The intense boss fights in FromSoftware titles often act as the central appeal of the Soulslike genre, and every fan has their own idea for which one stands out as the best. However, when it comes to the bosses inElden Ring, there is one encounter that could easily stand as one ofFromSoftware’s best boss fightsif not for the immediate follow-up.
Specifically, it isElden Ring’s Radagon that has the potential to be the best fight developed by FromSoftware, given the steady pressure, distinct phases, and impressive arena. The only problem with Radagon is with the way that the fight is tied directly to Elden Beast, eventually forcing players to repeat the former fight every time they lose to the latter.
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Radagon is Marika
Everything about first arriving in the fight against Radagon is the perfect example of FromSoftware’s approach to lore, hidden secrets, and a reveal that redefines the game world at the last second. While many players may have already finished theElden Ring’s statue puzzleto get an early reveal of who Radagon truly is, the introduction to the boss will be the reveal for most casual players. It’s a moment that makes good on plenty of conversations that would have been much easier to find than an obscure puzzle, with the main question on many players' minds being about the nature of Radagon and Marika.
Beyond the lore reveals, the fight itself is also every bit as intense as a final boss from any Soulslike title should be, threatening to quickly punish any mistakes. Radagon initially moves slower than some of the more ferocious bosses likeElden Ring’s Maliketh, but the pace speeds up the second he starts swinging around his hammer. The weapon can deal a significant amount of damage, often extending swings forward with an area of effect that either hits in a cone on the ground or slams for a large, circular area-of-effect.
To keep the pressure building, once the player manages to bring Radagon down to half health, the boss starts to add a secondary explosion to his AOE attacks, and he starts teleporting. All of this is made more impressive by taking place in the dark center ofElden Ring’s parasitic Erdtree, with the music from the title screen making its first appearance in the game proper. However, as impressive as the combat and atmosphere of this encounter is, much of this success is lost once Radagon dies and the Elden Beast appears.
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Elden Beast Trivializes Radagon
When first beating Radagon, instead of cutting to credits,Elden Ringpulls one more trick reveal by having the Elden Beast appear from within the Erdtree and wield the former boss’s body as a sword. It is an impressive view that could have made for a strong follow-up to beating Radagon, if it wasn’t for a combination of Elden Beast’s difficulty and the requirement to retry the fight.Losing to the Elden Beastrequires players to reset all the way back to Radagon, meaning that he’ll have to be defeated again to give the real final boss another try.
A secret boss coming after what originally appeared to be the final boss is nothing new for FromSoftware, with the trend starting as far back asDark Souls 2and persisting all the way throughSekiro: Shadows Die Twice. However, what is more recent is the trend thatSekirobegan where the first boss remained tied to the entire encounter, forcing players to beat two enemies in a row before earning victory. The problem with this all-or-nothing design is that the original boss becomes a chore that gets in the way of practicing the new enemy, rather than letting eitherRadagon or Elden Beaststand on their own.
For the majority of playthroughs inElden Ring, the fight against Radagon will eventually get trivialized, as the player has to master the fight to the point that they can complete it without getting hit at all. While anElden Ringno-hit runisn’t an uncommon challenge to find online, expecting an average player to go through the process of perfecting one specific boss to beat the game is a high and cruel bar to place at the very end. With how difficult the Elden Beast already is on its own, combining the fights ruins both encounters by introducing what should otherwise be an optional challenge for players interested in this type of boss rush.
Elden Ringis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
