The PC Gamer group is having a grand ol’ time tearing via Elden Ring’s expansive dungeons and dense open world. We have already stated rather a lot in regards to the sport’s wonderful fight and the way it lastly lets us chill out in a Souls sport, however not a lot lip service has been paid to the sport’s star mount, the loyal four-legged companion that will get us from A to B: Torrent.
As a result of Souls video games cannot do one thing as regular as whistling for a horse that rides into the body, FromSoftware went with a magically summoned tremendous horse with a double bounce. Having a faster approach round Elden Ring is undeniably helpful, however is Torrent videogame horse?
Wealthy Stanton, Information Editor: I performed with out Elden Ring’s horse for a stunning size of time, primarily as a result of I used to be activating however wasn’t bothering to relaxation at Websites of Grace, so I did not get the dialogue to unlock Torrent (I spent my first few hours within the open world simply exploring and avoiding most fights). After I did get my luminescent horse and started using round Limgrave, it instantly felt like one thing wasn’t fairly proper. Torrent is certainly a useful gizmo: significantly in a number of the later areas, which may be fairly barren hellscapes, and every time there’s nasty stuff on the bottom you do not wish to stroll via. However does it ever really feel important or satisfying to experience?
Not for me. I acknowledge there are bosses the place the horse is sort of obligatory, however I imply extra the open world travelling. I like quick travelling across the Websites of Grace, and it additionally signifies that I can go just about wherever I would like on this planet immediately. Torrent does not appear to have a lot utility on this regard past making a 30-second jog right into a 10-second experience, and that is tremendous. I’ve used it to skirt giant areas in quest of doorways, and these are in all probability the moments I’ve felt snug with Torrent.
However then, as quickly as I’m going to show the creature, argh, that turning radius drives me wild, particularly at gradual speeds: it feels unwieldy, like I am consistently readjusting and overshooting issues. And never in a approach the place it is like an animal disobeying my instructions as a result of it has free will. In the way in which that that is like one of many barely crapper motorbikes in Saints Row.
Fraser Brown, On-line Editor: Wealthy, you might have many wonderful takes on soulsbornes, so I assume it is solely pure that ultimately you’d provide you with one which’s lifeless unsuitable. Torrent is my greatest horse pal, although I’ve renamed him Terrance in my head canon, and I could not think about traversing the Lands Between with out him galloping away beneath me.
Perhaps you simply obtained used to not having him round? It was one of many first issues I did, so there was by no means actually some extent the place I needed to study to get by with out him. For me, he is an integral a part of the world, and also you solely must look out throughout the rolling hills of Limgrave to know that it is a place designed to be traversed on horseback. The Lands Between are big and sprawling, and whereas decreasing a 30-second journey to a 10-second one does not sound all that useful, if you flip a 30-minute journey right into a 10-minute one Torrent begins to sound extra important.
Certainly, he is the one approach to attain some locations, whether or not it is together with his double bounce or his means to leap into updrafts, sending him sky-high. I would not have my favorite weapon to this point, the Twinblade, with out him. I’ve discovered him agile and comparatively exact, particularly when in comparison with the obstinate Roach or the extra lifelike steeds of Crimson Lifeless Redemption.
Wealthy: I’ve positively over-egged the negatives about Torrent, as a result of there are areas the place I’ve used the horse rather a lot: and there is not any denying the fundamental utility of utilizing it to sprint in to get your runestain (is that what they’re known as?) if you’ve died removed from a Web site of Grace.
I additionally discover Torrent a little bit of an odd match with the stealth ingredient of the sport. After I discover someplace new I do not wish to use Torrent: and as soon as I am finished, I in all probability will not return to most locations. I’ve tried assaulting one or two ‘compounds’ with it however I find yourself simply using round in ineffective loops swinging my blade at skinny air.
Fraser: I am by no means calling them bloodstains once more now—it is runestains all the way in which from right here. Anyway! It is true that he isn’t stealthy, however I would not count on him to be. He is for getting the place it is advisable to go shortly and with much less threat, not for sneaking. That is why you possibly can’t summon him in dungeons. He’d be ineffective. And you may’t inform me you are in stealth if you’re simply exploring an open discipline or an extended street via a area the place you’ve got obtained a transparent line of sight.
Wealthy: Truthful level, although my uneasiness is extra with how stealth and horse using do not actually mesh collectively inside the world, they only co-exist, which is okay. Metallic Gear Stable V did this very well with D-Horse’s “horse stealth” button that’d let Snake grasp off his saddle after which easily dismount right into a crouch. That was cool.
Maybe my greatest beef with Torrent is the way it suits into Elden Ring’s exact fight loop. I at all times really feel like I am simply using as much as issues then flailing away at both flank, dashing away to dodge an assault, lining up once more and repeating. Perhaps it simply hasn’t ‘clicked’ for me but however that facet of all of it feels a bit weightless—till you get hit and the silly factor stops lifeless to get better and you must decide up the tempo once more. Urgh! It simply does not really feel nice as a mount to me, and I do not get that charging knight in armour really feel I would like from the fight.
Fraser: Granted, mounted fight will not be what Elden Ring does greatest. I truly do get pleasure from it, and as you talked about earlier there are some encounters the place it is obligatory, however there are others the place I simply really feel each safer and more practical when Torrent is with me. He is additionally very helpful when it is advisable to make a fast escape.
You criticised the turning radius earlier, and which may clarify our totally different emotions about fight. As a result of I do not circle foes. It is a faff and it is messy. It might need one thing to do with just lately watching The Final Duel, however I deal with most fights with Torrent as jousts, consistently charging at enemies, laying into them a bit, after which turning round to get one other run at them. This would possibly make fights a tad longer, however the movement of them is vastly improved, and it simply feels cooler.
What I actually wish to know, although, is in case you assume Torrent sucks, what videogame horses do you actually like?
Wealthy: Oh the classics: Agro from Shadow of the Colossus, which I nonetheless consider as probably the most ‘horsey’ horse I’ve ever ridden in a sport though, by any sane measure, Crimson Lifeless Redemption 2’s horses are the present state-of-the-art. There’s clearly a whole lot of enjoyable available with the horses in Breath of the Wild, though they are much extra easy to regulate and fewer obsessive about simulation.
I do not assume Torrent needs to be a straight-up horse like RDR2’s nags, it is a magical bounce-steed, however yeah… I like Torrent properly sufficient. I do not assume it is horrible, I’ve had a little bit of enjoyable, nevertheless it’s not wonderful. And for me excellence is what these video games needs to be all about: each little bit of them.
Fraser: Not a nasty horse amongst them. They’re all nice. However for getting throughout the Lands Between, I would not decide any of them over Torrent. They’re good for the video games they’re in, and so is my bouncy boy. Is he a wonderful horse? I feel so. However even when he wasn’t, I’ve spent half my time within the sport sporting filthy garments and a pot on my head, and I’ve misplaced rely of the occasions I’ve died, so who am I to guage? I might love him all the identical.
Imogen Mellor, Options Producer: Guys, guys, guys, it is a goat not a horse.
