Elden Ring

 PC
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 5812 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,862 out of 5812
  2. Mixed: 414 out of 5812
  3. Negative: 1,536 out of 5812

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  1. donanja
    Feb 27, 2022
    5
    - Formulaic storytelling that feels extremely derivative. It was acceptable to a point with the previous titles, but with Elden Ring, it feels like it's gone past that and now it just feels cheap and lazy.
    - This game is a galore of reused assets, animations, and everything in between. There seems to be very little to this game that's wholly unique; almost everything you see has been    - Formulaic storytelling that feels extremely derivative. It was acceptable to a point with the previous titles, but with Elden Ring, it feels like it's gone past that and now it just feels cheap and lazy.
    - This game is a galore of reused assets, animations, and everything in between. There seems to be very little to this game that's wholly unique; almost everything you see has been ripped shamelessly from Dark Souls 3 or Bloodborne and changed slightly (if even that).
    - No benefit to the addition of an open world. It serves no purpose to enrich the gameplay and in fact hurts the game as FromSoftware has had great level design in past games which can't be accomplished as well with an open world game. Furthermore, the world feels extremely empty and dead as there are ridiculously vast amounts of lands filled with nothing.
    - Crafting adds unnecessary bloat to a game that doesn't really need it and mounted combat trivializes the vast majority of fights, which is probably because the overworked developers didn't have time to design any of the fights against it.

    In conclusion, Elden Ring proves that FromSoftware is no longer the innovative game developer from a few years ago that was afraid to take risks and give us something fresh and new. Elden Ring is an exact, formulaic repeat of every Souls game that came after Dark Souls 2 that feels mediocre at best. This isn't Elden Ring, this is Souls 2K22.    … Expand
  2. ArchangelEST
    Mar 6, 2022
    6
    Not a terrible game, but has a lot of issues.

    The PC port is one of the worst of all time. There is no proper keyboard and mouse support, there are random locked keybindings for menu navigation. All the prompts are using controller buttons. A lot of people report stuttering and crashes. The game looks at least 5 years dated if not 10 years. Poor animations as if I'm playing "Risen"    Not a terrible game, but has a lot of issues.

    The PC port is one of the worst of all time. There is no proper keyboard and mouse support, there are random locked keybindings for menu navigation. All the prompts are using controller buttons. A lot of people report stuttering and crashes.

    The game looks at least 5 years dated if not 10 years. Poor animations as if I'm playing "Risen" or something. And the performance is similarly not in line with its looks. Comparing it to the recent Sony ports for example is like night and day. Games like HZD or God of War really showcases how little effort Elden Ring devs put in towards making the game look good and run well on PC.

    The open world aspect of the game suffers from issues that plague most open world games. There's a lot to explore and a lot of stuff to find but most of it is meaningless filler. 90% of the loot you find does not feel rewarding for the time and effort you invest into finding it.

    The story and narrative is a mess. It's as if someone wrote a book and then put all the pages through a randomizer. There's some kind of a story, but it's basically intentionally vague and confusing so that you wouldn't even bother trying to understand it and would simply go and fight monsters.

    And as for the fighting - enemy AI is dumber than dirt, as if often the case with fantasy games. When it comes to creating non-human enemies, developers default to "they see you and they will chase you" coding. That's all there is. No tactics, no nothing.

    Bosses are fun to fight, but at the end of the day, they all boil down to the exact same thing. You learn their limited move set and then you can beat them to death with a club while being butt naked and not even taking a single point of damage. There are no crazy tactics and cool strategies to beat bosses.

    You can pretty much run through the whole game naked and weaponless if you could memorize every boss mechanic.

    Personally, I find that it takes out a lot of incentive to explore and try to improve your character, because even with good gear, a lot of the bosses still have moves that decimate you. So no matter what, you still kinda have to learn how to beat them. So more gear and xp just makes enemies faster to kill. Which is different from a lot of other games where you kinda have to level and gear up because the enemies are literally not possible to beat otherwise.

    The developers also clearly ran out of ideas a quarter of the way through the game. As whole areas and boss fights end up being copy-pasted and refurbished. The scenery might change a little, the enemies might be differently coloured, but they're same as before.

    This again isn't new to most open world games, but it does add more evidence to why Elden Ring doesn't really do much anything that's "next gen" or creative.

    All in all, I would recommend most people to check out the game, if only to be aware of what's one of the most hyped up games of all time. But get ready to refund the game, because odds are, you will not be particularly impressed by it. If the game even runs on your PC at all.

    I got my copy refunded on Steam without issue, so do make use of their generous refund policy to demo out the game.    … Expand
  3. Redden44
    Feb 26, 2022
    6
    It's a good game and a decent open world attempt, but it's completely ruined by a horrible, poor, lazy and inexcusable port that made me regret spending 80 euro for it.

    The setting is intriguing, but while some enemies are cool and interesting, many are just unimaginative, extremely repetitive and boring, e.g. undead with lance, undead with sword&shield, undead with axe, etc.    It's a good game and a decent open world attempt, but it's completely ruined by a horrible, poor, lazy and inexcusable port that made me regret spending 80 euro for it.

    The setting is intriguing, but while some enemies are cool and interesting, many are just unimaginative, extremely repetitive and boring, e.g. undead with lance, undead with sword&shield, undead with axe, etc.

    Graphics is previous generation and the performance are abysmal with frame rate drops, stuttering and freezes.

    Sound effects are fine while music ranges from average to good; I bought the deluxe edition to get the 67 soundtracks but honestly I can't remember a single track I'd like to listen to again...disappointing.

    UI is made fro consoles... it's old, lazy and awful to use with mouse&keyboard.
    You can't use your mouse to interact with it.
    It is inconsistent, sometimes you use Enter other E, sometimes Esc others Q...who decided to waste one of the most comfortable button (Q) to use it just for closing a menu!?
    You open a menu with a button but you can't close it with the same button, you have to move you hand and reach another uncomfortable one. Why? Who knows...
    You can't rebind many controls, so you're stuck with a poor layout.

    You can add markers on the map but there are less than 10 icons and you can't add text, a very poor and lazy system.
    When you mouse over a location the tooltip doesn't pop out, you have to move a target icon with WASD over the location.

    When buying items you can't compare stats with what you're using...I have no words for this...it's just pathetic for a 2022 AAA 80 euro game...pathetic.
    While you can accept quests from the very few NPCs you find around, there is no quest log to remind you of anything you're supposed to do.
    In order to quit you have to open a menu, select an option, switch to the right window, select quit, return to the title screen, watch the titles, press any key, scroll the menu, select quit again...tedious.

    Controls are crap, some of them you can change others not and the default layout makes you think that whoever made it has never played a PC game before.
    To use quick items you have to hold E and press the Arrows letting the mouse go...instead of simply pushing comfortable buttons like 1-5 or QERFTGZXCV.
    Sprint and dodge are on the same button instead of Shift and At, this will lead to often dodgeroll instead of sprinting or you having to release the sprint and push it again in order to dodgeroll.
    You have to manually select Mouse&Keyboard prompts inside the Audio Menu (why!?), otherwise the game shows you XBox Controller shortcuts, even though you don't have a controller.
    It records commands while you're character is stuck in an animation and when the animations ends it fires them one after another...
    Can't climb which has become a standard in many Open World games.
    The trailers let you believe you get a flying horse of some sort, but the reality is that there are only a bunch of jumping pads positioned here and there.

    Camera is terrible and when you turn it, it keeps trembling and stuttering cause the script is fighting your command trying to constantly reposition the camera and giving you headache; sometimes it goes completely crazy and keeps turning in circles for no reason.

    AI sometimes is good others poor, for instance enemies can see you trough walls and attack you without checking the line of sight, e.g. archers keep firing at you even though you're are behind a wall.

    Combat doesn't have fixed rules, they keep changing so they can kill you easily.
    Some enemies get staggered when you hit them or block their attacks, others don't, and keep hitting you like nothing happened.
    Sometimes you can avoid a frontal attack by dodging towards the side or the back of an enemy, others the enemy while already in an attack animation, suddenly performs a 360° turn and hits you anyway.
    Projectiles like arrows, bolts, ballista shots, etc are guided missiles that turns midair following and hitting you even if you've moved sideways or dodged them.
    If while attacking your weapon hits a wall you get staggered, but when and enemy does it nothing happens, theirs animation isn't interrupted like yours.
    Spells are completely unbalanced and 95% of them are useless cause they deal much less damage then the basic one, making you think they didn't even test this game properly.
    They said you could play as an archer, but you simply can't cause you have to craft arrows and in order to do that you have to grind materials wasting more arrows, not
    to mention that sometimes you're going to die for hours while fighting a boss, which means you're going to waste thousand of arrows.
    A simple solution would have been letting you craft quivers with infinite arrows and enchant them to cast fire/poison/magic arrows, etc. Too complicated for these devs I guess.

