Seek mad air, ye Tarnished
Two great games about patience, mastery, and dying horribly combine in aTrials Risingcustom track which races through the world ofElden Ring. Made by a player, the level does a surprisingly good job of capturing a sense ofElden Ring-ness, stunting on your motorbike past the Erdtree and over a castle towards an all-too-familiar ending.
The level, xKx-ELDEN RACE, is made by player “kailiman666” (and comes to my attention fromthis tweet). Hit the Track Central menu in-game and search for Elden Race, you’ll find it easy enough. Here, I recorded a replay of the current best time, scored by “Sly_GT4”:
I like the level. The architecture and colours capture an overall vibe of Elden Ring nicely with only a small area and limited art assets. And I appreciate the touches like the sites of Lost Grace as track checkpoints (with an NPC hanging out by one), the white glow of a message from another player, a foggy boss gate, and the custom animation for the Trials tradition of being super-murdered at the end of a track. Plus I appreciate technical jumps.
The wild thing is that even with a motorbike, this is slower than some Elden Ring speedruns. Using glitches which whizz you across the world at ludicrous speeds and avoid even seeing the final boss, speedrunners have already ‘completed’ the vast open-world gamein under 9 minutes. Who needs in-game motor technology when you can see through the fourth wall and ride game technology to victory.
