After many years of waiting, Switch users are finally going to get the experience Alden Ring In the palm of your hand. I was skeptical at first given the console's lower overall power, but the Switch 2 has proven that it's more than capable of handling some pretty intense games, so those concerns are all in the past. Perhaps more surprising than the actual launch is that we're going to see some brand-new content, both completely new. The tarnished version and a $5 add-on for PC and other consoles.
Alden Ring: The Tarnished Edition Brings two new starter classes and a few sets of armor and weapons, but perhaps the most interesting addition comes in the form of skins for Torrent. Many others and I have been asking for a way to customize the trusty steed since the game's release in 2022, and finally, we're getting three official skins to make our travels between lands a little more personal. However, I'd argue that after the big DLC drop, with a spin-off, and a movie in the works, this feels more like an afterthought than a meaningful addition and speaks more to a missed opportunity that FromSoftware has refused to capitalize on throughout the entire lifecycle of the IP.
Alden Ring: Tarnished Edition's new torrent skin
Lips have been very tight-lipped about the exact content The tarnished versionBut we got some glimpses at the new torrent skins. So far, they've shown a slight variation and a skin similar to the Night Horseman, with the third being kept under wraps for now. I personally like the white-silver version, as I think it really fits with the celestial theme that runs through a large part of the game, and it's nice to see better contrast than some extra browns in the material.
Now, as good as the skin is, I can't help but feel a little disappointed. When I first heard the phrase “torrent customization”, my eyes lit up, and I started thinking about matching sets and color options, since FromSoftware's games always value aesthetics more than power. But the fact that there are only three new options, which are obviously very lazy recolors/property flips, feels like a kick in the teeth, especially given the small but still unnecessary paywall.
nitrene It's clearly shown that developers aren't afraid to reuse and rehash old or existing models, so I'm not entirely surprised by the decision to go this route. Still, I would have preferred them to have added this material several years ago, perhaps to coincide with the release. Shadow of the ErdtreeBy introducing torrent customization now, whether included or as an optional extra, a large portion of the player base will miss out on a really cool and exciting new feature.
One of the best parts about Alden Ring, In my opinion, your character's progression is slow over the course of 100+ hours. You start as a blank slate with a set of basic tools, and after battling through the Caelid and conquering mountaintops, you end up as a seasoned warrior, with a gleaming blade and a menacing outfit to go with it. But no matter how far you go in the game, the torrent remains exactly the same. You get no bonuses, no skins, no extra buffs that make it easier to deal with certain areas, which I've always found very odd.
In fact there are only three new options, which are obviously very lazy repaints/asset flips, which feels like a kick in the teeth, especially given the small but still unnecessary paywall.
I would go into lakes and then push into ditches and over ditches, and all the while, my little horse was trotting along as if nothing had ever happened. Interestingly, in the DLC, after making your way into the Abyssal Woods, Torrent is actually unusable as if it were an indoor location, even though it's a very open area. It showed me that FromSoftware was constantly thinking about torrents and how they interact with the wider world, and there's no doubt in my mind that they considered adding a few more mount features down the road, at least to begin with.
I think the lack of horseback content is odd because of how the whole game is set up from the start. You have to go out and explore new areas, get upgrades, improve your build, and I think some small buffs or some skins for Torrent can fit perfectly into that existing loop without fundamentally breaking it. On the mechanical side of things, I'd argue that the game balances out how well Torrent works in combat. In some cases, you can happily sprint around and avoid boss attacks, and it actually makes for some pretty interesting encounters, like we saw with the final boss, while in others, the torrent grays out and locks up until a wide area pops up. So I believe that if Torrent gives some sort of physical buff to your stats, then exploration will work similarly, and I think that giving you +5% damage would be perfectly reasonable given how easy it is to knock you down when taking on a giant dragon.
This may come as a surprise to some, but you've been able to access Torrent Skins for over four years. Users love it
loccipocci and HonorKnight26 have been providing us with torrent mods since the beginning, from basic reskins to completely new mods, some of which are absurd, e.g. Metal Gear Rising Blade Wolf. If you treat it as proof-of-concept, I'd say they're clear indications of the kind of content we'll have in the base game.
In fairness to FromSoftware, customization in terms of your armor and weapons is on good grounds for a reason. They don't want you running around as a bright pink warrior on the back of a mechanical beast, so I can understand why they'd want to limit the aesthetic options at least to an extent. However, I've seen a lot of places for torrent armor and variants, and it feels weird that there are so many different horseback enemies in the game, from bosses to regular enemies, and yet we're stuck with the same one. I'm not saying you should be able to dress up as Commander Gaius or the Putrescent Knight, but give us more to see as we conquer these obstacles one by one.
Looking into the Future: The Duskbloods
The future for Alden Ring Much is still uncertain. On the one hand, I would absolutely love a sequel or another game in the series, and given how nitrene finished, I can definitely see the potential for some sort of follow-up line. We've got a movie to look forward to, and there's clearly a lot of FromSoftware projects in the works, but the biggest question mark falls now. Duskbloods. A Switch 2 exclusive, a PvPvE action game that tries to combine almost every game in their catalog into one, and if it hits the nail on the head, I think we're in for a real treat.
I've seen a lot of places for torrent armor and variants, and it seems strange that there are so many different horseback enemies in the game, from bosses to regular enemies, and yet we're stuck with the same one.
What interests me the most Duskbloods It represents the future of FromSoftware's game design. We see jetpacks and dinosaurs, and mounted players running through the streets, indicating that they're far removed from the horseback gameplay. Furthermore, I'm hopeful that the lessons they've learned and the experiments they've made will carry over into the next big, single-player release, whether it's a sequel or an entirely new one. At the end of the day, if we are able to ride a horse like a goat on the side of a mountain, and are soon taking to the sky, who is to say where the ceiling of mobility is?
