Elden Ring is an action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware that was released in 2022 on ps4/ps5, xbox 1/xbox series x and pc. It is considered one of the best games of all time, even winning multiple awards and game of the year in 2022. I would give this game a 5/5 because of the immersive world and the way you marble to create any build you want and also having some of the best boss fights out of all souls games.
Elden Ring is a game where a lot of the story is hidden by item description that you can find in the world. The story follows the tarnished character that you can customize on your own. The tarnished a is a title given to those who have been kicked out The Lands Between and lost their grace. After the Elden Ring is broken by queen Marika all tarnished get their grace back and come back to the lands between so one of them can become elden lord up after their grace is restored. A grace is what basically allows things to keep coming back. The tarnished is granted the task of becoming an Elden Lord and restoring the Elden Ring. Being the Elden Lord means you have full control over The Lands between. There are multiple endings to the game but becoming the Elden lord is the main one. Along your journey you meet Melina. Melina is a maid (maids are people who assist the tarnished in becoming Elden Lord) that is there to help you become Elden Lord and gives you a horse called Torrent which is the main way of traversing the map.
The gameplay is what attracts most people to the game. When you start the game you can pick a class that has different stats and weapons and armor. The stats in the game are Vigor, Mind, Endurance, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith and Arcane. Leveling up with vigor increases your health. Leveling up mind increases your fp which allows you to do more spells before having to replenish it. Leveling up endurance increases your stamina bar and allows you to carry more heavy equipment. Leveling up strength increases the damage you do with weapons that prioritize strength. Leveling up dexterity increases the damage you do with weapons that prioritize dexterity. Leveling up intelligence allows you to cast more intelligence based spells. Leveling up faith allows you to cast more faith based spells. Arcane allows you to cast more arcane based spells but is mostly used to increase bleed which is a status effect you can inflict on enemies.
These stats including the weapons, spells and armor allow players to create any build they want with this game having the most variety in build than any other FromSoftware game. For some weapons you will need to have a high level for multiple stats at once but you can respect it with an item that allows you to restart and put your stats somewhere else so players can always experiment. The main thing that people look forward to is the bosses. In each area there are multiple bosses you have to beat to progress through the game. Killing these bosses gives you their remembrance and runes. Runes are the currency in the game that allows you to level up and buy stuff from different merchants around the map and remembrances allows you to get one of the bosses weapons.
Some remembrances also allow you to pick a sorcery (sorceries are spells that mainly revolve around the intelligence stat) or a incantation (incantations are spells that mainly revolve around the faith stat), you can also buy the bosses armor with runes once you beat them. There are a total of 15 remembrance bosses in the base game with most of them being optional. You only get 7 when following the main path but you have to go out your way to find the rest. The main way to add buffs to your character is by equipping talismans. Talismas can be found in the open world and some are dropped by bosses in places like catacombs and caves. You start off the game with one talismans slot but by the end of the game you have four. This allows players to make any build as certain talismans help certain builds more than others. Flasks of crimson tear are the main way to heal your health and flasks of cerulean tears restore your fp bar. You start with three flasks for healing health and one flask for getting your fp back up. You can change this when sitting a grace which allows you to have more crimson tear flask or more cerulean tear flasks. The main way to get more flask and increase the healing it gives you is by upgrading it with seeds and sacred tears. Seeds are usually found around lil golden trees around the map. Sacred tears are found in churches around the game. In total you have 14 and +10 flasks by the end of the game.
Out of all the Fromsoftware games this is the only one where you can jump while standing still which allows you to do jump attacks and jump onto things. Torrent the horse you get at the start of the game can be summoned anywhere outdoors in the open world and allows you to go around the map faster and jump on things you normally couldn’t jump on. Torrent can die but you always spawn him back when you use the item to summon him but it’s recommended to put the item to summon him in the quick bar where you can do it faster than having to scroll through your enemies. You can also summon things called spirit ashes that you find around the map and when summoning them they will help you with normal enemies or boss fights and to level them up so they do more damage and take less. You need grave Gloveworts and need ghost Gloveworts if it’s a legendary spirit ash.
The open world and being able to go wherever you want is one of the main reasons people love this game so much. The open world is filled with enemies and side quests to do. It also has caves and catacombs that have items and bosses at the end that usually give talismans. In these types of games you don’t have anything to check your progress on side quest or where you should go. To figure out where you have to go, after sitting at graces they usually have a golden beam pointing towards where you need to go. For the side quest there is usually a npc that you talk to and you figure out where to go from their dialogue. Some of these side quests are how you can get the different ending to the game. Other two endings that most people go for are Age of the stars and the Lord of the Frenzied Flame. These can both be achieved by doing certain side quests with Age of the Stars being the longest quest.
The dlc Shadow of the Erdtree was released in 2024 and cost $40. This dlc adds a whole new map with a bunch of different bosses, weapons, armor, enemies, areas, and a lot more. This dlc adds 10 more remembrance bosses to the already existing 15. The dlc expands the lore of the game while also giving answers that people had about it. New side quests are added with brand new npcs that sell items and give new rewards at the end of their quest line. The new bosses are what people most love about this dlc with some of them to be considered better than the main game bosses. The dlc introduced a new leveling system where you have to find Scadutree fragments that increase the damage you do and make you take less damage while the other one revered spirit ashes increases the damage your spirit ashes do and makes them take less damage. I would consider this to be the best dlc out of all the souls games.
