By Alay Polanco

What led me to gaming was the fact that I was dealing with something in my life and I needed a coping mechanism. Gaming is what I use to cope and to get away when times are difficult. I like to play games to deal with my stress, but gaming is not therapy. Yet gaming is now a reason why I am who I am today and I’m able to talk about my past issues. A potential career in gaming led me to the internship application for the New York Videogame Critics Circle, which my teacher at TAPCo school in the Bronx told me about. I love to play games I love and review them. I believe the Critics Circle will open many paths, and it pays a good amount of money for something I already have fun doing. This job helps give me a reason to work; not only am I making money while doing something I love, but I can genuinely take pride in what I’m doing for myself.

My friends are a good part of the reason why videogames are fun to me. Without them, I don’t think I’d be able to enjoy most games. They create a layer of comedy and peace in my experience. Because I play with friends, gaming is like a safe place where we can all have our own style of entertainment. I play games on my PC: combat games, sports or even VR. Whenever I have too much work to complete, videogames are always a good stress reliever. However, videogames can take away lots of time. So it’s always good to set a limit on how much I play to keep the right balance of play and work. 

Over time, I would develop a love for a now-favorite game, which turns out to be Elden Ring. It’s the one I turn to because regardless of being irritated at one of FromSoftware’s hardest games, I feel an engagement with the story’s diverse characters, who are all so deep.

Elden Ring, an action role-playing game which won the New York Game Awards’ “Game of the Year” in early 2023, is almost the perfect game.  From the cutting-edge story to the complex boss fights and the jaw-dropping open world, it kept me engaged and provided plenty of replay value. It also made me realize that a game can be more than just pixels on a screen. It evoked many emotions and made me experience the real rush of how only games can make one feel, exhilarated and engrossed. It also shows that games can be as immersive as a well-made film or book. 

When you fire up this game, you’re greeted with a character creation screen where you can personalization is key. You can change the hair, skin tone, voice, age, and even your keepsake. Your keepsake is the item you start off the game with and is essentially a head start, but you can choose to have none.  This rare feature keeps you invested in playing and demonstrates something unique about Elden Ring that not many other games have.

After creating a character, you are sent to an abandoned church where you seem to be locked into. When you open the church door, you go to an area called the “Chapel of Anticipation.” When you try to progress, the very first boss of the game, the Grafted Scion, jumps on you.  There’s no tutorial and you just need to fight for your life.  If you die, you are immediately led into a cave that does not have a name, but it’s referred to by players as the “Tutorial Cave.”

After getting out, you are met with the beautiful vision of Limgrave with its green forests and abundant wildlife. This is what is typically known as the starter area and is where most will stay for a while until ready to progress to the further stages.

After finally making it past Limgrave, you go to a grace, which is a checkpoint and a specific offering that gives you your noble steed, called Torrent. Torrent is used for many things in this game and with Torrent comes your maiden, Melina. Melina helps you level up using the currency you get in-game from NPCs.

At Stormveil Castle, you fight Margit, the Fell Omen, and Godrick, the Grafted. These two are very unique and their battle patterns are hard for a beginner to learn. Elden Ring’s skill ceiling is very high, the Player versus Environment factor of it is tough, and all bosses move in patterns that are hard to remember. I died a lot. Everyone does. A key is to level up enough before the big battles so you can withstand boss attacks.

The penultimate boss, Radagon of the Golden Order, is complicated, does a great deal of damage and has an irregular attack pattern. After killing Radagon, you are presented with the final boss, the Elden Beast. He has multiple one-shot moves and moves around his battlefield like a snake. After killing the Elden Beast, you become the Elden Lord. Elden Ring is complete!

Of course, it’s not complete: the downloadable content is now out. I’m looking forward to engaging with Shadow of the Erdtree because the original game made me happy. If you want to beat Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree, you need extreme persistence due to the fact that these bosses and NPCs are difficult. This game will make you rage, but it is very worth it. Even if you want to take a break from the bosses, just exploring the varied environments offered me a delight based in discovery.

Alay Polanco, our newest intern, attends the TAPCo School in the Bronx.

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