reviewers lacking in foresight and depth of analysis. They just see a shiny game and they give it a good grade, never venturing below the surface.

Basically, you are only really going to get an honest consensus of any given game at least a couple years after it launches, certainly not at launch. FF7 remake is another great example of this. Praised at launch, but ultimately an overall positive but not great reception by any means.

@Friendly it took the only good parts of BotW (worldbuilding, immense sense of scale and exploration) and make them a fun and engaging game with actual things to do, not a collectible fest with no dungeons at all

Elden Ring is not exactly at the top. What's going on is that the 3 games are tied so the algorithm of OpenCritic uses alphabetical sorting to untie them.

@Pipulitoch

Opencritic doesn't work like that though, it's been only around a few years so clearly the highest rated games are compiled from that time. It's not supposed to be any kinds of best list, just which games on their site from the past few years had best ratings.

I still recommend rather checking the scores from Metacritic since it's been around a lot longer and has more variety on the games reviewed there.

https://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/all/all/filtered

Also keep in mind that several games close to top have like 10 reviews, whereas for example Breath of the Wild has more than 100 and there also might be same game several times reviewed on a different platform.

@roy130390 Thats a relief. And please share all your thoughts with the game, I can't wait to read them.

@ElRoberico That's fair, I'm just saying that the hype for Elden Ring is probably justified! <3

@Branches Reviews state facts, depending on the writer. Besides, you're the one that said, "who cares about reviewers opinions." I'm telling you that there are other reasons to care besides an opinion. A good review can help make a more informed purchasing decision, like in the case of CP 2077. The reviews that mentioned the technical issues weren't opinion, and helped me determine to avoid the game...lol. Plus, I don't know if you noticed but you ARE commenting on a review website. Just FYI.

@BloodNinja for once, I do agree. I might not be a fan, but I can appreciate it when people enjoy it.

@GrailUK To be fair Demons souls and dark souls feel like they take a lot of their DNA from the likes of From software's earlier games such as Kings field and shadow tower on the psone.

Ocarina was definitely a trailblazer in its own way due to being the first (or at least one of the first) games to nail enemy targeting in a 3d space and while BotW felt more like an evolution of open world than a revolution it did what it did well.

definitely hyped to learn more about botw2 since i love it when nintendo tries an idea a second time and refines it (like Mario Galaxy 2, which became one of my favorite 3d mario games)

(also that aiai avatar is very striking when scrolling through comments)

@Zucaritas how can you tell. You haven’t played the game yet.

even thought mario odyssey is great but it has no right to be that high up in the first place. It's not even the best Mario Game...

@Xiovanni

Actually Elden Ring has now 96.

Sites are always way too hasty to post articles like this. Should always give at least a few days to wait that more reviews come in. Breath of the Wild actually had a score of 98 for quite a while only to eventually drop to 97 a score that is still standing five years later.

Eh it's all personal opinion in the end. I'd personally put Persona 5 Royal at the top of all time for myself. Looking forward to Elden Ring though for sure.

@Guybrush-Threepwood Not meant as shade towards NL specifically, but why wait 3 days to post an article when you can instead post 1 articles per day for 3 days about it?

Maybe tomorrow we'll get an update on this topic, and the next day another update. Then the fun never ends

@Mgalens He looks so happy

@FroZtedFlakerZz Those are fighting words. Odyssey is a better game. I said it. That's how I feel

It's day one for me!

Wow, this comment section is extra spicy. What happened there?

Game is probably not for me, I've never played a Souls game because I basically suck at boss battles, but what reason is there for anyone to be salty about a game getting widespread acclaim?

The console wars are the most idiotic thing in the gaming world. Just enjoy your games on whatever devices you've bought, and let everyone else do the same.

@Troll_Decimator I'm not entirely sure we're talking about the same thing. You do make a good point about hype, how critical opinion tempers, and how well a game ages but I don't know what that has to do with my point about popularity. Sounds like you're saying that a game's quality is best judged over time? Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

I enjoy reading the cope in here.

@Trajan What cope are you talking about? The game is out on pretty much all platforms other than the Switch. I doubt there are too many people that don't have access to it if they want it.

Hey Nintendo Life... how about waiting like a week before making an article that was only true for like a few hours. As of right now Elden Ring slipped down to 96 and is second place. Mario is stilll number 1. reviews for Elden Ring are still coming in. may go up or it may go further down.
love the clickbait.

