is elden ring a contemporary game that tries to look or feel like or constantly references retro titles?
it is a very modern title in regard to game design, with a lot of the quality of life features found in other contemporary open world games, a map you can fast travel around, markers for npcs, crafting, co-op, and so on?
i feel like it would be very difficult to categorise elden ring as an 'old school game' in design. something like king's field iv i think much more authentically contains what i think it is you are talking about. let me know what you think.... shuffles feet musically