So I’ve been playing a lot of Elden Ring lately, and I know they’re 2 completely different games but I couldn’t help but ponder why the fun I was having felt familiar. Elden Ring, though frustrating, is definitely a game that expects much from its players. The story is more so investigative lore, with answers hidden depending on choices you make and the exploration you do, with certain items you find. The player experience is more so dictated by exploration, with a more sandbox nature of approaching the story. Basically, you can do what’s typically expected and kill all the bosses in order, get to the end etc.
You can also depending on your knowledge, find ways to circumvent some of the bosses and get to the end. In some instances this does change the story / endings you get. The way the game really puts confidence in the player and allows them to find and discover things really reminds me of Classic WoW’s appeal.
In Classic WoW you really had a whole world to explore and discover. Secrets hidden here and there. The story wasn’t really so linear like the campaigns we see today are, and players could discover things based off the amount of exploration they did. Like dungeons in a zone at the end of a questline, or perhaps inside say… Blackrock Mountain. I feel this player agency and sense of discovery is something big missing from WoW today. However, with the game being so big and old, it’s hard for me to fathom how they could recapture that appeal.