A lot of angry Nintendo fanatics on here.
If you only have a Switch you'll never be able to play it anyways, why you so mad.
You should direct your frustration at Nintendo not having an up to date powered system since GameCube.
And before y'all attack, I've owned every Nintendo console.

Glad to see it doing so well. The Souls titles have always been some of the most highly praised games over the past decade. The only real issues for me and others were the pacing and lack of accessibility (annoying checkpoints, slower combat, and such). From the reviews I’ve read/watched, Elden Ring seems to fix most of these issues while also adding a full open-world and some really cool mechanics and bosses. I’m not picking this up right away but it’s definitely high on my to-get list for later in the year.

@JH1022 my thoughts as well. Everyone is super happy about this game other than this comment section here lol.

@OldManHermit i think, when the difficulty is uncompromising, the player can make compromises, which is why there's such an emphasis on the benefits of cooperation with the phantom system (both players and npcs) and whatnot

@ChromaticDracula you'd be shocked how much ribbing i got from a friend for having a very turtle-y style playing through 3, even though it's the safest bet 9 times out of 10, lol

I still gotta finish Sekiro and Nioh (not a FromSoftware game but similar) so I will pick up elden ring when it is cheap but I am glad it reviewed well.

Nintendo fans try not to hate on anything that isn't nintendo related challenge. Like dang you guys are getting mad about " it's the same souls game", but then what is every mario,animal crossing, Zelda, pokemon and every other game ever released. And don't say " those are revolutionary", because elden ring is just as revolutionary to the souls like genre

Shouldn't the dust settle before making claims like this? It's now sitting at 96 on open critic, below SMO's 97. Also sitting at 97 on MC in line with both SMO and Zelda, but only has 45 reviews.
I still think Zelda BotW should be higher than SMO, I loved SMO and I wat more of it, but BotW was just amazing!

@JokerCK a lot of people care. No need to get salty if it isn't your type.

Not anymore, its down to 96 now.

@TsukiDeity

Breath of the Wild should be higher and it is higher than Odyssey in pretty much every ranking I've ever seen. For example both of these Metacritic rankings of the best games of the decade.

https://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-videogames-of-the-decade-2010s

Only reason BotW is lower on Opencritic is the inferior WII U release that brings the score down which I think it's stupid to opencritic to include both version in the same score. Why should the WII U framerate issues bring the Switch score down? I prefer the Metacritic way that different scores for both versions, 97 on Switch and 96 on WII U.

GIVE IT TO ME ON SWITCH EVEN IF IT'S 18 FPS
that's what nightmare before christmas is and I love that movie

@Specter_of-the_OLED We need Darksouls 2 and 3 on Switch first

What I find just delusional is all those Nintendo haters talking about this is a Nintendo fansite. Guess what read the name of the site and if you don't like it don't post on here expecting something different from the replies. As to OpenCritics they seems to biased of site from seeing what they listed already is more then open to question how they go the results they got. Remember anyone site and skew numbers to what they want to see and since they have no historic accounting that makes them open to critical reviews of their own reviews.

@nimnio it's funny because of switchforce's comment above this one.

I'll give a chance to this game in a cheap offer. I hate Dark Souls type of game, back then I hated that Dark Souls had massive good reviews when clearly this type of games is not for everyone. Dark Souls is not a hard game is a patience game, something I don't fu**ing want when playing videogames.

Im in a position were i went all digital on ps4 this generation so i ran out of space, wait....is this thing even out on ps4? I cant justify having a ps5 and its not for lack of founds, i think its library at the moment its just lame, anyway, it seems alright i guess but too many games to play to even bother, glad its doing well and i hope people have fun with it

Hey guys, I love the Switch but guess what? Pretending this game isn't going to rule doesn't really accomplish anything. Elden Ring looks amazing, BOTW2 will probably be amazing. Both things can be true. Looking forward to getting absolutely mauled this weekend.

@Friendly
The entire concept of "mature" is severely twisted in the pop culture. I think there should be another word to describe games with lot of violence or gore. As for my question, you can't deny its meaning so you don't have an answer to it.

I’ve been excited for this since the gameplay reveal, I don’t really look at reviews until after I’ve played as I prefer to form my own opinions and go in blind (occasionally to my detriment to be fair 🤣)
What a start to the year though! Arceus, Horizon, Elden, Triangle strat all in a matter of weeks. So many good things still coming! Squeee! My purse is sweating but boy we’re getting spoilt!

@PhhhCough Nah. Just Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, or Splatoon for me 🤣

Not interested in the game, but it seems to be good. But how was odyssey that high? It is a good game but nowhere close to galaxy.

