My very first real PC gaming experience was playing a shareware version of Doom in College. Had played console games many years before, but had really stopped playing video games by that time. Instead, I was into other online gaming experiences like casinohuone with the flashy atmosphere and many different games back then. The graphics and competition with other players there were extremely exciting! That multiplayer venue with lots of games was fun, but still wanted a great single player to enjoy. Well, Doom changed all of that because it was not only my first time playing a First Person Shooter (FPS), but it was so simple that I could play for hours after just starting. The charm of the game for me is that it did not take much imagination to imagine myself in the game facing the aliens!

Playing Doom soon became a habit because it actually felt like I was training with guns at the time. Of course, that feeling did not last too long, and I eventually wanted to expanded that experience using other games. Well, Doom games kept coming out and far “better” games with nicer graphics also arrived, but never managed to recaptured that first feeling I had with Doom years ago. One of the features I wanted to see improved from the Doom early games were the use of melee weapons! With the exception of 1 or 2 simple weapons, melee weapons and combat were never really featured.

To scratch my melee itch back in the day, I tried a game called Die by the Sword by Interplay. The only thing good about the game minus the title was the limb targeting system. Yes, it was gruesome and clunky, but nothing else was like it and it never became popular. Fast forward to now and there is Dark Souls, but it not as simple as the first Doom nor does it feel as unique as Die by the Sword.

Thus, ElderBorn comes out of nowhere to finally fill this niche that I have been trying to find for nearly 20 years! ElderBorn focuses squarely on melee and some awesome weapons to the tune of heart pumping heavy metal. Yes, you can see elements from Doom and Dark Souls in the game, but it is much more simple like the first Doom to me. The only thing that it has from Die by the Sword is that you can target parts of an opponent’s body. It is just done much better here!

You start with an old sword, but upgrade to much better weapons as you continue to explore the game world. You can just take one look at the featured image to see what first attracted me to ElderBorn. The main hero it carrying what looks like a rather nasty spiked mace. With the first person perspective, melee combat is such a blast to play so this should be tried by anybody who has been looking for a PC game that delivers an awesome melee experience!

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