    As I said, it's a horrible, poor, lazy and inexcusable port.    … Expand
  4. hungphan1305
    Mar 9, 2022
    6
    2012 graphics + YOU DIED + blind fanboi = best game ever ???
    This is the most overrated game ever. if Ubisoft or EA release this game it would be 7/10 or 8/10 maximum
  5. GandalfCzarny
    Aug 9, 2022
    7
    Yeah, Miyazaki and From starting to eats their own tail. I mean it's still a great game, but stylistics it's just another dark fantasy, with fallen kings, heroes and that stuff we saw million timies in other Souls games, and the gameplay is really nothing new or fresh in this formula. Bringing open world to dusty mechanics doesn't make a new game guys. It is shame, because Sekrio showsYeah, Miyazaki and From starting to eats their own tail. I mean it's still a great game, but stylistics it's just another dark fantasy, with fallen kings, heroes and that stuff we saw million timies in other Souls games, and the gameplay is really nothing new or fresh in this formula. Bringing open world to dusty mechanics doesn't make a new game guys. It is shame, because Sekrio shows that this team have fresh ideas to improve gameplay. But this is just one big step backwards.… Expand
  6. Dingobaron
    Oct 15, 2022
    7
    Overhyped and overrated. After milking dry the Demon's Souls formula for 13 years, From Software has created a Frankenstein's monster by slapping together a whole bunch of elements from other games, without perfecting any of them, while using a severely outdated game engine. They have combined combat mechanics from Sekiro and of course the Souls games, but it feels neither as fast-pacedOverhyped and overrated. After milking dry the Demon's Souls formula for 13 years, From Software has created a Frankenstein's monster by slapping together a whole bunch of elements from other games, without perfecting any of them, while using a severely outdated game engine. They have combined combat mechanics from Sekiro and of course the Souls games, but it feels neither as fast-paced and dynamic as Sekiro, nor as "strategic", punishing and claustrophobic as Souls. The difficulty stems from lazy and unfair enemy combos, as well as new enemy movesets that are simply frustrating and annoying. "One boss is too easy? Just put two of them into the same room then! Add a cheap area-of-effect move to every large enemy, as well as a thrust attack with insane range, with infinite stamina of course!".
    The open world was obviously created in BotW's image, except that it's much less beautiful, much less lively, much less fun to explore and navigate. From a technical standpoint, the game is a disaster.

    From Soft have rested on their laurels for too long and fell behind big time. Time to catch up before they go the way of Bethesda. That's unlikely though, seeing how the deluded fan cultists have turned this game into perhaps the most overrated title of all time. Next up: Elden Ring 2, with the same clunky gameplay mechanics, same outdated graphics, same lore and no plot to speak of.    … Expand
  7. CoolBR
    Oct 18, 2022
    7
    Basically, this game is Dark Souls 3 in open-world. IDK why so many people flattered this game like it was revolutionary.

    Story 2/10 - It has the same flaws as DS3, it has a story too subjective and I think Elden Ring's story managed to be even worse than DS because at least in Dark Souls the story was more philosophical and it gave meaning to certain things like why the Ashen One and    Basically, this game is Dark Souls 3 in open-world. IDK why so many people flattered this game like it was revolutionary.

    Story 2/10 - It has the same flaws as DS3, it has a story too subjective and I think Elden Ring's story managed to be even worse than DS because at least in Dark Souls the story was more philosophical and it gave meaning to certain things like why the Ashen One and the enemies don't really die. Also, there is no sense of progression, I don't even know why the character want to be the Elden Ring and why he need to fight so many enemies in the way.

    Surely my biggest disappointment about Elden Ring was the story since George R martin helped in the story production, I was expecting a story like Sekiro, not a DS3 story copy but way worse.

    Combat and gameplay 8/10 - it is the same way as DS3 but with more weapons, spells, and items and more elements (like your horse). I felt that the open world was very cool at first but after 15-20 hours of gameplay I didn't like it so much anymore, I rather play in the closed maps but well designed (and the game has many maps like that so it is fine too).

    One thing that keeps the same sh*t is that you obtain dozens of cool weapons with unique ash of war but you can't use 90% of them because you need to re-do your whole build and that is so difficult for no reason.

    Overall, it is a great game, it is really really long (it took me 107 hours to finish it) and with almost endless maps, secrets, enemies and bosses. I can see the devs really put their heart into this game. So my final score is 7/10.    … Expand
  8. ICDP
    Jul 13, 2022
    6
    I had toyed with the idea of scoring this low to counteract the utterly exaggerated 10 out of 10 scores, but in the end I scored it as I feel is fair.

    FIrst of all the combat against most enemies is fun and challenging. You do get a sense that you are improving as you level up and begin to take on those knights and other creatures easier. Unfortunately the world itself is large but    I had toyed with the idea of scoring this low to counteract the utterly exaggerated 10 out of 10 scores, but in the end I scored it as I feel is fair.

    FIrst of all the combat against most enemies is fun and challenging. You do get a sense that you are improving as you level up and begin to take on those knights and other creatures easier. Unfortunately the world itself is large but has no feel of life to it. Maybe that is the design direction the devs wanted to take but the entire place feels lifeless with no sense of meaning to it.

    Where the problems start arise is the lack of variety. Kill enemies, die lots, confront boss, die lots, kill boss, move to next level and start again. Each time you move to a new area you feel woefully underpowered again and it feels cheap and makes the entire exprience a grind.

    The lack of interaction also impacts gameplay negatively and makes for a very shallow experience. There is almost nothing to do but kill enemies and beat bosses and the only intercations are minor and trivial and delivered in a characterless and underwhelming way.

    What is really bad though, are the main boss fights. They feel hard because the enemy cheat or react to your key/button presses and they rarely run out of stamina. So you get destroyed over and over and over again until you figure out how to cheese them. Or you finally figure out the weapon and or character class you had been levelling up is worhtless against them.

    Melania or Radagon is a perfect example. My Mage build at level 170 was getting destryoed as they could teleport across the room instantly dealing two or three shots that I could not counter and that killed me. It felt like I had wasted hundreds of hours building a character that was just for nothing. The only way I could beat both of them was to respec multiple times. I eventually found out that 45 Dex and 50 Arcane with Rivers of Blood at level 10 was the only way I could beat them. I beat both stages of Melania in less than two minutes doing the corpse piler skill. Despite doing exactly the same thing with the same build and weapon dozens of times before.

    It just feels the main boss fights are not down to skill, but random number generation. You could do the same thing dozens, scores or even hundreds of times and finally it just works.

    Overall a decent game, but nowhere near a 10 out of 10 because 10 out of 10 impies perfect and there are too many issues for that to be accurate.    … Expand
  9. yourstupidmon
    Nov 20, 2022
    7
    Honestly I wish that they would go back to linear world next time. Open world didn't benefit this game at all, at some point there was too much stuff reused just to fill the map. Ds3 is overall better but gameplaywise this one wins :)
  10. kevin317
    Jan 30, 2023
    7
    Disclaimer:
    This is my first FromSoftware game, so I'm reviewing it from that perspective. I've played for about 90 hours but haven't finished it yet. I purchased it around Christmas 2022, so my experience with bugs has likely been better than that of those who started playing earlier.
    What I like: The world is huge. The legacy dungeons are well designed. The atmosphere is cool. You    Disclaimer:
    This is my first FromSoftware game, so I'm reviewing it from that perspective. I've played for about 90 hours but haven't finished it yet. I purchased it around Christmas 2022, so my experience with bugs has likely been better than that of those who started playing earlier.

    What I like:
    The world is huge. The legacy dungeons are well designed. The atmosphere is cool. You can tell there was a lot of attention to detail in the world design. The play style is fun even if the controls are a bit weird on PC. There are many ways to play with different builds.

    What I don't like:
    The story and quests aren't easy to follow. I don't want a game to hold my hand, but this goes to far in the other direction. While some level of challenge is good, there are certain areas and bosses that go overboard. Repeating the same section of dungeon or boss over and over until you learn what works gets boring and frustrating. Ultimately, there have been too many times that this game has felt like work rather than entertainment.

    Rating:
    This game is overrated by critics. That doesn't mean it's a bad game, but when I scroll through the list of games with metascores in the mid-90s, I see a lot of games that I enjoyed much more than this one.    … Expand
  11. Malak7
    Jul 21, 2023
    5
    I beat DS 1,2 and 3. I have Bloobdorne platinum. BB it's the hardest souls, bosses made sense, there was a specific tactic to kill each boss.
    Elden Ring gameplay fails at making sense, bosses are too fast, too strong, they can one shot you at level 120. Open world in a souls game is the worst decision FS ever made, you have to Google all time where to go next, the world is massive and you    I beat DS 1,2 and 3. I have Bloobdorne platinum. BB it's the hardest souls, bosses made sense, there was a specific tactic to kill each boss.
    Elden Ring gameplay fails at making sense, bosses are too fast, too strong, they can one shot you at level 120. Open world in a souls game is the worst decision FS ever made, you have to Google all time where to go next, the world is massive and you are cluelesss about where to continue. Invasions are a huge time wasting if you just want to proceeed with the story. Retarded messages from players everywhere, often lies, I never seen it in any other souls game (maybe too many zoomers playing ER?) Graphics are impressive and the designs are beautiful. ER is an open world grabbing flowers for crafting, pointless dungeons with same cloned bosses and very bad loots, caverns where the final reward is a .... muhsroom. This game style doesn't fit in the soulsborne genre.
    It is a really boring and disapointing game and the OST is very forgetable compared to previous FS games. Definetly very overrated.    … Expand
  12. alxcr
    May 15, 2023
    6
    Overall a good experience worth the pricetag, but personally a disapointment for a longtime fromsoftware fan. After the release of Bloodborne and Sekiro, as well as some comments from Miyazaki stating that the studio would expand it's portfolio beyond Dark Souls, people like me were naturally expecting new and innovative gameplay. Instead the game meets you with the same familiar combatOverall a good experience worth the pricetag, but personally a disapointment for a longtime fromsoftware fan. After the release of Bloodborne and Sekiro, as well as some comments from Miyazaki stating that the studio would expand it's portfolio beyond Dark Souls, people like me were naturally expecting new and innovative gameplay. Instead the game meets you with the same familiar combat system from Dark Souls but in an open world with brighter colours. This has no right to be a new IP, it is even less discernible than Bloodborne is to Dark Souls. On top of this, the trendy open world coupled with a myriad of accessibility features (spirit summons, OP magic, OP status effect, OP poise, OP weapons, OP shields and just generally OP and broken min-maxing builds due to poor balancing, a hidden pause button, mixing flask physique, a horse to escape fights, fast travel, as well as the usual ways to help yourself avoid challenge like player summons, helpful items etc etc et al) yeah well that just isn't it. People used to say if you used 'x' or 'y' you didn't really beat the game, now there is a whole alphabet of crutches that you can use simultaneously that anyone who tries to brag like this just comes across as newcomer and a clown. Elden Ring is, for all intents and purposes, baby's first souls game. Clearly an attempt to cater to non-fans of their games, which works to make money but hurts your reputation with those loyal players. And here is where things cascade. The large amount of resources spent in developing this open world, that would have preferably been spent on 2 or 3 smaller, better designed games, result in lazy game design in other areas, e.g. reused assets, many identical bossfights, dungeons on par with ubisoft's outposts, an unnecessary crafting system, poor balancing, bosses designed around glass cannon builds that amount to: *lazer them in 3 seconds or be lazered within 3 seconds* and not methodical back and forth rhythm combat, and level design that starts off well but falls head first down a cliff of frontloaded and barren areas. All of these factors, especially the copy pasting of bosses and minibosses, leave a bad memory of the experience, and due it it being a massive open world game, I just do not want to replay it because I know most of my time will be wasted traversing the vistas. On a more subjective note, I did not like the tone of this game as much as any of the previous installments, I get what they are going for but its too 'vanilla fantasy' for me and the art direction is a little mute and washed out with the erdtree being an eyesore that casts the dreaded 'piss filter' throughout many areas of the map. Multiplayer leaves much to be desired in the way of covenants, seemless co-op and oldschool invasions, open world isnt effectively utilised at all and adding the arenas was a good call but the gamemodes are not well made. They did a good job expanding magic and making it interesting I'll give them that, although it is completely broken and OP. In conclusion, I never expected a huge and impossible game from Fromsoftware. The long wait and enormous hype generated did not even meet the usual quality standards that they are known for with their previous games. Instead our patience was rewarded with this huge hype chasing flavour of the month title that rests on the laurels of it's predecessors. Very unnecessary, never underestimate a company's greed.… Expand
  13. Kiko95
    Feb 5, 2023
    6
    E' come giocare ad una versione open world di Dark Souls 3. Mi piace? Non proprio.

