FromSoftware should learn a lesson from Elden Rings torrent

While there will be many things to learn from Fire Ring as FromSoftware's first attempt at blending open world and soul-like design, an important lesson must be learned from Torrent and its approach to world navigation. Unlike FromSoftware's previous Soulslike games, Fire Ring broke the mold in many ways with an open world design and a Spectral Steed mount among more obvious examples.

Even with rumors that FromSoftware's next game will break away from open worlds and return to a traditional linear design, there is still the likelihood that future development will return to this world design due to its prominence in gaming. With this in mind, Fire Ring is a testing ground for FromSoftware on what worked and didn't work for a soulslike open world, especially when it comes to Torrent. After all, since Soulslikes are notorious for difficult yet rewarding gameplay, an in-game attachment to open-world navigation needs to ensure that it balances well with the rest of the game and its mechanics.

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When FromSoftware returns to the Open-World genre, it should avoid repeating this shadow of the Erdtree mistake

A boss in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was less impressive than intended, and future open-world Souls games should avoid its mistakes.

Breaking down how Elden Rings torrent works and doesn't work in a soul-like

As a core design philosophy in Soulslike games, key mechanics are attributed to key in-game items, such as how players regain health with the Estus Flask from Dark souls series or healing gourd i Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. In extension, Fire Ring took a similar approach with its Spectral Steed Whistle item that players need to summon Torrent. If players want to easily summon Torrent without going into their inventory, the whistle can be assigned item slots like those in their bag.

Elden Ring foresaw how much torrenting would affect soul-like gaming

Based on this approach, it seems FromSoftware is aware of just how much Fire Rings in-game mount pushes the boundaries when it comes to previous ideas and designs in Soulslike games. For example, players can use Torrent to their advantage, such as by taking on larger or faster enemies, or by escaping battles that are too difficult or when they are low on health. Requiring players to demote an item slot for the whistle is a step FromSoftware is taking to balance Torrent with traditional Soulslike gameplay.

Elden Ring drops the ball as Torrent revives

But while other features like only allowing players to use one hand at a time while riding go further to balance Fire Rings mounted combat, Torrent's health independent of the player is where FromSoftware's next open world game could learn its lesson. Although heals in torrent Fire Ring isn't its biggest problem, problems arise when Torrent has been killed and requires reviving to be summoned again. This can be done by using the whistle and consuming one of Flask of Crimson Tear's charges, but an immersion-breaking prompt that interrupts the game forces players to confirm this.

FromSoftware's next Open-World game should learn from Elden Ring's torrent

Although it seems like a small detail, forcing this prompt on players has been enough to cause frustration within Fire Rings community, even leading to mods reviving Torrent by default or social media memes like the one below.

Here, the mods outline a lesson FromSoftware can learn from Fire Rings Torrent, allowing players to disable prompts through in-game options. Alternatively, to save players from wasting Flash of Crimson Tear's charges, FromSoftware's next Soulslike game could include an upgrade to the next game's whistle replacement, similar to Estus Flask's own upgrades, where players can eventually remove any costs or prompts and instantly revive their mount .