Elden Ring’s minimal user interface and HUD have become a heated debate

If you’ve spent any time online in the past week, you’ve likely seen a number of intense discussions taking place. elden ring. The usual rhetoric of access and difficulty still permeates a lot of talk about the game, but the most recent point of contention was actually elden ringuser interface for . As you know, the menus and items that appear on the screen provide you with information about your health combination and rune number.

Souls-likes before, elden ring It has some sparse UI designs. The HUD displays the most relevant information, including the stamina bar and equipped items – and that’s it. The user experience isn’t particularly intuitive at first, especially considering the number of options the game offers without stopping to break down each bit individually. Doing things like using your bag or peeking at the map is also a pain in the ass while exploring the lands in between or in a tense battle, but on a par with FromSoftware’s game path. However, that hasn’t stopped people from theorizing about a more “mainstream” approach. elden ring While that.

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Reddit user named gamboozino Posted a photo taken on March 5th Why Ubisoft elden ring It may seem. You can imagine how crowded the screen was, with button prompts for “Tarnished Sense” (laughter) and obnoxious notifications about which boss must be defeated next. Admittedly, Ubisoft’s design seems to be exaggerated, but the picture is drawn in the mind, and it’s quite the opposite. elden ringvibe.

The photo jumped from Reddit to Twitter and has since Mifeed, serves as one of the predecessors of the ongoing debate about the user interface. Since then, many people — including apparently Developed by Guerrilla Games, Nixxes Software, and Ubisoft– You fought with a lot of hot shots. Many argued about it elden ringThe user interface (and thus, its user experience) suckEspecially because she does Bad job of communicating what some symbols mean If you don’t read the equipment descriptions first or How do they affect you as you play. Aharon They praised FromSoft’s small UI design for him simplicity And the integrity.

elden ringThe user interface is completely different, something some developers can perfectly learn from thinking about how to do it The game was a success from FromSoft since its launch. Senior UI Engineer at Blizzard Entertainment named Valentine Powell Greatly echo this feeling In a short Twitter thread. Powell said that features, like intrusive UI elements, don’t have to be in every game just because they work well in others. Instead, what elden ring It could – and should – be a teachable moment for Western developers.

Bruno Dias, designer and writer at sky without sun Developer Failbetter Games, said Kotaku Via Twitter DMs that heated debate shows that some people don’t understand what FromSoft is trying to do elden ring.

“It’s very easy to criticize elden ringUI/UX but it seems inappropriate to me to declare it bad in a general sense,” Dias said. “It’s…well, definitely livable for most people who play the game. And there is definitely a certain level of not trying to understand why some things are the way they are.”

Dias noted that, unlike other open-world games, elden ring The map is not always updated to depict the latest developments, although it does provide tools that allow you to mark up it manually.

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Still, paGreetings UI red elden ringIt is an open world exploration game. The lower HUD allows you to roam the grounds in between unimpeded by thematic markers or redundant icons. You can simply get lost without feeling the pressure of completing the task of defeating this boss. It is calming and energizing more specifically because the game is confident that you will find your way either by intuition, clues, observation, or all three.

“I don’t think every decision is a single one [FromSoft] It makes is entirely intentional and objectively correct, but there [are] Few things in it elden ring It seems to be doing things a certain way for a reason,” Dias said.