@somebread I get it! My wife watches me play and she’s yelling “hit him! Hit him! Someone better do something!” While I circle the boss just watching and examining.
You can’t just start swinging!

Now Elden Ring is at a 96, and a few more mixed reviews are coming in later. I think it will end up with a 94 or 95. Not bad at all. I am not a fan of these types of games, but I hope people who like them, enjoy them. Have fun everyone!

I will say, people jumped the gun on this beating Zelda or Odyssey. But, a 96 is not too shabby at all.

Of course I'm getting it

Granted I've gotten the platinums in every FROM release since the original PS3 Demon's Souls they're my exact type of games.

@nimnio @nimnio Don't pat yourself on the back. It comes off like you are the radical fan pretending to be a centrist.

I feel like they're trying to force feed me green eggs and ham.

Let's just say i aint no Dr. Seuss.

@Cia I agree. As a comparison, Music Records with violent / bad language have an "Explicit Content" label.

Maybe violent/scary games should be called "Explicit" instead of "Mature".

I’m surprised Odyssey was first, in the first place, ahem. I liked it alright, but it felt nowhere near as magical as Galaxy back then. And like others said, that’s before we get to several Zelda titles.

I’ll wait a few months to play Elden Ring on my PS5. That way, it’s gets patched up more and a drop in price. Meanwhile, I’ll play some dark souls on my Switch.

@Dissident lol came to this comments section to have a chuckle at this exact phenomenon 😂 some of the posts are actually hilarious. honestly a good game on a platform you don’t have or want access to is not an affront. This is clearing 10s because it looks to be seminal. This is not Cyberpunk (which scored low btw), it’s a Souls game, at this point it’s a proven formula and FROM are the masters of it.

For context I game on all four major platforms, I love gaming and like to be able to experience content from all corners, gaming is too rich to be a fanboy. Case in point; I just finished the Destiny 2 Witch Queen campaign on legendary: was amazing. Hitting Elden Ring hard on launch tomorrow, and will sprinkle in a bit of Olli Olli World on Switch to keep things chill! What an awesome time to be a gamer.

As others have pointed out - the aggregated review scores for games tend to fall slightly over time. The early reviews are from hard core enthusiasts and later reviews tend to be slightly more critical. They are after-all critics who didn't feel the need to rush out to play and review it as soon as they possibly could (see early reviews for things like Skyward Sword...).

Elden Ring is clearly a great game if you're into the particular genre. The "Soulsborne" genre is still pretty niche but if you're into it then the reviews seem to suggest that you'll love Elden Ring.

I'm more confused as to why NL decided that this article was worth putting up since there really isn't a story as much as there is an opportunity for trolls to pile in. Oh wait... I may have solved the mystery...

@Cia what are you blabbering about?

You know there are multiple definitions of the word ‘mature’, right?

One of them is:
“…characteristic of or suitable to a mature individual“

Especially the latter definition. Suitable to a mature individual.

Hence. Gore and violence = more mature.

And stop your twisted ‘logic’ please. (You’re not denying so it’s true)

I can't wait to get my hands on this game over the weekend. It'll be a few weeks of this game followed by Triangle Strategy and Kirby after that.

The arguments here are also hilarious. People are seriously at each others throats over video game reviews. It's not that serious like.
Consume the media or don't consume it, as is your choice. Attacking others for the choice they'll personally make is just a waste of time you could spend playing some games or touching some grass 😂😂

I'm going to play the hell out of it. I'll probably pick it up on PS4 so I can still enjoy it before getting a PS5 eventually.

@Friendly
How old are you? Because you sound like a little kid with your attitude and take on the "mature".
And WHY did you not answer my question about your mother.
The thing I try to tell you is that " mature" is the wrong word to describe the so- called mature games. "Depraving content" would be more accurate. Or "Violent content". NOT mature content. Understand now?
One more thing: when I was younger, a little kid actually, I looked a lot of violent movies, horror with gore etc. Now I prefer drama with well fleshed characters. Am I now less mature than 30 years ago?

@quinnyboy58 Opencritic is just about 10 years old and doesn't feature any games older than that. No recency bias.

I have trouble believing all these games at the top of the greatest games of all time list, are all modern games. I do expect games to build on past efforts and improve in ways but I think it’s important to remember the jump in game design that other 10/10 from the past have done. Ocarina of time and Mario 64 are two games that spring to mind for me. Oddysey and BOTW were good games but I didn’t quite get the same feeling I was experiencing something all new with them. I would place games on top based on innovation over smoothing things out.