    La mappa è fin troppo piena di zone inutilmente vaste in cui si ripetono sempre gli stessi 2/3 tipi di nemici. Zone che puntualmente supero velocemente col cavallo perché mi fanno passare la voglia già solo a vederle (come il lago intorno all'accademia di Raya Lucaria o la zona enorme della marcescenza).    E' come giocare ad una versione open world di Dark Souls 3. Mi piace? Non proprio.

    La mappa è fin troppo piena di zone inutilmente vaste in cui si ripetono sempre gli stessi 2/3 tipi di nemici. Zone che puntualmente supero velocemente col cavallo perché mi fanno passare la voglia già solo a vederle (come il lago intorno all'accademia di Raya Lucaria o la zona enorme della marcescenza). Ovviamente c'è qualche piccolo punto di interesse più importante ogni tanto ma avrei preferito una mappa più piccola e più pregna di roba interessante.

    Ogni tanto trovo delle catacombe e, ahimé, anche queste non mi piacciono. Sembrano una versione più cheap dei Chalice Dungeon, e quella era la meccanica più noiosa di Bloodborne per me, con zone che erano estremamente simili e con mini boss che venivano riciclati più e più volte, qui è lo stesso, seppur le aree siano più piccole. E c'è anche la stessa identica meccanica del trovare l'ennesima leva che sbloccherà l'ennesima porta che porterà ad un altro boss probabilmente riciclato.

    Il gioco da il meglio di sè, a mio parere, in zone più lineari come il castello di Godrick e l'accademia di Raya Lucaria, con il consueto buon level design di From Software e boss unici memorabili. Ma la maggior parte del gioco è putroppo costituita dall'open world, un open world che poteva essere fatto meglio, ripeto, con una mappa più piccola ma meglio studiata, per incentivare di più l'esplorazione di ogni singolo angolo.

    Il sistema di combattimento è simile a quello di Dark Souls 3, nel bene e nel male, con qualche aggiunta ovviamente. E' bello dover studiare bene ogni mossa e cercare di personalizzare il proprio stile di gioco ma, purtroppo, sono rimaste le orribili hit boxes dei giochi passati e soprattutto l'ingestibile telecamera che qui, più che in qualunque altro souls, mi ha fatto morire più e più volte. Perché? Perché il numero di nemici ENORMI che qui si affrontano è più alto che in passato, ma la telecamera resta troppo ravvicinata e in troppi contesti fa quel che le pare, per non parlare del solito sistema di lock on che a volte prende nemici più lontani di quello che hai di fronte, oppure, invece di agganciare un nemico, ti resetta semplicemente la visuale facendoti perdere l'orientamento. inoltre ho notato la presenza di più nemici, anche non boss, che bishottano rispetto a Dark Souls 3, il quale era certamente più bilanciato in tal senso, anche nelle imboscate.

    Tecnicamente il gioco è traballante, non ben ottimizzato. In più, per quanto i dettagli rispetto al passato siano aumentati, il titolo sa comunque di vecchio, forse perché doveva girare sin dal principio anche su macchine di vecchia generazione.

    In definitiva sarà probabilmente il secondo souls di From Software che non finirò (il primo fu Dark Souls 2). In alternativa, se dovessi finirlo, passerà comunque molto tempo, perché purtroppo non mi sta tenendo incollato al pc come mi aspettavo. Peccato.    … Expand
  14. veckans
    Aug 2, 2023
    5
    Elden Ring is an OK game but what is all the hype about? Combat is fairly well done but simple, graphics are functional but nothing special at all. Adding the co-op mod to the game breathes new life into the game. Nothing about this game is new, it has been done numerous times before.

    I recommend it if you like co-op and use the mod, otherwise no.
  15. Phytom
    Jan 22, 2023
    7
    There was a huge amount of reused assets, which completely breaks the immersion. Also, due to the open world, you're always underpowered or overpowered, there are only a few scenarios where you're actually playing on the difficulty that you're supposed to. The Game is still very fun and the main levels are amazing. I also love the theme better than in DS3.
  16. FunMisery
    Jul 6, 2023
    7
    Fromsoftware just keeps getting better and more creative with their art style, but their bread and butter unnecessarily decreased in its quality and the difficulty feels powercreep’ed, which wouldn’t be a problem were the gameplay perfectly balanced. People seem to love elder ring, but the lack of balance killed the joy in mastering melee combat for me. In dark souls 3, the fast attack isFromsoftware just keeps getting better and more creative with their art style, but their bread and butter unnecessarily decreased in its quality and the difficulty feels powercreep’ed, which wouldn’t be a problem were the gameplay perfectly balanced. People seem to love elder ring, but the lack of balance killed the joy in mastering melee combat for me. In dark souls 3, the fast attack is low risk low reward, strong attack is higher risk but still consistent and special attacks were usually tricky to pull of, but very rewarding if used correctly. In elder ring on the other hand, most melee weapons contain an attack that is both the safest and very strong, ruining the flow of combat. Long gone are the days you interweaved different attacks, because jump attack/special attack is always superior. From other complaints, the narration and writing refused to progress. Some people love creating their own stories off small environmental details and the little information we get and I respect that, but there is no reason for the more exposed narration like dialogues and cutscenes to be this mediocre. Some details or fragments are intriguing, but that is not close to enough when you try to have more of a focus on the story than in previous games. The flaws doesn’t make this a bad game, but fromsoftware created an art peace inferior to their predecessors.… Expand
  17. JackFrostyG
    Jul 26, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Pros

    - Fluid combat, huge amount of choice.
    - Main Story bosses are well designed.
    - The Areas feel alive, I actually wanted to explore just to see new areas.

    Cons

    - The amount of reused bosses and assets in some of the the side dungeons / areas is fairly lazy. There are 2 Mohg's too, which really doesn't make since as he's a pinnacle boss.
    - Much of the story just doesn't make sense and feels low effort to make the player interpret much of what is going on.
    - The 'toughest boss' in the game's entire gimmick is waterfowl dance, the most unfun to react to ability in the game.    … Expand
  18. Ifalna
    Mar 28, 2022
    7
    TLDR: Open world DS3 with a few minor additions.

    Full disclosure: I have not completed Elden Ring and don't plan to for now. I bought into the hype and regret dropping full price on this game so I'm hoping my review might help those still on the fence about buying this game. I have beaten Demons Souls, Darks Souls 1-3, Bloodborne so I do have experience with prior Fromsoft games and    TLDR: Open world DS3 with a few minor additions.

    Full disclosure: I have not completed Elden Ring and don't plan to for now. I bought into the hype and regret dropping full price on this game so I'm hoping my review might help those still on the fence about buying this game. I have beaten Demons Souls, Darks Souls 1-3, Bloodborne so I do have experience with prior Fromsoft games and have enjoyed them. The technical issues with the PC port have already been covered ad nauseum so I'll go over some of the other aspects of the game.

    Gameplay:
    Basically the same as Dark Souls 3 with a few minor changes: 1) addition of jump button, 2) addition of mount and very basic mounted combat, 3) addition of guard cancel, 4) weapon arts are now equippable ("ashes of war" in Elden Ring). Veterans of the Souls series will feel right at home whereas the slower, calculated and methodical style of combat may take some getting used to for newcomers. Button mashing will get you killed very quickly in this game and even trash mobs can tear you apart.

