'Elden Ring' is a comedy game, and the punchline is you

Among modern games, this is a unique approach to humor. This is because -- despite a veritable avalanche of games that take inspiration from the Souls-like genre, of which "Elden Ring" is the latest entry -- it's extremely hard to pull off. Gamers, generally speaking, want to feel empowered while they're playing. They do not want to be belittled and laughed at. Even games that lean into that sort of humor -- for example, Valve's 2007 comedy master class "Portal" -- do so with writing, pairing characters' mocking words with a generally smooth upward gameplay progression for players.