Much of the gaming community is waiting with anticipation for the release of world known as The Lands Between, Elden Ring appears to be exactly what players expect from the developer of Dark Souls. Some of this expectation stems from Elden Ring's alleged difficulty, which will likely be comparable to other games in FromSoft's Souls repertoire - though there's a good chance that it will be easier than Sekiro.
The Soulslike sub-genre has become popular in part due to its proclivity for tough-but-fair gameplay. The games are challenging, and occasionally brutal, but the key to winning lies in a deeper understanding of the game's mechanics and a healthy dose of trial by fire. Sekiro is often a popular choice for "most difficult FromSoftware game" because it is a distillation of this sort of game design due to its lack of power-creep and its more single-minded combat system.
Sekiro is more of an action game compared to the four Souls titles and Bloodborne, which heavily rely on RPG mechanics. Through defeating bosses and mini-bosses in Sekiro, players increase their attack power and maximum vitality respectively. There are no other methods for increasing stats, so players have to rely on improving their abilities in the game's parry-centric combat system to progress. This total reliance on player skill likely won't be part of Elden Ring's more RPG-oriented mechanics, theoretically making it a more forgiving experience.
Leveling & Variety Could Make Elden Ring Easier Than Sekiro
While player skill is always paramount in games like Sekiro and Dark Souls, the RPG mechanics that allow for easily attainable stat progression in the latter provide another means for players to overcome challenges. Since Elden Ring is an evolution of Dark Souls rather than Sekiro, encounters that are proving particularly challenging might be solved by farming Elden Ring's Souls equivalent in order to level up a few times. Leveling up typically doesn't provide a tremendous buff in Souls, but it might be just enough to give players the edge.
Summoning will also be making a return, with a system that looks like it will draw from Dark Souls' established methodology, allowing both player and NPC characters to assist players in some fashion. Sekiro lacks this kind of assistance, leaving players to rely purely on their own skill in order to overcome its challenges.
More weapon and armor choices in Elden Ring will also help players overcome obstacles, as these options are conspicuously thin in Sekiro's more focused array of options. Sekiro offers a variety of items to players, but a vast majority of the game's combat is done with Sekiro's katana, Kusabimaru. This again forces players to adhere to its fighting style, something Elden Ring likely won't do given its expected build variety. Players should be able to pick weapons and armor that conform to their preferred style of play, which will likely mean that challenges won't be quite as prescriptive either.
Simply giving players options is part of the way Elden Ring will handle difficulty, and providing an array of RPG mechanics should be a large part of that. While the emphasis on difficulty is similar in Elden Ring and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the former may end up being easier because of its breadth in combat mechanics.