    What was once revolutionary and spawned the whole subgenre of "Soulslike" games has become stale, predictable, and formulaic. Most of the enemies are reskins from the prior entries and in some cases, reused assets (eg. the giant crabs). Yes, the game is punishingly difficult but much of that difficulty is artificial from things like janky camera angles, busted hitboxes that pass through walls, gank squads in tight quarters, enemy projectiles defying the laws of physics, etc. Bosses attack relentlessly and you'll find yourself dodging for what feels like an eternity for a safe opportunity to counterattack, only to deal like 2% of their health. You'll likely die to greed, trying to get some more hits in on the boss because you're so bored of doing nothing but dodging yet another unending combo.

    For fans of the Souls series, this may be everything you wanted and for newcomers, this may still be fresh and exciting. For those who've played the Souls series and were hoping for some fresh gameplay, you won't find it here.

    World Design:
    The biggest change in Elden Ring from the Souls series is the introduction of an open world. For many, this is a breath of fresh air and one of their favourite features of Elden Ring. The world is massive and you can easily spend hours just exploring, opening up many possibilities for non-linear progression. Unfortunately for me, once I got passed the initial beauty of the world, I found it to be mostly empty and lifeless, and I found spending hours riding around on my mount looking for things to do tedious and boring. You will encounter random enemy mobs scattered throughout but the reward for killing them wasn't worth the effort so I just started riding around them. The optional dungeons I explored felt pointless, akin to the Chalice dungeons in Bloodborne.

    If you follow the recommended path through the game, you will likely be severely underleveled for the first main boss so exploration of optional content is clearly encouraged by design. Sadly, I don't find the exploration in Elden Ring to be interesting enough for the time investment required and this is the main reason why I don't plan on finishing Elden Ring, while I do plan on finishing DS3. However, many people love the aspect of exploration and discovery in Elden Ring so you may have a very different experience from me.

    Story:
    Like all the prior Souls titles, the story of Elden Ring is told cryptically in fragments mainly from NPC dialogue and item descriptions. George RR Martin was involved in the writing which I never would have guessed since the lore seems to basically be a reskin of the prior Souls titles. There are 1:1 equivalents for almost everything. The Elden Ring = First flame, Tarnished = chosen undead/ashen one, Site of Grace = Bonfire, Crimson Flask = Estus flask etc. Souls games have always required multiple playthroughs to unlock all the different endings and different NPC questlines to piece together the lore. The lore is often rich and interesting but I frankly don't have the time to go through the effort and will be watching some youtube lore videos to experience the story.

    Some people love this mysterious style of narrative and I enjoyed it with the prior Souls games as well. However, it really is just feeling like more of the same at this point and even the basic premise is similar to the prior games and I guess I was hoping for something fresh.

    Overall:
    Elden Ring is a very good game but isn't for everyone. Fans of the Souls series who just wanted more of the same will enjoy this and newcomers who don't mind the challenge will likely get sucked in as well. However, for players like me who enjoyed the Souls games but were expecting something new, Elden Ring falls shorts. Maybe I just don't like open world games? 7/10.    … Expand
  19. Kalidenza
    Mar 9, 2022
    7
    Where can we give feedback on issue for "Quality of Life" improvements for Elden Ring on PC, the Camera issues and Target Locking problems from making the Mouse both of the analog control sticks, PLEASE this is driving a lot of us crazy with constant uncontrollable lock switching and more key binding options, like actually being able to bind Maps to M FFS!
  20. BoomerZoomer
    May 7, 2022
    7
    you will get bored before you actually beat it cause game starts recycling enemies and assets
  21. QAOSbringer
    Feb 25, 2023
    5
    Elden Ring was a real disappointment. It is advertised everywhere with 100/100 scores. Nowadays, everyone is playing it, everyone is praising it, and the praises won't even end on every YouTube channels and game review site. I bought it because it was called as "Skyrim + Breath of the Wild" many times. But the result is just frustration.
    It is obvious that it was made without thinking    Elden Ring was a real disappointment. It is advertised everywhere with 100/100 scores. Nowadays, everyone is playing it, everyone is praising it, and the praises won't even end on every YouTube channels and game review site. I bought it because it was called as "Skyrim + Breath of the Wild" many times. But the result is just frustration.
    It is obvious that it was made without thinking about the PC. It was designed exclusively with the PS4/PS5 in mind. Gameplay mechanics and combat dynamics did not go beyond the Demon's Souls game I played in 2009. There is no such thing as "Online Co-op". Putting this game under the tag "Online Co-op" is just scam.
    But hey, "who pays money gets the hype marketing".
    Yahtzee actually gave the best review: "it's a FromSoftware Dark Souls game, and therefore, good."
    It is just another Dark Souls game, nothing more.

    5: Below average - It may not appeal to everyone, but there are interesting ideas from time to time.    … Expand
  22. Tunico_
    Mar 9, 2022
    7
    Elden Ring é um jogo superestimado, ele sim tem seus pontos positivos, porém os negativos me chamam muito mais atenção, a quantidade de recursos reciclados utilizados nesse jogo é assustadora para uma franquia "nova". A questão aqui é que o jogo não apresenta na MINHA opinião, nenhuma grande inovação no mundo dos jogos. Ele tem uma exploração cansativa, que não é motivante, muitas dasElden Ring é um jogo superestimado, ele sim tem seus pontos positivos, porém os negativos me chamam muito mais atenção, a quantidade de recursos reciclados utilizados nesse jogo é assustadora para uma franquia "nova". A questão aqui é que o jogo não apresenta na MINHA opinião, nenhuma grande inovação no mundo dos jogos. Ele tem uma exploração cansativa, que não é motivante, muitas das vezes não te da nenhum item que tu realmente fique feliz em ter pego, os inimigos repetidos a todo canto e com move set ou aparência reciclados faz com que eu sinta estar jogando os mesmos jogos que foram lançados já fazem 11 anos. Ter bosses diferentes, ou bem detalhados EU não considero grandes pontos positivos, pois isso é o básico, falar que esse jogo a vale o que é cobrado pra mim é piada, 97 de nota é piada, não adianta de nada ter uma baita história genial, contada de uma maneira "inovadora" se a gameplay durante as 60 horas de jogo vão ser enjoativas. Sem falar que a história é mais do mesmo, esse jogo se resume a preguiça. A dificuldade é o menor dos problemas, sendo que uma das maiores dificuldades que você vai ter jogando isso é a câmera bugada em vários momentos do jogo. Em resumo ele é não é surpreendente.… Expand
  23. SomeName
    Aug 20, 2022
    7
    It's basically Dark Souls 4, with slightly above average open-world mechanics. I enjoy it but would say that there is some obvious recycling from previous titles and even within the game itself. A smaller, more consciously designed world might have been better.

    Also, the PC release is just unapologetically bad in terms of bugs and performance. UPDATE: I finished the game and most of    It's basically Dark Souls 4, with slightly above average open-world mechanics. I enjoy it but would say that there is some obvious recycling from previous titles and even within the game itself. A smaller, more consciously designed world might have been better.

    Also, the PC release is just unapologetically bad in terms of bugs and performance.

    UPDATE: I finished the game and most of the bugs have been ironed out since then. My opinions on the world size and recycling of ideas definitely still stand though. It's a bit sad as From Software clearly put a lot of work into the game, but they bit off more than they can chew.    … Expand
  24. Muhannad1991
    Jan 30, 2023
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Unfortunately, the amount of drumming this game is not normal. True, it is a fun game, but 10 out of 10. Why does it mean a system copied from Dark Soul, the only difference is that there is more interest in magic and a disaster that magic breaks the cell game, a casual game, the easiest part in the Souls series of the world, its shape is sweet, but interactive enough I arrived, it's sweet. It's not enough for a generation. This needs something like Zita. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and don't settle for an open world. And give me the story. It's definitely better than the good souls, but stay in a million questions. This lore system is for donkeys. Nothing, unfortunately, the writer of Game of Trans, where does this mean, but something that makes you laugh, he says, "Oh, ELDEN RING." Van Boy's rubbish will buy, stay away from technical problems, and give me a 5 out of 10 game that is better than Souls trash games, but it was supposed to be called Dark Souls 6, not ELDEN RING, unfortunately, the passion is zero with the game… Expand
  25. kaiadams
    Mar 2, 2022
    7
    Even though Elden Ring is a great game, It didn't managed to meet our expectations.
  26. Midian00
    Jun 10, 2022
    6
    3 months after the launch and the game hasn't been properly patched. Not even close. That's just sad & disappointing.
    I'm will try to make it short and understandable:
    1. The game is build on the same engine as DS3 which was released in 2016. Game should not run with glitches, frame drops and crashes. But it does. 2. Fromsoft always had problems with camera but this time they managed    3 months after the launch and the game hasn't been properly patched. Not even close. That's just sad & disappointing.
    I'm will try to make it short and understandable:

    1. The game is build on the same engine as DS3 which was released in 2016. Game should not run with glitches, frame drops and crashes. But it does.
    2. Fromsoft always had problems with camera but this time they managed to make it worse. (mind-blowing talent). In ER when you lock-on to enemy and turn camera your lock-on will switch to whatever it wants EVEN THOUGH AUTO-LOCK-ON IS OFF. Sometimes this garbage can lock-on to enemies behind the walls. Sometimes it straight out will refuse to lock-on to a target that is in front of your face.
    3. Fromsoft made huge world but had no idea how to fill it. So they just started copy-pasting enemies and bosses. Especially bosses. Some of them you can kill more than 5 times. If you think that bosses change somehow - no. Their HP and DMG just get an increase.
    4. Exploration becomes really tedious and boring. Because you either get no rewards for it or reward is absolute garbage. Repetitive dungeons with repetitive bosses.
    5. Starting areas almost have no armor and no weapons. Only after 40-50 hours I started getting weaponry for my stats. Huge specific area was riddled with it. By that time I settled for specific weapon and had no desire to try new ones, nor I had upgrade materials to invest in new toys.
    6. End game is an epitome of UNBALANCE. Your stats mean ****
    Copy-pasted enemies from start-game locations which can kill you in three hits with bloated health. Absolutely bs bosses with endless combo attacks which can kill you in 2-3 hits with several phases.

