The Games That Rescued Me From My Post-Elden Ring Slump

It’s the end of May, and I’m watching the credits roll in Elden Ring. After spending more than 150 hours exploring the Lands Between I am feeling the bittersweetness I experience when I complete a game that I truly love. I’d conquered unimaginable horrors and become Elden Lord in my own personalized adventure, all while cruising atop a cool double-jumping steed; now what? This high was a life-changing experience that would require me to struggle through the rest of the year.

Elden Ring dominated my life. When I wasn’t playing it, it was the only thing I wanted to do. While I was working on other games, the tasks of gaining Raya Lucaria Academy access or conquering Malenia were always in my thoughts. Red Lobster caused terrible flashbacks of me being relentlessly attacked by the gigantic crustaceans of Liurnia of the Lakes. Elden Ring is now part of Grand Theft Auto III’s Skyrim and Breath Of The Wild, which became my obsessions. The lull after that was hard. 

Elden Ring

Although I was under an obligation to my employer, the games were not enough to keep me interested. That’s no slight on the games themselves, but they had one hell of an act to follow. I also wasn’t sure what kind of experience I wanted since Elden Ring checked so many boxes. What should I do? Should I just keep trying to master Dying Light 2? Or try something smaller and less conventional. Worst of all, the answer couldn’t be “just keep playing Elden Ring.” As much as I loved it, I didn’t want it to be an anchor that prevented me from enjoying everything else the year had to offer. I needed to go on. 

Thankfully, the first game to get me back on the rails was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. As an old-school TMNT fan, I’d been looking forward to Tribute Games’ arcade throwback for a long time, and it successfully delivered what I wanted by providing a lovingly modern take on a beloved formula. The mindless-but-satisfying beat ‘em up action was a refreshing break from Elden Ring’s more calculated, stressful battles. Add in a retro soundtrack, and you have a lot of nostalgia. Although it may have been a small comparison, this familiarity showed me that Elden Ring had left me mentally exhausted and I was unable to handle a title as complex. Shredder had been kicked to the curb by this point, so I was ready for something bigger, bolder and more challenging. 

Neon White is your answer. While Shredder’s Revenge gave me something familiar, Neon White won me over by delivering something refreshingly original. I adore platformers, and the game’s ingenious implementation of card-based gunplay and an emphasis on speedrunning gave me something new to obsess over: leaderboards. What is the fastest way to get platinum-ranked? How can I maintain my leadboard dominance and my friendship list’s success? The new challenge presented a fresh opportunity for my competitive side. Like Elden Ring, Neon White offered a rewarding sense of “Me vs. The Game,” a challenge that forced me to sharpen my dexterity and timing to overcome its obstacles. Or, in more jerk-flavored layman’s terms, I needed to “git good” again.

The Looker

After leaving my mark on Heaven, I’d just about gotten my groove back and felt ready to tackle something a little more off-kilter. From seemingly out of nowhere, a small indie game called The Looker had been attracting positive buzz online as an entertaining parody of Jonathan Blow’s enigmatic puzzle game, The Witness. The Witness was so enjoyable that I decided to try The Looker. I’m glad I did because, within minutes, it won me over as the best comedic title I’d played in some time. The game is a humorous deconstruction of Blow’s 2016 mystery that makes sharp jabs at its pretentiousness and the befuddling nature of puzzle games as a whole. The gags are not only funny, but The Looker’s puzzles, which are mockeries of The Witness’, are genuinely clever in their own right. As a totally free game, I highly recommend anyone that’s played enough of The Witness to give The Looker a shot. Its playful inventiveness replenished my excitement to see what other strange experiences were out there, and Elden Ring’s fog gate hindering my enthusiasm for other games dissipated entirely. 

Elden Ring treated me so well that I’d convinced myself I wouldn’t find a game that did the same. I suppose that’s still true to some degree; it’s my Game of the Year with a bullet. Sometimes a game is so exceptional you forget everything else that’s out there or are unwilling to seek it out. In hindsight, I was also afraid of enjoying something less simply because it wasn’t Elden Ring. To that end, it’s beneficial to walk away and not try to immediately fill that void with something else, which is probably what I should have done first. There’s probably some break-up advice in here somewhere, and I’m grateful I found that there was indeed plenty of other fish in the sea.