After playing last year's soulslikes, Shadow of the Erdtree reminded me that no one knows how to use ambushes like FromSoftware

GamesRPGAfter playing last year’s soulslikes, Shadow of the Erdtree reminded me that no one knows how to use ambushes like FromSoftwareWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Elden Ring screenshot - man with torch standing near giant ants and a pile of gooey dead bodies

I played quite a few last year—I played Lies of P, Remnant 2, and Ireviewed Lords of the Fallenas well. They’re all pretty dang good games in their own right, with Remnant 2 feeling like the most inventive of the bunch, what with tying the knot between ARPG mechanics and the soulslike secret sauce.

What I realised, however, in my recent playthrough of the Elden Ring DLCShadow of the Erdtree, is this: No one quite does an ambush like FromSoftware.

That’s not to say making those moving parts sing iseasy,mind, but from a design perspective, they can be imitated. How many frames of an animation should have invincibility? Study the animations, read some analysis from the wunderkind dataminers who study these sorts of things. How many bonfires should you have? Boot up an old souls game and spend some hours measuring the average distance between, and keep it in mind as a guide. The ambush, though, is far trickier to replicate.

Why are we here, just to get jumped?

(Image credit: FromSoftware / BonfireVN on YouTube.)

An image of the Basilisk from Dark Souls, a horrific, froglike creature with a set of bulbous fake eyes.

Some soulslike games, particularly Lords of the Fallen (though its developer madeattempts to tone things down after I played it) make the crucial mistake of assuming that ambushes are there to make exploration difficult. ‘Soulslike games are hard, right? Ambushes make you die more while exploring, problem solved.’

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I think this is a complete misunderstanding, though. Yes, an ambush makes the environment challenging and hostile—but only really once. When you know an ambush is coming in a familiar area, it becomes something you tick off on a list of chores. Charging the archer I know istherenow is as mundane as hanging up my laundry.

To me, a good ambush in a soulslike should be treated like a scare in a horror movie or a game—in that, to properly get someone, you need to build upsuspense.An ambush should be the sharp and sudden drop in a rollercoaster after a drawn-out, click-click-click of a passenger car on a steep incline.

Restraining thineself

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

A knight rides the saddle of their trusty steed Torrent in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, looking over miraculous ruins.

FromSoftware games are, despite appearances, actually content to go ages without so much as an ooga or a booga. Shadow of the Erdtree specifically seemed to have a master’s touch, rewarding my paranoiajustoften enough that I never quite felt comfortable entering a room without my guard up. It had the restraint to not put a bugger behind a box every 10 feet.

Creating this sense of paranoia does wonders for making a FromSoftware game feel hostile without making it feel annoying—I’m pretending Blighttown doesn’t exist, admittedly. It helps you pay far closer attention to your surroundings. Not because you knowthere’ll be something just around the corner, but because you know theremightbe. The devil you don’t (know) has hands.

Shadow of the Erdtree guides(Image credit: Bandai Namco)Erdtree map fragments: Uncover the Land of ShadowScadutree fragments: How to level up in ErdtreeErdtree bosses: A full hit list for the DLCLeda quest: Track the Erdtree main questAnsbach quest: Help the former servant of MohgHornsent quest: Complete the quest for vengeance

Shadow of the Erdtree guides

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)Erdtree map fragments: Uncover the Land of ShadowScadutree fragments: How to level up in ErdtreeErdtree bosses: A full hit list for the DLCLeda quest: Track the Erdtree main questAnsbach quest: Help the former servant of MohgHornsent quest: Complete the quest for vengeance

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree trailer screencap of a red haired character holding fire in their hand

Erdtree map fragments: Uncover the Land of ShadowScadutree fragments: How to level up in ErdtreeErdtree bosses: A full hit list for the DLCLeda quest: Track the Erdtree main questAnsbach quest: Help the former servant of MohgHornsent quest: Complete the quest for vengeance

It’s a fascinating contradiction that a studio so often known for terrifying difficulty spikes is often the first toscrapdifficulty in favour of atmosphere. Mind, this doesn’t always work. Erdtree’s finger ruins, for example, were a little frustrating—mostly because FromSoftware is just as willing to hide a super important cave with a weapon, incantation, and talisman you really want behind its alien superstructures, and there was just never anything there.

Regardless, none of the soulslikes I played in 2023 ever quite managed this level of mastery. Their ambushes often seemed randomly placed, made to trick rather than treat:

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Lords of the Fallen, as mentioned, had a chronic issue on release with putting a gremlin around every corner. Every single time there was an opportunity for an ambush, chances are there was one—and it overstayed its welcome quickly.

Lies of P came the closest to replicating FromSoftware’s pacing—and it certainly didn’t skimp on atmosphere—but still, I never had that ‘false sense of security’ feeling creep in the same way.

Still, I am looking forward to the game that finally gets this most slippery of design tricks right. I still had a great time with each one of these titles—I said as much back then—and given FromSoftware’s propensity for two-year releases, I’m sure we’ll get a good dousing of determined imitators next year, if not this one, with games likeFlintlock: The Siege of DawnandBlack Myth: Wukongon the horizon.

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PRODUCTSElden RingElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

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Why are we here, just to get jumped?#

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Restraining thineself#

Why are we here, just to get jumped?

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Restraining thineself