    Fromsoft definitely **** the bed with this one. I still have hopes that all these issues will be resolved in coming year. If not - it's gonna be the worst soulsborne game to date. DS2 will be removed from its throne.
    This review comes from a person who spent more than 1k hours between ds1, ds3 and BB. Cheers.    … Expand
  27. sin_naoi
    Mar 6, 2022
    5
    Good looking. (Full sopp). Nothing else. Some reviewers dare comparing it to Witcher 3... those are 2 different levels though. Elden Ring has zero character developed, no relatable stories.....well no stories at all. Forced myself to play 10 whole hours thinking that I must be missing something...but no... I quit...
  28. Devez
    Mar 7, 2022
    5
    How Fromsoft can't do a proper pc port after 3 souls game and sekiro is one of the great mysteries of this world. Even though I can see that the game is good from my playtime so far, how can I give this more than a 5 when I'm getting killed because I can't see wtf is happening during some battles? And no it's not a "git good" problem, I've finished all dark souls games and sekiro, it's anHow Fromsoft can't do a proper pc port after 3 souls game and sekiro is one of the great mysteries of this world. Even though I can see that the game is good from my playtime so far, how can I give this more than a 5 when I'm getting killed because I can't see wtf is happening during some battles? And no it's not a "git good" problem, I've finished all dark souls games and sekiro, it's an optimization problem and Fromsoft clearly not giving a **** about pc gamers. The only 2 games where my pc started farting furiously as soon as they loaded are cyberpunk 2077 and elden ring and if you've heard anything about cyberpunk that alone says a lot. Even with all options turned down to the lowest possible I get 20-40 fps on 1080p in open world and these drop even more on boss fights. Not to mention the occasional stuttering which sometimes turns into death warrant. It's shameful asking full price for a game at this state and even releasing it at this state in the first place. Have we all just accepted that we'll be beta testing games from now on?… Expand
  29. BHTrix
    Mar 19, 2022
    5
    I honestly don't understand why people are writing raving reviews for this game.

    Let's start with the good before we move on to the bad and the horrendous that is "Elden Ring" - Gorgeous (bosses, world, art, etc.) - Huge - Mounted Combat (Casting is way better than the sword play though) - The game plays well - Lots of armors and weapons, that are cosmetically cool - Sound    I honestly don't understand why people are writing raving reviews for this game.

    Let's start with the good before we move on to the bad and the horrendous that is "Elden Ring"

    - Gorgeous (bosses, world, art, etc.)
    - Huge
    - Mounted Combat (Casting is way better than the sword play though)
    - The game plays well
    - Lots of armors and weapons, that are cosmetically cool
    - Sound design is really good

    Now the bad

    - Hyper aggressive Mobs that 2-3 shot you
    - Bend Curve for Stat Effectiveness but a Doubling Curve for monster health and difficulty, making end game extremely tedious and repetitive. Your char will shine midgame, but after that your increase in damage and survivability flatlines, while monster health triples.
    - Repetitive
    - Many, Many places, dungeons, etc. in the world are reused.
    - Depth of Field is confusing, the camera doesn't really have optimal rotation, you will often plunge to your death, and after you have you have to backtrack to your corpse, and hope that this time around you don't miss the jump, and if you do, lose all your runes... I mean... uff exhausting
    - The platforming and death from falling is absolutely horrendous.
    - Backtracking
    - The Combat just sucks, I'm sorry. It's fun in the first halve of the game, but when fights start to drag out to 5 minutes per normal mob up to 10-15 sometimes 20 minute boss fights that you have to restart if you make a few bad dodges, it just get's tedious. Not to mention you'll be using the same spells/combat arts most of the time, so it get's extremely tedious and repetitive.
    - Best way to play a lot of the game is just by running past and skipping everything.
    - Most spells suck.
    - Questlines are confusing at best, there's nothing to guide you to understand what the game expects of you, and sometimes if you missed a part of the quest and progressed too far, the quest dies.
    - Bugs.
    - Balance is ****

    This game is overhyped, and the user score reflects that.
    I would honestly stop trusting any critic reviews, they have no idea what they are talking about, and are most likely hyping the game for a paycheck

    I would avoid this game for a few more months, if not year, and grab it on a sale. It has some esthetic, and you'll get some fun out of it, and it will at points frustrate the **** out of you with poor gameplay design.

    I guess fun if you are a sadomasochist.    … Expand
  30. Pasic007
    Mar 8, 2022
    5
    Crap on PC - deleted after 50 hours.
    I cant deal with PC ports and this is one of them. Cant change mouse speed or key bindings. Aiming in game is clunky as f.
  31. OUTbrain
    Mar 1, 2022
    6
    So much vasted potencial. This game is just for a few gamers with unlimited time and inclination to masochism.
    No pause, you cant crouch when opening chest and maaaany other bugs from 90ties.
  32. DuhZeez
    May 16, 2022
    5
    If you see a 10/10 they are definitely Fromsoft fanboys. This game is NOWHERE near 10/10, especially the PC version.

    The single player game is a 6 to 7/10 max and even that is generous. The constant crashing, the lower quality graphics(for 2022 the graphics should be a lot better than this), the need to google EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING in the game, and the reused assets(you will    If you see a 10/10 they are definitely Fromsoft fanboys. This game is NOWHERE near 10/10, especially the PC version.

    The single player game is a 6 to 7/10 max and even that is generous.

    The constant crashing, the lower quality graphics(for 2022 the graphics should be a lot better than this), the need to google EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING in the game, and the reused assets(you will fight the same boss over and over again after mid-game) is why I cannot give this higher than a 7.

    I am not a graphics nerd. I don't need it to be life like for me to enjoy it(heck I still go back and play Atari games sometimes), but the graphics, while good, are no where near the quality of even God of War which came out over 4 years ago. Look no further that the fact that this released(and still as of this date) with no widescreen mode. If you have a nice curved 3440 monitor than this game will only serve to piss you off with the HUGE black bars on the sides.

    It has a bad problem with crashing constantly. It seems to happen the most when I use the map. No fix yet as of writing this.

    The need of a google search bar integrated into this game is a huge fault. I don't need my hand to be held with my games, but when I can't understand what something does and there is NO repository for it in the game, then there is a huge problem. There is ZERO quest tracking, not nearly enough info on what things do, the amount they do and the time in which they do said thing and no journal to look at to remember what's been said/done. This adds nothing to the game and in fact detracts from it to the point that it makes the Devs look extremely lazy, to not add even the most basic of info on things, or they did it to pad the games play time.

    The reuse of assets gets really bad after midgame, the same boss you fought earlier WILL make an appearance, it's not if they will, it's when.

    The multiplayer is straight garbage and is why I gave a 5/10 instead of a 7.

    The multiplayer, Hooo boy, where to begin...
    First, this is NOT a co-op game. It's a PvP game with co-op elements. You don't get to just hop in with a friend, Oh no, you have to furl a finger and wave some mist around first, and if your friend has beaten the boss of the area it's a no go, you can't join them. Also be prepared to get invaded by a guy who is maxed out on everything and is in new game + #16 with OP weapons and skills and 1 shots you, or someone lag switching and warping everywhere so your hits don't land but when they hit it's always a crit or backstab, or a straight up cheater who will invade just to corrupt your save so you have to start ALL over again. Sounds fun huh?

    Wanna play with just your friend and run around and have fun? Too bad! This is FROMSOFT BEEEE-OUCH! If I would have known how bad the horrible "co-op" mode is I would not have purchased the game.

    So no, this is FAR from GOTY and any 10/10 score. Take off the Fromsoft rose colored glasses and get a reality check if you think it is.

    Even with all this the single player mode is still pretty enjoyable, but these problems are, for some reason, completely overlooked because it's a "Fromsoft/Souls like" game by all these 10/10er's. Do you think they would overlook all this for anyone else? I seriously doubt it.

    I have an un-furled finger for you Fromsoft, wanna guess which one?    … Expand
  33. Shopper02
    Mar 9, 2022
    6
    I REALLY wish I could give this game a positive review, that being said, the User Experience is awful on PC. When you've died on horse combat for the millionth time because your game started chugging down to 5 FPS, that creates a big issue for me. If you're going to play this, play it on console. I can't enjoy this game until the FPS issue is fixed. This game relies on stability far too much.
  34. LPLO
    Mar 11, 2022
    6
    It's 2022. It's stupid to keep a control scheme that physically makes dodge come out slower by few frames. It's stupid to set the horse reborn prompt at no. It's stupid to punish the player for beating a stronger boss early by giving smithing stones that aren't even usable until you go back into earlier areas to find other mines. It's stupid to throw the great combat mechanic out theIt's 2022. It's stupid to keep a control scheme that physically makes dodge come out slower by few frames. It's stupid to set the horse reborn prompt at no. It's stupid to punish the player for beating a stronger boss early by giving smithing stones that aren't even usable until you go back into earlier areas to find other mines. It's stupid to throw the great combat mechanic out the window to just slap a bunch of lazy duo, trio bosses.

    With all that said, yeah it's a fun souls game. Just saying it's a completely lazily created open world mess.    … Expand
  35. hmmdotcom
    Mar 16, 2022
    7
    Wonderful, beautiful game that struggles on all things fine tuning. A 7.9 that never quite reached an 8 for me. Love fromsoftware but while the aesthetic, bosses, and npcs of the game's world shine things like camera controls, jumping, and sprint mechanics feel clunky, you never know when you're gonna get stuck on a tiny rock divet / indestructible twig that prevents your movement and itWonderful, beautiful game that struggles on all things fine tuning. A 7.9 that never quite reached an 8 for me. Love fromsoftware but while the aesthetic, bosses, and npcs of the game's world shine things like camera controls, jumping, and sprint mechanics feel clunky, you never know when you're gonna get stuck on a tiny rock divet / indestructible twig that prevents your movement and it WILL happen / cause you to get killed. Basically, you need luck to be on your side in a game that is trying to reward skill-based patient rpg gameplay.

