10 Features and Improvements That Should Be In An ELDEN RING Sequel

ELDEN RING released earlier in the year to a slew of incredible reviews. Everyone praised almost everything about the title ranging from its combat, its world, soundtrack bosses, and more. However, despite the heaps of praise levied at the game, that does not mean that it is without faults and has a chance to improve.

Here are the 10 Features and Improvements that Should be in an ELDEN RING sequel. 

10. Better Inventory Management

One of the aspects of ELDEN RING that grew most tiresome by the end game was the inventory management. Who else gathered up hundreds of weapons, only resulting in a deluge of weapons that were so tightly compacted attempting to find a specific one felt like seeking a needle in a haystack.

In terms of what could be done to alleviate this problem, the main one would be to add some sort of filter system to allow players to actually filter based on: Weapon Type, Size, Dexterity and more. This would cut through much of the fat of looking for or remembering where weapons are stored specifically in your inventory. Plus the weapons have some incredible item descriptions, of which many have been sorely missed out on due to the nature of the inventory.

9. Less Repeated Bosses

One of my major personal gripes with ELDEN RING is the amount of times bosses are repeated. Now this is a contentious part of the fandom as some players believe that the bosses needed to repeat to almost pay for the world size as the developers could not design unique bosses for every dungeon as it would take twenty years to do so.

I am not saying that I hate all repeated bosses. I would just prefer in my time wandering the lands between to not encounter 3 Magma Wyrms, 4 Fallingstar Beasts etc. Or Crucible Knights.... Ugh. Ultimately, encountering bosses more than once seems to kill my passion for them. I remember facing the Magma Worm in Caelid and loving the fight only to fight the same creature again later. It saps the power away from the original fights.

8. Improved Platforming and Camera Controls

ELDEN RING was the first FromSoftware game to contain a dedicated jump button, and the devs really wanted to utilize it. FromSoft have already been fans of what I can only describe as 'Soft Platforming' but in ELDEN RING they turn that up to 11. 

For better or for worse. The camera in ELDEN RING is unforgiving and can lead to some unfortunate errors in platforming. A solution to this minor issue could be something as simple as a player can 'hang' on a ledge for a short period of time and pull themselves up which might remove some of the minor frustrations when platforming, specifically in places like the Crumbling Farum  Azula where you are forced to run and jump from excruciatingly small platforms.

7. More Unique Armors

Now people may consider this a bizarre choice as the game is actually filled with Unique armors for players to choose from, and they're right. However, unlike say the weapons of ELDEN RING the armor is somewhat left by the wayside. People have discussions about which weapon is best in ELDEN RING but armor doesn't get the same respect. Why?

Well, the main reason is that armor does not have any of its own special or unique abilities. Imagine an armor that allows players to say regenerate health from attacks similar to Bloodborne. That would radically impact gameplay and possibly give players even more options than they already had.

I am of course, aware that talismans and such technically fill this gap, but I do think that because of the lack of unique abilities, armor gets moreso ignored in ELDEN RING. After all, everyone will look for the same thing stats and a medium roll.

6. Dedicated PVP Arenas

PVP was a somewhat overlooked aspect in ELDEN RING, particularly due to the size of the map; depending on where you spawn, a good chunk of time could be spent hunting for the people who you invaded or waiting for the invader to find you.

Having dedicated PVP arenas cuts through all of that and instead allows players to engage with that community in a smaller and more secluded environment which will innately enhance the player's experience. I barely engaged with PVP purely because of how annoyingly complicated it could become.

5. Procedurally Generated Dungeons

Now when it comes to this, I am particularly looking at replayability, and that would easily be enhanced with something like this. Akin to the Chalice Dungeons of Bloodborne or Niflheim in God of War an endless procedurally generated area which would allow for players to grind, explore different styles of play and more. 

And as stated previously, it would extend the game's lifespan exponentially as players continuously charge through these dungeons.

4. Mount Customization

One piece of customization missing from ELDEN RING was Torrent. Whilst you as a player kit yourself out with amazing spears. Thick armor and tonnes of spells. Torrent is left looking like a disheveled spirit horse.

It feels like a missing piece of the title, and in a sequel having horse armor, maybe even some unique abilities that could be unlocked for Torrent, possibly through the talisman system the game already has. It would fill a gap and expand players' horizons even more as Torrent would become as any other tool in the game adaptable and useful in more than a few scenarios or 'to get from point A to B.' 

3. A More Useful Crafting System

One system I was really excited for in ELDEN RING was the crafting. I often engage with the Crafting systems in RPG's and I promised to do the same with ELDEN RING however, I quickly realized that the crafting was not really worth the effort.

While the options were varied, none of them were really worth looking for the materials and wasting time on, as spells and other areas of the game filled similar gaps. I would argue that if there were fewer but ultimately more useful things to craft, then the system may actually be worth engaging with in a sequel, but in the main game, it only serves as a missed opportunity.

2. More Wacky Locations

This is the apex of personal preference, but I would like an ELDEN RING sequel to take us to more magical and wacky places. The Lake of Rot or Astels arena springs to mind when I think of the wacky locations. These locations allow artists and designers to really go nuts and produce some insane imagery.

Having more of these weird and wonderful locations also ironically serves to enhance the previous areas. These wacky locations innately serve to be some of the best and most visually appealing areas across the game, and having more of them would take a sequel to the next level.

1. Dedicated Co-Op

This is the ultimate missed opportunity in ELDEN RING with an open world like it is; the chance to roam the lands between with friends was one that many players took. However, the system is clunky. Being reserved to certain locations, with leaving resulting in a player disconnecting and having to be re-summoned.

It is a system which has haunted many FromSoftware games, but it is most visibly complicated in ELDEN RING. Having a dedicated Co-Op system where players don't have to jump in and out of games over and over again would lead ultimately to more fun and an actual co-operative experience. Roaming the lands between with friends would be so much easier and ultimately more fun if the game allowed players to stick together further than just a few areas.

Well, there you have it. Those are my Top 10 Features and Improvements That Should Be In An ELDEN RING Sequel. What did you think of the list? Are there things that you would have added? Did I mention something that you would hate to be in an ELDEN RING sequel? Comment your thoughts down below.
 

Joshua Burt (@JoshuaBurt123)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed