The bosses of FromSoftware should be more Malenia, less Consort Radahn

FromSoftware has made a name for itself with its incredibly difficult games Elden Ring To be one of them. Despite a number of accessibility considerations and design decisions that ensure a smoother experience, Elden Ring Ultimately, there are some of the toughest bosses FromSoftware has ever unleashed on the gaming world, for better or worse. Nowhere is this tricky difficulty more apparent than in the battle with the Promised Consort Radahn at the end of the Earth Tree's Shadow DLC.

Since the expansion arrives more than two years after the base game, this encounter essentially serves as the game's finale Elden Ring Experience as a whole – the “final” boss of the game. So one would naturally expect this to be a difficult battle, but few could have imagined how merciless and relentless it would be. This sparked several heated opinions within the game's community, with many arguing that Radahn was either poorly designed, unfair, or harsh for the sake of being harsh. While these criticisms may have varying degrees of merit, they point to a broader problem with the difficulty of FromSoftware's games.

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Messmer the Impaler, demigod boss in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Earthtree

Why Elden Ring's level scaling approach works perfectly

Elden Ring's level scaling features a unique design choice, creating a unique experience compared to other open-world games.

Why Malenia would be a better blueprint for future FromSoftware bosses than Consort Radahn

Before Shadow of the Earthtree, Malenia was almost universally considered the Blade of Miquella Elden Ringis the hardest boss fight. Hidden in Miquella's Haligtree, players must fight their way through a huge, challenging, completely missable region to get to it. Since the Haligtree is only accessible after players reach the Giants' Mountaintops, Malenia is guaranteed to be at least a late-game boss fight, making it perfect for those looking for an extra challenge.

And Malenia offers exactly one additional challenge. She attacks the player with graceful ferocity, using a moveset that is one of FromSoftware's hardest attacks to counter. Nearly unavoidable attacks like her Waterfowl Dance combo, coupled with her Scarlet Rot status effects and health regeneration, make her an encounter reserved for only the most skilled (or masochistic) players, and defeating her basically feels that way feels like completing the final challenge of the base game.

Malenia's optional nature makes up for her smash difficulty

As is often the case with FromSoftware games, Elden RingThe optional bosses are usually the toughest, and Malenia is no exception to this trend. However, this affects their position in the overall fabric of the game, as players can tackle them at their own pace, with defeating them feeling like an additional reward for mastering the game's mechanics or strengthening their character. This is inherently different from brutally challenging mandatory bosses like Promised Consort Radahn, which are seen as more frustrating obstacles than worthwhile challenges.

In the case of Radahn, players will have to spend several hours fighting through the DLC, strengthening themselves through Scadutree fragments and the like, before hitting a wall. And make no mistake: Consort Radahn can indeed be a brick wall, especially in the pre-nerf version of the game, as his attacks are devastating, hard to dodge most of the time, and often even difficult to spot thanks to the visuals are the sound of his second phase belief effects. Reaching it at the end of Shadow of the Earthtree can feel like an abrupt halt to momentum, which detracts from the overall experience for some players.

If the promised Consort Radahn had been just as powerful but included as an optional boss fight, he probably wouldn't have been so reviled by the player base. Radahn would have been seen the same way as Malenia: a tough fight that earns bragging rights upon completion.