    Things like level progression mid game, item progression, and game direction have their own clunkiness, trying to play the game without reading 5 tabs first on a second monitor will lead to boring sessions. Often you'll go through a difficult area only to find some semi-useful item within a build path completely opposite your own, and while getting through the area is satisfying in itself it ends up not feeling like it builds towards anything significant. Later in the game, these boss enemies get heavily recycled and upscaled, making the original satisfaction dim, and leaving a certain apathy toward future side areas.

    As far as the good of the game, the world IS huge AND beautiful, and you will have moments where you feel extremely badass. Though the stats screen is awful and cannot show comparisons of armor / items side by side, the armor itself is varied with all kinds of cosmetic looks. Weapons/Spells/Ashes all have a range and truly give a dnd type experience where the player can get custom as hell. Without spoilers, there is an area where the player can re-assign stats for a cost, which is a much needed feature that allows all types of mid life crisis.

    Ultimately (and this is speaking to my OWN experience), the bottom line was that after a certain point of exploring the beautiful map most of the time in this game just wasnt fun. I was either looking for fun in world, looking up fun online, or grinding mob filled rooms to get fun parts, all while carrying that passive fromsoftware 'die whenever wherever' game stress that does give some satisfaction to the experience. After trying a couple of different builds I found that typically there's way more fun to be had in completely overhauling a build every so often than in steadily carrying a build through the game. And that speaks to my opinion of the game. Most of the thrill is all the new things, the novelty, the possibilities, but once you've seen 50% of the enemies, explored what you want, and committed to a build path, you're in for a boring time grinding from boss to boss.    … Expand
  36. Gryzorz
    Feb 28, 2022
    5
    Ok so, I launch the game, I try to navigate menus and fail.
    I somehow get back to my character, and try to figure out what "R" means.
    I press R, drink something, then nothing. I begin to understand that the tips on the screen are not for me, a classic PC player with good old keyboard and mouse. I manage to push through tutorial, find how to jump and do other actions by several times    Ok so, I launch the game, I try to navigate menus and fail.
    I somehow get back to my character, and try to figure out what "R" means.
    I press R, drink something, then nothing.
    I begin to understand that the tips on the screen are not for me, a classic PC player with good old keyboard and mouse.
    I manage to push through tutorial, find how to jump and do other actions by several times going to the keyboard shortcuts.
    Then I'm asked to wield with both hands with a combination that is not present in the keyboard shortcuts, I had to go search online how to do that.
    Then I'm asked to do some other special attack on the poor undead fella.
    I try something, it looks like a regular "power attack", so I have no idea if that's what the "tutorial" was talking about, but the fella is dead now, and I don't know if I'll ever see a tutorial on how to perform this special attack again.
    I move on, another attack with undecipherable keys that are simply just not present on my setup.
    I do not even have a controller configured on my PC...
    Keys assignments are terrible, tutorial is terrible.
    It just made me want to stop playing. It was painful. I'm not supposed to feel pain from figuring out how to translate console messages to PC world for a game released for PC.
    Edit: before sending the review, I went back to explore the full content of options, and yes, you CAN set the screen tutorials to display the keyboard&mouse version.
    Why was the game setup with controller by default even when I have no controller at all is a mystery to me, but it definitely ruined my inital contact with the game, feeling unwelcome, a relic from the past that had to "move on" to controllers.
    I'm not saying that's the intent, I'm just saying that's how I felt.
    I understood nothing at all the intro scenes, except there are gazillons of names and concepts being thrown at you that make absolutely no sense.
    I usually LOVE slow pace narrative, but this is just SLOW to make it look epic, but there is nothing epic about it.
    You land in the world with a character assigned to a class that tells you nothing about it.
    It really feels like different teams designing different elements of the game and no one was ever in charge of making sense of the whole package, the user experience.
    Maybe if I had reached that point where I understand all mechanics, I would enjoy them, but I'm not supposed to suffer that much from the start, and the small details that are off are triggering my alarms, and as an old player, I tend to trust them now. If there is smoke...    … Expand
  37. Kaetoo
    Mar 7, 2022
    6
    Let's start for de beginning, the game is a dark souls 4, the history resembles dark souls 1, a ring shatter is like the flame. The tarnished is like the guy with the fourth flame.
    The grafics is amezing even in the low settings and bla bla bla.
    Gameplay sucks, it's literally just difficult fight, nothing else, none sidequest remarcable. The map is big which can look really cool at the    Let's start for de beginning, the game is a dark souls 4, the history resembles dark souls 1, a ring shatter is like the flame. The tarnished is like the guy with the fourth flame.
    The grafics is amezing even in the low settings and bla bla bla.
    Gameplay sucks, it's literally just difficult fight, nothing else, none sidequest remarcable.
    The map is big which can look really cool at the start. But even the boss look the same. There is litteraly 6 or 7 enemy who is a knight. the gradon the same the only difference is the element of them. and the map has not much to offer.    … Expand
  38. bobosen85
    Mar 27, 2022
    7
    Early game: 6 out of 10
    Mid game: 10 out of 10
    Late game: 2 out of 10 Overall fun but scales horribly. Plus you need a guide for everything, typical from soft.
  39. FreddyRama
    Mar 20, 2022
    5
    Played for 85 hours - never gets easier and story is so convoluted - not very enjoable. But a beautiful open-world if you like action / console-like games.
  40. thatpower
    Apr 14, 2022
    6
    Severely disappointing. Bad main bosses (perhaps even worse than DS2), botched endgame, tons of recycled content that makes this game feel like Assassin's Creed. At least the open world was really fun to explore until mountaintops
  41. MadMaxxieXD
    May 12, 2022
    6
    The majority of the game is very fun and addictive but, and this is a huge but, the boss design and balancing is insanely bad, certain bosses are made to be roadblacks that must be faced, there are some that actually punish you for not cheesing them, there are loads that are way too aggressive so they literally leave no room to get an attack in and some builds will have no way to counterThe majority of the game is very fun and addictive but, and this is a huge but, the boss design and balancing is insanely bad, certain bosses are made to be roadblacks that must be faced, there are some that actually punish you for not cheesing them, there are loads that are way too aggressive so they literally leave no room to get an attack in and some builds will have no way to counter them until after they somehow beat the boss. There are a lot of places where you will, without warning, end up teleported and stuck, unable to level up, reallocate flasks, upgrade anything, so you can end up losing your save if you get sent in unprepared which goes against exploration because there is no way of knowing when or if you're strong enough without entering and then you can't leave. There is a lot of that and it really ruins the experience and flies in the face of the "dust yourself off and try again" appeal of these games when a lot of bosses actually have nothing to do with skill, if you have the wrong build, you just may not be able to react fast enough to do anything without being killed as a result, you went caster? Tough luck, you literally have no time to charge your spells. You went tanky with a shield? Tough luck, this boss does a room length piercing attack that will stagger through the best gear available until after them and then they go into a one shot combo before you can control your character again and they patched out one early material could have let you upgrade one gear piece, like your shield, so you wouldn't stagger, could dodge the combo and then punish but instead we have this because boss design and balancing sucks. The fact even diehard players went after the material because without that upgraded piece, some builds could not beat the boss blocking them from progessing the story and accessing other areas, or at least would require such perfect play, it's beyond what even a Souls style game can realistically ask. In summary, the good is very good but the bad will make this game literally unbeatable for a lot of people.… Expand
  42. StarrySky3
    Mar 10, 2022
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Out of the 70 or so bosses i have fought, only a handful of them were memorable for being enjoyable. I really struggle to think of too many others. There are a number of threads that explain the grievances of this games boss design as well as general design far better than I can. The amount of reskinned, duo, infinitely aggressive bosses that I’ve trudged through never gave me the same satisfaction as a title such as DS1 or bloodborne. The godskin duo boss is a shining example of a problem. Also Fire Giant? Apart from the fight (I use melee) being “I hope I can track him down In time to land a hit” is not exactly exhilarating for such a late game boss. It just feels like delayed attack, AoE attacks, repeated. Also, the amount of dragon fights, Jesus Christ. My biggest complaint is repetition. The dungeons, ruins, a good amount of bosses, and some story points all feel like I’ve they’ve been beating me over the head with them. I have a number of complaints and praises about this game and as someone who’s near 100%’ed all of FROMs previous titles I don’t believe it’s a skill issue. I just feel a little disappointed.… Expand
  43. PolishVPN
    Mar 20, 2022
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have to be honest, the game is good, in terms of being and open world game is one of the best out there, in terms of bosses, it can be compared with Dark Souls 2 bosses in terms of quality, they took the step of quanity over quality, the prime example of this was the God Skin duo boss fight, it's imdeed the worst fight in the game, and the series as a whole, most boss fights (excluding the demi gods) feels that you are just fighting a mini boss, but in most cases are mandatory, thing i seriusly dislike, i also dislike the magic and summons, wich most of those are broken… Expand
  44. TomasLacerda
    Mar 5, 2022
    5
    - This game is grossly overrated
    - It's Dark Souls 3 reskined and changed copy Souls to Runes
    - It feels a easier than the previous series
    - The world feels empty and shallow

    + It's a Dark Souls game, it's fun.
  45. crnppscls
    Feb 27, 2022
    6
    I find it so very strange that a game can be released with so many performance issues and be subject to day 1 performance patches, yet reviewers are still willing to give this game 10/10

    The last shards of integrity have left the building with this one, although to be fair, I never read their prosaic tripe anyway. It’s only ever about money. It’s a good game, the progression is Never    I find it so very strange that a game can be released with so many performance issues and be subject to day 1 performance patches, yet reviewers are still willing to give this game 10/10

    The last shards of integrity have left the building with this one, although to be fair, I never read their prosaic tripe anyway. It’s only ever about money.

