Elderborn

The former PC exclusive arrives on consoles a little too late, where its experience no longer feels as fresh and surprising as it did in 2018. However, there’s still plenty here to satisfy fans of Soulsborne games and action RPGs.

Elderborn offers a nice break when you just want to relax with an action game, chop up some enemies and enjoy the brutality. However, the game is relatively short and can be completed in under five hours, part of which will be the aforementioned puzzles.

ELDERBORN spent five years in development to include Steam Early Access, and it doesn’t feel like enough still. It’s an unremarkable, yet interesting bite-sized Souls-like that’s worth playing, but at a discount. There’s a lot of squandered opportunity here, but the small team at Hyperstrange clearly has passion and talent. ELDERBORN wears its influences on its sleeve, and I can appreciate that.

Elderborn is brutal battles and heavy metal. Nothing more, nothing less.

Elderborn is an old-school slasher game that provides lots of fun in a very simple way. Feeling of smashing the hordes of monsters is incredibly satisfying. However, developers should work more on bosses design, fighting them is too easy. Another minus is leveling system which in my opinion should be more elaborate. Elderborn is good value for money and easily can help you relax after a tough day.

Elderborn is almost a good game. It's got most of the ingredients that would require, such as strong visuals, tight gameplay, and varied enemies. But the placement of those enemies is so terrible and ill-conceived that it basically ruins the entire game. That along with a third act that feels like the game just gives up do a whole lot to damage what could have been a very compelling experience.