I’m interested in Elden Ring just because of the hype pretty much but definitely giving it time. I’m not a dark souls fan at all because the combat is too clunky to my liking. However a big open world game playing along with a friend could be really fun I just hope it’s not like dark souls where you couldn’t party up and chat with a friend while playing.

@Pipulitoch No, this means Opencritic doesn't feature any games older than the site itself.

This board reeks of an inferiority complex.

@chipia
Definitely. Explicit content is the proper word. Not mature.

@Friendly So you think that Zelda is not "suitable to a mature individual"??

I guess there’s not much going on in the world of Nintendo right now if this is all NLife can talk about. At least better than another article whining about games on consoles little to nobody plays anymore.

I think that aggregate review score websites like this and metacritic are foolish. The score isn't what matters to me because what's important to the reviewer might not be important to me. I care about what they say in the review, the pros and cons and stuff like that.

For example, for a 3DS game review, if a game is ranked lower because the 3D effect is bad, that's not important to me because I have a 2DS.

@TYRANACLES
To party up and chat would precisely destroy a Dark Souls game.

I don’t know the MP mechanics of Elden Ring, but having a chat while playing would utterly destroy the escapism.

That, and socializing online feels vacuous and disconnected to me. Because it is, at the very least, disconnected.

nobody, not even this list of top xxx whatevers can stop me from enjoying both games

eldy rang is downloading on my ps4 as i type this

I tried Souls 1 and 2 for about 3-5 hours each and just couldn't get into them. I have no idea why since everything about them for the most part is all stuff I would normally enjoy. They just never "clicked" with me.

I'm more surprised Odyssey was that high since it was good but nothing amazing like Galaxy was. I'm assuming Eldens score will go lower once the dust settles. I bet it has a little bit to do with the last super hyped game for the graphic next-next gen lovers (Cyberpunk) being such a letdown at launch that people are happy to at least have a functioning and mostly as promised game this time around they might be upping their ratings.

Or it could just be that good.

@bozz "Revolutionary? I guess I just don't see it."

This can be said about pretty much any game, Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey included.

@OldMcGroin I don't think it'd at all be unreasonable to say they did more to advance their franchises in terms of mechanics, look, world, etc. than Elden Ring appears to be doing relative to the Souls games.

On the linked list, Odyssey is listed at 22, Elden Ring at 49. This article makes no sense

@OldMcGroin Not to detract from the game, because a game doesn't need to be revolutionary to be a masterpiece, and the first Dark Souls absolutely was a revolutionary game. So many of its mechanics have been adopted by other games. However, I don't see what Elden Ring revolutionizes? It's quite literally Dark Souls but in an open world format. Revolutionary for FromSoft's games, sure, but has no bearing to the rest of the industry. Nothing that hasn't been done before.

I don´t have fun playing easy games like Yoshi, Toad, Kirby......I love Soulslike kind of game. Day - One for me! When i want just relax I play strategy games like Disgaea, Fire Emblem...not adventure games!

@chipia that’s not what I say. Zelda is suitable for everyone. As the rating system says. Also fine for a mature audience.

@Cia ‘content suitable for a more mature audience.’ You yourself are not less mature. The things you watch now are more suitable for a wider audience, also less mature people. Difference.

Zelda is suitable for everyone, also mature audience. As is your example. But gore and violence are usually / most often not suitable for a less mature audience. Nightmares and stuff. Hence the rating system.

I cannot wait for my copy of Elden Ring to arrive. The game looks incredible.

@MarsOne We are all entitled to our opinions lol, Nah Odyssey is great, I love it, I just love Botw even more, Galaxy is even better than Odyssey though to me.

When reviewers don't even finish the game or side quest to give a real review that tells alot they were paid for their Reviews and have no credibility to show for it.

Mario odyseey over Zelda botw? BASED

Zelda bowt could have been revolutionary but Mario odyssay was a polished experience. Zelda botw has boring bosses, lackluster dungeons, lukewarm story and lacked of enemy variety.

I can't imagine the horror of how this game would look on Switch.

@SwitchForce by your logic the same can be said to BOTW and Odyssey as I can guarantee you that most reviewers didn't 100% them.

Please stop being a fanboy, it really doesn't help at all. It's pretty obvious that if this game has many great scores it's because it's a great game, just like with others. Most people are agreeing on it's quality and while there's still reviews to come out, there's already enough to know that.

Super Mario Odyssey isn't even the best Mario game honestly. I don't know why people care how high of a score it has on a website that merely collects reviews arbitrarily from random gaming websites. Literally who cares?