    It’s a good game, the progression is
    Never boring and the    … Expand
  46. MadclownJack
    Mar 13, 2022
    7
    Great looking game as always, visually stunning. Sound and music also great. New crafting option is a welcome addition, same with boss checkpoints.

    The meta of the game seems to be to anger the player by any means necessary and really they just do this without reprieve, using every dirty trick in the book. Example, there is a new Lobster mob that can shoot at you with pinpoint accuracy    Great looking game as always, visually stunning. Sound and music also great. New crafting option is a welcome addition, same with boss checkpoints.

    The meta of the game seems to be to anger the player by any means necessary and really they just do this without reprieve, using every dirty trick in the book. Example, there is a new Lobster mob that can shoot at you with pinpoint accuracy from miles away, taking out nearly half your HP with one shot. I've had enough of that nonsense. It's cute but it doesn't serve a purpose other than to be a nuisance when you're exploring.

    Noteworthy combat encounters are rare, Dungeons are few and far between, even fewer of them containing items of value. I was mostly sad to find out that it lacked the sense of accomplishment i felt in Dark Souls after beating a boss. I killed nearly all of the Lords and i just felt bored.

    Control mapping is weak on PC, can get really confusing in time sensitive situations. I don't like playing with a controller but it really was made for consoles in mind, so instead of using a button per action sometimes you'll have to combine two. Latency is also weird sometimes, like the commands activate late or not at all.

    Most infuriating though, it's filled to the brim with hackers and it hasn't even been two weeks since it came out. FS still tone-deaf to the pleas of the community.

    My advice is get it after the hype dies down, or after it gets a few well deserved patches.    … Expand
  47. corsyus
    Feb 27, 2022
    6
    I wont go into the obvious PC issues that have already been mentioned numerous times. I'm sure most of these will be patched eventually.

    If you like Dark Souls games, which I do enjoy, then Elden Ring is like Dark Souls on steroids.. It borrows soo much from the Dark Souls series, I'm thinking they should of named it Dark Souls IV. That's where my issue with the game comes in. I do like    I wont go into the obvious PC issues that have already been mentioned numerous times. I'm sure most of these will be patched eventually.

    If you like Dark Souls games, which I do enjoy, then Elden Ring is like Dark Souls on steroids.. It borrows soo much from the Dark Souls series, I'm thinking they should of named it Dark Souls IV. That's where my issue with the game comes in. I do like the Dark Souls series, however with George R.R. Martin writing for this game, I was expecting a story rich adventure, in the world of a new franchise. Elden Ring does not feel like that new franchise offering a new experience which I had high hopes for. It's an ok game, but doesn't offer anything original.

    If you want to play Dark Souls 4 then you'll love Elden Ring. If you are expecting an original experience to immerse yourself in the writings of George R.R. Martin. Then I recommend passing on this game, or wait for a sale.    … Expand
  48. petriAND
    Apr 26, 2022
    7
    I'm aware that most people that gave this game a 10/10 are fanboys all the way. It's just not reasonable, even more, if you played the games that came this month alone (Sifu, Horizon) u just can't nail a 10/10 on this game, is unfair for the rest of the developers that put a lot of effort into their products. Sifu had way smoother gameplay and animations and Horizon feels like it is 5I'm aware that most people that gave this game a 10/10 are fanboys all the way. It's just not reasonable, even more, if you played the games that came this month alone (Sifu, Horizon) u just can't nail a 10/10 on this game, is unfair for the rest of the developers that put a lot of effort into their products. Sifu had way smoother gameplay and animations and Horizon feels like it is 5 years in advance in terms of visuals, the difference is gigantic. So what I think the game did good and bad:

    Good:
    + World design
    + Exploration
    + Art design
    + Variety of enemies in the world
    + And let's say the level design

    Bad:
    - Graphics (textures, lighting, shadows, etc, feels like a 2014 title, not 2022 one)
    - Mocap, lip-sync (insanely bad for a AAA developer)
    - Story (super generic, vague, diluted, the dialogs and characters are super cringe)
    - Clunky controls
    - Animations
    - Sound effects (again super generic)
    - 60Hz cap?? in 2022?
    - Optimization, stuttering (for pc at least and for now, maybe it will be fixed with a patch)    … Expand
  49. id3alistic
    Feb 27, 2022
    5
    From Software is ALMOST at Square Enix levels of terrible PC ports. The only reason they are higher than SE is because they didn't dare charge $70 like SE did for FF7R.

    60fps cap, terrible performance, and no ultrawide support. I'll be nice and give just a 5 though.
  50. Jaymarz
    Feb 26, 2022
    5
    Missing ultrawide support and has too many stuttering and frame rate issues to be a great PC port. The game is good, but how are they going to fail at delivering ultrawide support and optimization?
  51. sulaco426
    Mar 13, 2022
    5
    Its just darksouls with an uninspired, empty and boring open world. One of the thing the soulsgames were known for is the almost brilliant level design and an open world like this destroys it. it looks nice, there are some nice POI and dungeons, but its downgrade to the series of those fromsoftware games.
  52. peipei765
    Mar 14, 2022
    5
    typical dark souls game with boring,tedious,empty open world.
    PC version runs like potato with drops to 30 fps and constant stuttering while it looks like ps4 early game.
  53. Blacksad
    Feb 26, 2022
    6
    The design of the game is impeccable. However, the release is pretty shoddy. The game is nowhere near graphically intensive enough to run this poorly on high end hardware, and the stuttering is insufferable. I have a 3080, 58800x, and 32gb RAM, yet this clunker often struggles to hit 60 fps. Cyberpunk 2077 ran smoother, had much higher end graphics, and also had an open world. That, pairedThe design of the game is impeccable. However, the release is pretty shoddy. The game is nowhere near graphically intensive enough to run this poorly on high end hardware, and the stuttering is insufferable. I have a 3080, 58800x, and 32gb RAM, yet this clunker often struggles to hit 60 fps. Cyberpunk 2077 ran smoother, had much higher end graphics, and also had an open world. That, paired with the 60fps cap and the ham fisted lack of Ultrawide support kind of ruins this. It's even more annoying because the game is rendering everything behind the black bars on Ultrawide as has been illustrated by many people, yet you have no option to remove them and they're entirely cosmetic. Just poor decision making and planning.… Expand
  54. Blackworms
    Feb 27, 2022
    5
    One of the worst performances from an AAA game. Stutters like crazy, input delays, no Ultrawide support and 60FPS lock. The game and the world are amazing but if you cannot even provide the basic necessities, it shouldn't be rated 10/10. Particularly for the PC version the review scores are misleading.
  55. IronTiger15
    Feb 27, 2022
    7
    Lots of performance issues, it makes the game feel off compared to the console versions.
  56. jani7
    Mar 22, 2022
    6
    Absolutely dont understand who can give 10 points to this game. No story, stupid AI, almost nothing new or improved - friendly characters absolutely without any sense or action, you find them in some place and they say their two stupid sentences and stay there like idiots in same position till the end of the game. Enemies looks quite deaf, sneaking behind them in full gear is ridiculous. IAbsolutely dont understand who can give 10 points to this game. No story, stupid AI, almost nothing new or improved - friendly characters absolutely without any sense or action, you find them in some place and they say their two stupid sentences and stay there like idiots in same position till the end of the game. Enemies looks quite deaf, sneaking behind them in full gear is ridiculous. I dont see any new original thing in this game enemies are very nicely done but thats all, everything else was already here several times. Absolutely no reason to call this game of the year or give any higher score.… Expand
  57. MeltedBR
    Feb 28, 2022
    5
    60 fps lock
    no ultra-wide support
    clunky PC menu and keyboard layout Can't keep a perfectly stable 60 fps even on low settings 800x600 (thats when you know its gone too far) Graphics are the same as any other souls game (that just adds to the fact that this game should run on any potato with stable 60 fps and 100/200+ fps on modern machines) i'm glad the community isn't letting pure    60 fps lock
    no ultra-wide support
    clunky PC menu and keyboard layout
    Can't keep a perfectly stable 60 fps even on low settings 800x600 (thats when you know its gone too far)
    Graphics are the same as any other souls game (that just adds to the fact that this game should run on any potato with stable 60 fps and 100/200+ fps on modern machines)

    i'm glad the community isn't letting pure lazyness on PC ports get through like Critics do, this is a fast reaction time based game, smoothness is fundamental for a nice experience, if console players can't see the frame drops because they already playing on 25 fps with insane amout of motion blur that's not my problem. Souls game are the type of games to have "performance mode" run at 120hz and on PC have settings like Nvidia Reflex (like GOW did).

    Is it possible to play the game on PC and enjoy it? Yes, after 1.02.1 I'm playing the game normally but I can't make my mind around the fact that we could be getting a much more enjoyable experience, imagine paying 2K$ for a GPU just to get a game with mid-tier graphics lock you at 60 fps and still have drops lol    … Expand
  58. BearG
    Mar 4, 2022
    5
    Its alright I guess but definently not a 10/10, The main problem with this game is not dificulty (for me) but the absolute garbage game level design you have multiple areas where you are just underleveld and have to 'grind' souls in the open world to advance.

    Im not even sure what the main intended path is for the game it just seems all over the place. Also be prepared to use the    Its alright I guess but definently not a 10/10, The main problem with this game is not dificulty (for me) but the absolute garbage game level design you have multiple areas where you are just underleveld and have to 'grind' souls in the open world to advance.

