While playing a Soulsborne game at any time can be exciting and rewarding for those looking for a challenge, playing a FromSoftware game at launch is a far different experience. Players are jumping into the game fresh, with only a minimal amount of guide coverage from the base game for players to get assistance. Exploring the world, diving into all its secrets, all the while dealing with arduous encounters and formidable bosses, is all done organically. The same is true for the release of Elden Ring, where the only source of knowledge was from gossip among friends and the Dark Souls community. However, Souls games do provide a few ways to communicate in-game.
A staple of Dark Souls games has always been the bloodstains and messages strewn about the game world when playing online, and the same is true for Elden Ring. Especially now, at the height of the popularity for one of the most-played Soulsborne games of all time, the community's participation in the messages is at an all-time high. Considering the varying benefits of these messages, ranging from serious gameplay perks to funny and memorable gags, new players should absolutely participate in writing and spreading messages across the world of Elden Ring. Reading and leaving messages behind is an essential part to the Dark Souls launch experience.
Elden Ring: Reading/Writing Messages, And Their Practicality
Pretty early on in Elden Ring, much like several other FromSoftware Soulsborne games, players unlock the capability of leaving behind messages for other players to find. While players don't necessarily have to experience the game online, whether through PvP or co-op, the asynchronous messages, ghosts, and bloodstains help paint a picture of the experiences other Tarnished are having in their own sessions. All Dark Souls games have this functionality, including Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which added the online features in a post-launch update. Messages and ghosts are a unique and entertaining way to connect with the FromSoftware community at large.
Players can place hints or other statements in Elden Ring on basically any surface in-game, while ghosts and bloodstains act as snapshots of a player's actions, sometimes moments before an unfortunate fate. In a lot of cases, these messages can be placed to save another player's skin, especially of there's an enemy hidden nearby prepared to ambush players. Players can choose to heed these warnings or ignore them, which often inevitably results in a jump scare. However, Elden Ring is a very different Souls game; while games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne emphasized a metroidvania-esque design, Elden Ring's Lands Between are an open world.
Elden Ring's open-world design emphasizes an even greater degree of exploration among players, which allows messages to take on a whole new degree of importance in-game. The design of the Lands Between functions closer to a more vague, Breath of the Wild-esque open world, compared to something like Assassin's Creed Valhalla or Horizon Forbidden West. With an open world crafted entirely around landmark design language instead of waypoints, there's plenty of secrets tucked away for the curious. However, for players that miss anything, the implementation of messages in Elden Ring can help guide players to places they wouldn't normally explore.
Helping, Or Pranking, Fellow Elden Ring Players
Other than helping serve as a guide for exploration, messages in Elden Ring also have some tangential benefits to those who receive appraisals for their messages. Occasionally, players with highly praised messages will receive an instant heal in-game, regardless of most contexts. Players could just be exploring Limgrave at their leisure, or they could be right in the middle of fighting a major boss fight, and they could randomly receive a full heal. There is some degree of limitation to this hidden mechanic, though it's unclear what the threshold is. Either way, leaving behind messages that receive plenty of appraisals can definitely benefit players in the long run.
Beyond that, messages can serve as an amusing way to connect with other Elden Ring players through various memes and jokes. While the type of humor can vary drastically between clever and absurd, they also help to break up the otherwise melancholic and tense atmosphere that FromSoftware has a penchant. Soulsborne games are not known for their elements of levity, of course, but the Dark Souls community has that covered. Whether it's the various "try fingers, but hole" messages, the many "try jumping" hints, among other baits like "secret dungeons," there's plenty of material for jokes and memes to misdirect and otherwise goof on other players.
Either way, interacting with and participating in the messages metagame in Elden Ring is only going to enhance the experience for all players. Even though the game has almost been out a week already, the sheer scale and scope of Elden Ring means many players are still playing through and discovering new things about the game. It's hard to say the same experience will still be around in Elden Ring months after release, but at launch, Elden Ring has quickly become a collective gaming moment for many fans. All the while players are subtly communicating in-game, sharing the whimsical nature of exploring the Lands Between together.
Elden Ring is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.