Biggest Combat Frustrations In Elden Ring (& Soulslikes That Solve Them)

FromSoftware pioneered the challenging “soulslike” genre in 2009, and over the last decade, they and other developers have continually refined it. The peak of this evolution is Elden Ring, widely considered the best soulslike game ever made. Four years after its release, no other game has matched its incredible scale and diverse gameplay. Elden Ring features a huge number of weapons, abilities, spells, and summons, making combat endlessly adaptable. Players will also encounter a vast array of unique enemies and bosses throughout the game’s roughly 100-hour adventure, ensuring a constant stream of surprises.

Although Elden Ring is a fantastic game, it’s not without its flaws. While the soulslike genre is known for being challenging and punishing, Elden Ring sometimes creates frustration that doesn’t add to the enjoyment. Other games in the soulslike style have already addressed some of these combat issues, and even more have done so since Elden Ring’s release. Here’s a look at the most annoying parts of Elden Ring’s combat, and some other soulslike games that handle those aspects better without making the game too easy.

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Overtuned Bosses

Many Bosses Have Very Long Attack Combos With Very Brief Openings To Retaliate

The world of The Lands Between (and the Shadow Realm in the expansion) is huge and filled with bosses around every corner. Like other games from FromSoftware, bosses get very difficult quickly, with complex attacks including everything from spells and jumps to grabs and more. While the game has some of the best boss fights in the genre, many of the later ones – particularly in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion – feel unfairly difficult. It seems the developers were determined to create the most challenging enemies ever, and some bosses have overly long attack combinations, delayed attacks followed by area-of-effect explosions, and a frustrating tendency to quickly close in and then immediately move away. This often makes fights feel drawn out, leaving players with few chances to attack and spending most of their time dodging, blocking, and simply trying to survive.

While many recent games inspired by the Souls series have evolved combat and boss fights, offering more fast-paced action and ways to counterattack, The First Berserker: Khazan stands out. It excels at boss battles by encouraging aggressive play and giving players a variety of options to block, deflect, interrupt, or parry, allowing them to stay in control. This results in incredibly intense and exciting fights that feel like genuine duels, rather than just showcases for the boss’s power, and thankfully, these battles don’t overstay their welcome.

Camera Behavior

Many Gigantic Bosses Can Make Things Unnecessarily Confusing

Action-RPG games, including challenging titles like Elden Ring, often struggle with camera issues. Players frequently have trouble tracking enemies, especially during boss fights. Many bosses are huge, and their weak points can be hard to reach, leaving close-range fighters unable to see what’s happening. When facing fast-moving, large bosses in confined areas, the camera becomes a major problem, often leading to deaths caused by disorientation rather than player error. This camera frustration is particularly common—and annoying—in this type of game.

There are several ways to improve fights against giant bosses. Developers could use fewer extremely large bosses, design boss arenas that work with their size, or adjust the camera to be less sensitive and zoom out further during these battles. While some players enjoy fighting massive enemies like those in Elden Ring, most prefer bosses that are around the same size as, or a little bigger than, their character. This approach not only solves camera problems but also creates more engaging and personal combat. Black Myth: Wukong handles this well, allowing players to comfortably fight huge creatures like Fuban without losing track of the action. Lords of the Fallen also offers a good solution, using a clever see-through effect on large bosses to ensure players can always see what’s happening, even during difficult moments.

Runes Retrieval Between Boss Attempts

It’s Rarely Worth Retrieving Lost Runes In A Boss Arena at All

FromSoftware games, like Elden Ring, have a system where you lose your progress (souls or runes) when you die and can get it back by returning to where you fell without dying again. This applies to boss fights too – if you’re defeated, you drop your runes right where you went down. This can be really frustrating because it forces you to spend time recovering your lost runes before you can even try the boss again. It also traps you in that fight, as leaving to explore or level up risks losing those runes permanently, adding to the frustration. This feels odd in an open-world game where you’d expect to be able to freely choose what you do next, rather than being stuck repeatedly trying the same difficult encounter.

As a big fan of soulslike games, I was so relieved when Lies of P came along and tackled a really frustrating problem. You know how, in these games, you drop all your progress (Ergo, or runes) when you die trying to learn a boss? Lies of P cleverly puts those dropped items just outside the boss arena, so you don’t have to risk losing everything by rushing back in. It’s such a simple change, but it lets you take a breath, rethink your strategy, or even go explore somewhere else first! Seriously, why punish us for just learning how a boss works? Thankfully, other games are starting to catch on. The First Berserker: Khazan is even better – it gives you a little reward for each attempt and keeps your lost souls safe outside the arena. Honestly, this should have been standard practice in the genre ages ago!

The Parrying System Could Be Better

Players Often Struggle Learning Which Attacks Can Be Parried

While many players focus on dodging attacks in Elden Ring, the game offers a variety of defensive options, including blocking with shields or weapons, skillful evasion, and traditional parrying. However, parrying is a bit tricky. It’s not clearly explained and has multiple steps, so it’s mostly mastered by players familiar with similar games. Adding to the challenge, the game doesn’t reliably show you which attacks can actually be parried, and many enemy moves are unparryable. This forces players to learn through trial and error, which isn’t ideal for understanding the system.

Compared to other games made by FromSoftware, like Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and many other similar games, parrying in Elden Ring feels less effective. While parrying is crucial in Bloodborne and Sekiro because they don’t have as many weapon options, it’s simply more rewarding and responsive in those games. Games like Lies of P, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, The First Berserker: Khazan, and Nioh 3 all make parrying more reliable and give players clearer signals to help them understand attacks and how to defend against them.

Boss Runbacks

After All These Years, Long Runbacks To A Boss Shouldn’t Be A Thing

Older “souls-like” games often forced players to run a long distance back to a boss after each death, sometimes even leading to more careless deaths along the way. It’s not always clear what this added to the game, but that’s a discussion for another time. Thankfully, Elden Ring makes these runs less annoying than in games like Dark Souls, where getting back to the boss could be the biggest challenge. However, some bosses in Elden Ring still have checkpoints located quite far away, especially in caves. This sometimes means players have to wait for and ride elevators just to reach the boss, which isn’t ideal.

For players who enjoy a challenge and don’t want to repeat the same areas endlessly, most recent soulslike games, starting with Elden Ring, now place checkpoints very close to boss arenas. This lets players quickly jump back into the fight after being defeated, maintaining the game’s momentum. Games like The First Berserker: Khazan, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, and Nioh 3 are moving away from long runs back to bosses, and it seems most players appreciate this change.

2026-02-07 20:05