The day before the liberation of the Elden Ring, Nikita fled the country.
In the early hours of February 24, Russian forces bombed an airfield in his hometown of Bucha, Ukraine. Within a few days, the Russians invaded the city, looted the houses, slaughtered more than 1,000 people (opens in new tab)according to reports by the BBC and other outlets covering the war.
“I woke up in the morning and heard an explosion. Many people were killed looking for food in the streets,” says Nikita. “People were trapped in the city for about two to three weeks without food, water or electricity. I am suffering.”
Nikita, 21, and his four family members fled Buça (about 30 kilometers west of the capital, Kyiv) by car on the first day of the attack and drove towards the Polish border. They chose another route to avoid encountering Russian forces. “I almost passed out from the stress,” he said. Left behind was his gaming PC containing a copy of the Elden Ring he had just unlocked.
Some of Nikita’s friends were left behind when the city was destroyed. They told him that soldiers shot down the door locks and broke into the house. The house Nikita left behind had shutters, and he told his friends who remained in the city to hide the keys there so they could go inside and use the leftover food and supplies. he says.
“I had to face reality. I probably won’t be able to go home anytime soon.”
At the end of March, Bucha released from the Russian armyBut Nikita and many of the millions of Ukrainians displaced from their homes don’t feel safe returning home while the war is still going on.
Ten days after his escape, Nikita has resumed his work as a 3D artist. VTuber model making (opens in new tab) (distinct avatar used instead of webcam) for streamers. He spent the past five months working on a flimsy laptop borrowed from his sister, building models for about $200 apiece. Before finding a home in Warsaw, he and his family jumped from hotel to hotel, so he said it was “not a big dream, but something to focus on.”
rekindled
Nikita has been gaming on PC for about 14 years and is primarily an FPS player, but has fallen in love with the Dark Souls game.
“I was in school when I saw my favorite YouTuber playing Dark Souls 1,” he said. “I was scared to even touch it, but once I downloaded it, I was hooked. I played them all.” [the Souls games] Except for the console stuff as I don’t own a console. I like Dark Souls 1 and 2 the most. Sekiro was cool too, but I prefer dark fantasy.”
When FromSoftware announced an open-world version of Dark Souls with Elden Ring, he scoured every released detail, leak, and trailer. “I love dark fantasy and that game seemed like a dream to me.
Nikita tried to play Elden Ring on his sister’s laptop, but couldn’t get past the main menu, so he waited until he could afford a gaming PC. Elden Ring, on the other hand, had all of gaming culture in their hands. Everyone seems to be playing it, sharing memes, discoveries, and glitches, and even non-players have heard stories like the game’s legendary folk her hero, “Let Me Solo Her.” I was.
“I was frustrated because everyone was having fun and I couldn’t attend the party.”
FromSoftware’s enigmatic action RPGs, especially Souls games, are full of secrets, and unearthing them is a communal experience. Part of the joy of playing them is sharing your discoveries online and seeing what others have discovered.
Nikita misses the buzz of community activity around Elden Ring, but is determined to make her first playthrough a fresh experience. He kept his social media closed and even though he loved the streamer, Elden refused to see anyone playing the ring. “I was frustrated because everyone was having fun and I couldn’t make it to the party,” he said.
During her first months in Poland, Nikita hoped she could go home and pick up where she left off.
“I wanted to play games, work, and go to the gym.” I had my ups and downs and I was mentally stable because I was working online because I was able to focus on something instead of thinking about.”
Nikita continued to create VTuber models, tackled frequent crashes on a borrowed laptop, and saved $3,800 to build a PC. This made 3D work easier and allowed him to play Elden Ring far better than the rig he left behind. His new PC has an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti, Core i7 12700k and 32 GB of memory in a bright orange case.
“I chose a smaller case. [Cooler Master] With the NR200, I can carry the PC in a bag or something later when I return to Ukraine,” says Nikita.
he Posted news (opens in new tab) On the Elden Ring subreddit (the post has since been classified as “Low Effort Content” and has been deleted), it blew up right away. As Nikita prepares to take his first steps into the Lands-Between, several commenters cheered, ‘Stand up and hurt’. There were people too.
“Life is back to normal, except that I live in a completely different country.”
FromSoftware fans are always excited to see someone else’s perspective on their favorite game through someone playing a FromSoftware game for the first time. Nikita’s story is quite exceptional when it comes to avoiding spoilers and experiencing the game fresh. .
The Elden Ring community is “one of the friendliest,” he says. And despite everything, returning to the hobby he loves feels like a return to normalcy.
“I had to move about five or six times [during the] It was very stressful for me,” says Nikita. Life is back to normal except I live in a completely different country. ”
Nikita has already begun exploring Rimgrave, the vast opening region of Elden Ring. He said he decided to turn from his path to Maine to Stormvale his castle because his Sentinel and his armored horse on patrol had killed him so many times. he enjoys the game
“It feels good to be back doing what I love, whether it’s at home or somewhere else,” he told me. He said he would return to Ukraine in the future.
Nikita chose to play as a Retsch, a class in the game who is equipped with nothing but cloth wrapped around her body. I asked him if he intentionally started out as Tarnished, which is implied to have lost everything before waking up in the Lands Between. he said no. He just wanted to keep open the weapon and armor options he found on his travels.
