The Shaded Castle's Level Design is AMAZING

Elden Ring - Casual Playthrough [No Commentary] EP. 20 Say what you want about poison swamp areas in these games, but The Shaded Castle does it so right. The first level having weaker enemies and a shallow swamp really sets up the sense of progression as you make your way to the 2nd level where the enemies are far more difficult and the swamp is deep. Making traversal and combat much more challenging. Both levels being visually very similar makes the entire dungeon feel like a maze. A claustrophobic boss fight to cap off the whole thing is a nice feather in it's cap as well. Easily missed and often overlooked, The Shaded Castle rarely receives the praise it deserves. Elden Ring is hands down my favorite game of all time. I genuinely believe I could play it forever. My favorite way to engage with the game, and from what I have seen, a seemingly unique playstyle, is to ignore the mount and fast travel systems within the game. In a massive open world game like Elden Ring, it is tempting to use the mount to rush past a lot of the hand crafted encounters. By doing so, I find you are robbing yourself of the beautiful art design, visual storytelling, and jaw dropping set pieces the game has to offer. The resource replenishment mechanics are, in my opinion, one of the most underappreciated aspects of the game. And that's not really surprising when using the fast travel system and choosing to rest at the plethora of checkpoints to replenish said resources is made so easy. I know I did this on my first, and many subsequent playthroughs. It was not until recently that I discovered the joy of playing like this. Obviously there is no "correct" way to enjoy this piece of art. But experiences such as: narrowly overcoming a difficult encounter and being rewarded with an extra flask, being out of flasks and tracking down a scarab, traversing the overworld on foot, and going as long as possible between checkpoints, are among the most fun and immersive experiences I have had with the game. So I decided to capture and share that experience. No expectations, no rushing, no guides. Elden Ring as seamless as possible. Enjoy ❤️