The most confusing video game of the year has been named

A recently released video game proves to be a big hit, but also leads in a more questionable category.

“Elden Ring”, a medieval-inspired lore-inspired adventure written by “Game of Thrones” author George RR Martin, welcomes the player to a vast world looming in the shadow of an ancient golden tree, populated with creatures large and small.

The action role-playing game is developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Elden Ring was released in February 2022 and scored a perfect 10 on IGN, the video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment.

The game sold 13.4 million copies worldwide by the end of March and 16.6 million by the end of June.

Elden Ring, directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, was the best-selling game in several regions between February and March 2022 and is the fastest-selling Bandai Namco game of all time.

But it seems Elden Ring has earned a more dubious honor as a recent survey found it to be the most confusing video game of 2022.

‘Not a game for beginners’

The study, conducted by the broadband analysts at Uswitch, a UK-based price comparison and switching website, said Elden Ring generated “nearly 180,000 Google searches from players looking for tips and explanations on how to play the game.”

“While the game has been well received by the gaming community, it is certainly not a game for beginners who can easily become perplexed,” said Uswitch.

Uswitch said the game has been labeled “notoriously difficult” by game journalists at Polygon, who noticed the game has huge spikes in difficulty with very little help in the process, which explains why so many get confused and turn to Google. For assistance.”

However, Uswitch said this “didn’t stop the gaming community from using Reddit to express how challenging the ‘standard’ difficulty is and suggests that less experienced gamers opt for the ‘casual’ mode to avoid confusion.”

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The survey found that Nintendo’s Metroid Dread was the second most confusing video game with nearly 54,000 Google searches from gamers seeking advice on how to play it.

Capcom’s Resident Evil Village ranks third with 44,760 annual Google searches from confused gamers. The survival horror video game has a 10 out of 10 rating on Steam and 8 out of 10 on IGN.

Rounding out the top five was Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which was named the fourth most confusing video game with 33,960 searches, closely followed by Far Cry 6 with 31,920 Google searches. Both games are published by Ubisoft.

None of the gaming companies immediately responded to a request for comment.

A journey through the magical realm known as social media garnered some strong reactions to Elden Ring.

“The biggest complaint I see about Elden Ring is that it doesn’t really explain most of its mechanics,” one person said on Twitter. “So what? Aren’t games supposed to be blunt, layered and confusing, like how many great movies and books there are? Is there something wrong with discovery and learning?”

“One of the most confusing things about the lore in Elden Ring (which is reinforced a lot by the fact that the game tells you very little) is that you have to remember that Godrick and Godfrey and Godwyn are completely different people with different things about them. hand,” another tweet said.

One commenter said on Reddit that “the game is really interesting, but I’m having a hard time following whatever the game is trying to make me do.”

“I’ve only been playing for a few hours and tried to beat the first encounter with Margit,” the poster said, referring to a Great Enemy Boss found in Stormhill. “However, I can never beat him and I wonder if it’s because I have to do some other tasks to level up, etc, before fighting him or should I just keep trying to beat him?”

“Margit is a lesson,” commented one person. “Explore the world, practice with other enemies and come back when you feel well prepared.”

Another commenter said in a Reddit post, “I’m tired of people complaining that this game is trash because it’s too hard for anyone to play or too confusing to understand.”

“Most games provide specific clues and map markers and a scavenger hunt log,” the commentator said. ‘We don’t understand that. We’re just figuring things out.’