@SwitchForce ...you're expecting people to finish a 100+ hour game which numerous reviewers have complained that their keys arrived way too late for them to see in full? if someone eats 80% of a pizza in front of a waiting crowd, gets full, and says it's good, it's not un-credible that they didn't have the last two slices

people want to see games reviewed before they come out/reviewers have deadlines, either get over it or critique the structure rather than the players in it

They really jumped the gun with Elden ring. It’s not like there won’t be more reviews that will tank the score.

I absolutely adore my switch but I’ve just bought a Xbox Series S to play Elden Ring. This is the one I’ve been waiting for!

@BlueMonk I can see that. I never liked re5 multiplayer for that reason and wouldn’t want that in a game like Zelda or Witcher. I just have a friend that is all about this game and would like to play along with them if it’s not story heavy I’d be cool with it.

I’m just here for the comments.

I bought a Switch for Zelda & Mario. Zelda was a disappointment- 7/10 for me. Mario was great. Not the best Mario ever but still very good.

I’ll play Elden Ring once it gets a GOTY release with the DLC. It looks great but I haven’t even got to Sekiro yet.

Don’t really care about scores too much, but it sure is telling me that the game is going to be really good. Recently got a PS5 and that piece of hardware is very impressive. Can’t wait to play it… after Triangle Strategy and Kirby that is.

What a great comment section, I love how black or white people think round these parts...
Commenter 1: "I'm not really a fan of these souls games...pass"
Commenter 2: "Shill! Corporate Bootlicker! Stick to your Mario games on underpowered hardware!"
Commenter 3: "I'm looking forward to Elden Ring, should be a blast."
Commenter 4: "Nah! Paid reviews, more of the same! Get back to PushSquare!"
Never change gamers....never change.

@Cia 'warning: edgy adolescent content'

To me, 'mature' games are games like hardcore sudoku and stuff, or games that go deep into dark psychological stuff, and even then. I never felt 'mature' game needed sex and gore, on the contrary, it DOESN'T need that to be interesting to its audience. It just doesn't need to censor it either. But no media should censor. Let violence be off putting instead of 'cool'. Let people consider all sides of it, maybe then no one would believe an entire people can be 'the enemy' and feel genocide or any slaughter, mass or individual, on any living being, can ever be justified.

@somebread same if the first three slices taste bland, and they don't feel like finishing it. That's enough valid points to say 'I don't like it', which is any negative review really. Not necessarily 'it's bad', just 'this reviewer didn't like it'. If the reviewer is one I generally agree with (or don't even), I keep that in mind when considering what game to get.

@ElRoberico Insane hype usually leads to disappointment, the opposite of inflated review scores. Cyberpunk was a disaster and just reviewed ok. I don’t know if you’ve ever played a FromSoftware game before but the hype for this is very real.

@roy130390 here comes the Troll maybe you should go and post on Xbox fansite to get your feel good results.

@Gwynbleidd Elden Ring on PC is a broken mess. I just had to get a refund. Some PCs have no issues with only some stuttering, but then others it just won't run. I have a RTX 3080 and it just spits then crashes. It is not optimized and I think has some compatibility issues with some GPUs. Just be aware of this if you buy it on PC. I might get it on PS5 but I am more tempted now to just wait and play other stuff and see if a good patch comes out.

@SwitchForce Maybe you should learn what "troll" is and to love yourself so that your self esteem isn't linked to Nintendo or any other company.

I've been a user of this site for many years and I haven't said anything related to X box, I don't even have one. That's how absurd your comments are.

@Not_Soos I agree. I feel like the Galaxy games are far better. Odyssey gets pretty boring after finishing the story, but most of the other Mario games don't have that issue. Going back and finishing some of the trickier levels in Galaxy or 64 is a lot more enjoyable than running around looking for moons.

@nimnio You just proved my point.

It's a fantastic game. I think 97 is too low. Once they improve performance, I reckon it will be higher based on my personal opinious thus far. I've been completely blown away and wish you all could experience the same enjoyment I am.

I hope all of you can appreciate that a terrific achievement has been made by FROM, for us as gamers, and pray that Elden one day comes to a Nintendo platform.

@scannerdarkly7 I am glad you like it, but it didn't impress me. From Software games are getting stale with the same formula. But, hey, have fun.

@nimnio Lol

@scannerdarkly7
Elden Ring has dropped to 96 on metacritic and 95 on opencritic. It's now below BotW, Mario Odyssey and RDR 2 on both sites.