    Im not even sure what the main intended path is for the game it just seems all over the place. Also be prepared to use the wiki/youtube guides a LOT Forgot a name the npc told you bring an item to? search the wiki. Want to find upgrade material? search the wiki. Want to fight 'hidden bosses'? search the wiki. For almost everything you do in this game you need a wiki or guide, A lot of places are not clear where to go and you get lost often (even with a map)

    The way to upgrade your weapons is complete garbage, You can only really lvl up 1 weapon to max or be prepared to find all the upgrade materials all over again.

    Open world? Yes I guess its nice but most of the games bests moments are not in the open world but rather in the closed dungeon/area sections.

    Boss design is alright in this game a lot of realy unfair fights and you also dont know if you just have to git gud or if you are underleveled.

    Story is just a **** show, you never know what the f is going on and the ending was just confusing not really satisfying for playing a game like 60+ hours

    Pc port is a f*cking joke and performance sucks on pc also the game looks nice I guess but not cyberpunk level of grahpics and yet it needs a beter specs.

    All in all I liked elden but to give this a 10/10 just goes to show how paid off these 'reviewers' are/ I dont really feel like a second playthrought because the game level design is so garbage I dont want to have to use the wiki for everything again.

    5/10    … Expand
  59. Khaylmer
    Mar 9, 2022
    7
    I really wanted to enjoy this more, but it plays and feels exactly like Dark Souls, and the same positives and negatives I have from those games carry over into this one.

    As for the features unique to this game, the open world is incredible and so much fun to explore, however it makes it difficult to want to go back through it all again for a second play-through. There is an immense    I really wanted to enjoy this more, but it plays and feels exactly like Dark Souls, and the same positives and negatives I have from those games carry over into this one.

    As for the features unique to this game, the open world is incredible and so much fun to explore, however it makes it difficult to want to go back through it all again for a second play-through. There is an immense amount of bosses which makes exploration feel rewarding as it'll always lead to new equipment/spells/items, but some of the dungeons get repetitive and some bosses just feel like slightly more difficult enemies.

    However, my biggest issue with the game is the awkward balancing. Some bosses and areas in the game felt to me personally, substantially too easy, maybe because I accidentally overleveled myself by exploring more difficult areas first. It felt weird to one-shot many bosses, something I don't think I've done in any other FromSoft game.

    Don't get me wrong this game is good, but it's still just Dark Souls at it's core. I wish it had more of its own identity like Bloodborne or Sekiro. It will always be a refreshing experience to play a game by FromSoft, their tailor-made difficulty and priority on combat above all else is lacking from a lot of new releases. But I can't help but feel this is a step in the wrong direction. I'm still eager to see what they can come out with, but please no more Dark Souls, I expected something more unique.    … Expand
  60. sugarnite
    Mar 10, 2022
    7
    PC issues aside, the game isn’t that polished. There are real head-scratching oversights in this game that make me wonder how anyone can try touting this as the best RPG of recent memory.

    Unfortunately, the ever-toxic Souls community is clouding a pretty good game. I will say, what keeps me coming back, like any player, is that addictive style the Souls games are famous for. Little    PC issues aside, the game isn’t that polished. There are real head-scratching oversights in this game that make me wonder how anyone can try touting this as the best RPG of recent memory.

    Unfortunately, the ever-toxic Souls community is clouding a pretty good game.

    I will say, what keeps me coming back, like any player, is that addictive style the Souls games are famous for. Little by little you get better, learn more, and then get destroyed by a boss. If you have an addictive personality or short temper, it’s probably better not to even start this.    … Expand
  61. bmfalex
    Mar 8, 2022
    5
    Bad PC port, bad quest designs and a lot of copy paste dungeons. Overall the game is good, good open world and fun to play.
  62. ClarkKunt
    Dec 1, 2022
    7
    Elden ring is Assassins Creed: Valhalla of souls games, bland. Finished it 3 times, got platinum trophy and I have no interest to play it anymore unlike previous Fromsoft games. PvP is straight up bad, netcode is terrible, lore is meh, bosses are mostly meh or reskins of previous cool bosses, performance is bad, there are bugs and glitches everywhere and balancing in this game was made byElden ring is Assassins Creed: Valhalla of souls games, bland. Finished it 3 times, got platinum trophy and I have no interest to play it anymore unlike previous Fromsoft games. PvP is straight up bad, netcode is terrible, lore is meh, bosses are mostly meh or reskins of previous cool bosses, performance is bad, there are bugs and glitches everywhere and balancing in this game was made by disabled chimpanzee.… Expand
  63. serix
    Mar 21, 2022
    7
    Ставлю 7 баллов.
    Минус три балла за такие вещи:
    -1 балл за то, что нельзя кастомизировать тело полностью(включая грудь и ягодицы персонажа). Хотя в интернете писали(рекламировали фейк), что в игре очень глубокая кастомизация персонажа. -1 балл за то, что игра легче предшественников(возможно, мое субъективное мнение). -1 балл за всякие недочеты. Где-то объекты через текстуры проходят,    Ставлю 7 баллов.
    Минус три балла за такие вещи:
    -1 балл за то, что нельзя кастомизировать тело полностью(включая грудь и ягодицы персонажа). Хотя в интернете писали(рекламировали фейк), что в игре очень глубокая кастомизация персонажа.
    -1 балл за то, что игра легче предшественников(возможно, мое субъективное мнение).
    -1 балл за всякие недочеты. Где-то объекты через текстуры проходят, где-то FPS проседает. Где-то игра ориентирована на геймпад. Графика со времен выхода PS4 не изменилась, а это 2013 года. Графика на уровне старой Dark Souls 3, только спецэффектов добавили.
    Итог - Игра отличная, любителям точно зайдет. Намёк на игру года)))    … Expand
  64. drcael
    Feb 28, 2022
    7
    Definitely not a game to make negative comments. But also it's not an exaggeratedly good game. The majority of recent games have ended in frustration. That's why the game is somewhat highly rated. A long-awaited game. Personally, I can't say that it fully met my expectations. It also did not disappoint. Let's take a look at the good sides of the game. The game partially meets Dark Souls.Definitely not a game to make negative comments. But also it's not an exaggeratedly good game. The majority of recent games have ended in frustration. That's why the game is somewhat highly rated. A long-awaited game. Personally, I can't say that it fully met my expectations. It also did not disappoint. Let's take a look at the good sides of the game. The game partially meets Dark Souls. It has a nice game design, although it has some missing parts. It promises a long playtime. Open world trial successful. Let's move on to the bad parts of the game. It definitely, as a 3A game has poor graphics for its release year.
    It has optimization issues and sometimes it affects gameplay badly. While the open world was partially successful, it was too simplistic and inadequate. It's a bit difficult to compare compared to Dark souls games. Because the boss designs and schematics look a bit amateurish. Although the game difficulty seems to be simplified a bit, the open world is extremely time-consuming and the main focus of the game, the bosses, is not very attractive. There are tons of problems I've encountered after 50 hours of gameplay. I just played it like a new Dark Souls game. This gave me some pleasure. Many people have had problems with the game controls, which should be taken into account. In short, the game seems a little early released to me. If the optimization issues are fixed with a new update, my max score will be 7.5.    … Expand
  65. Marty1104
    Mar 25, 2022
    7
    The Souls Formula combined with an beautiful World fits better than i thought.

    Edit: I was hyped at the Beginning but i think its not as brilliant as i thought from the Start. There are many copy/paste Bosses. Still an ok Game i guess.
  66. Chaothic
    Jun 5, 2022
    7
    After 100% I can clearly tell that this is a downgrade in every aspect (except creativity) to other Fromsoft games.
    Elden Stutter Bloat Cheese - I believe that sums it up well.
  67. Krutonite
    Jun 11, 2022
    5
    Honestly, I don't understand it.
    The souls games just don't appeal to me. This is probably the best one of the bunch, and yet, it did not do anything for me. Nice world design and atmosphere though.
  68. Surma
    Apr 30, 2022
    5
    I love the souls genre but this game does very little to innovate on it. Most of the enemy moves are recycled old material (but it's not really the issue), same comes with most spell animations.

    Cool new thing you can use the spirit bottle thing to offer momentary distraction, but most of the time that's all they can do. The biggest issue I have with this game that it's crashed in    I love the souls genre but this game does very little to innovate on it. Most of the enemy moves are recycled old material (but it's not really the issue), same comes with most spell animations.

    Cool new thing you can use the spirit bottle thing to offer momentary distraction, but most of the time that's all they can do.

    The biggest issue I have with this game that it's crashed in just yesterday more times than Cyberpunk did for me during 200 hours of playing it (on PC).

    I don't get how people like TheActMan can blindly praise game like this and then act like Cyberpunk was so unstable it took only 5 minutes before game crashed. And it wouldn't be that bad if the app just crashed, but it jams my entire computer and I lose everything I had running on background.

    But hey, apparently everyone decided that ELDEN RING is awesome and there's nothing terrible in it, after all it's a game where they didn't deliver more than they promised.

    Without crashing it would be a solid 7.5 buy in sale. The problem is also with community who blindly accepts everything as long they own previous title. I went to mention about the problems in open world game like this. Everything is isolated from one another outside of 2-3 pieces of collectibles to open an elevator or a door.

    But don't get me wrong, this game would be awesome 10/10 game to anyone who really-really digs into the game and it's environments and has done all throughout study of all the quests and item locations, because god damn, you're not just accidentally going to find that Lightning Spear spell in this gigantic open world, which I might add is quite crucial to Faith build.

    I also didn't enjoy travelling to the one Nexus location to do pretty much everything, especially when that nexus location had to always be located in the bottom of the map. There are some great ideas but some are just poorly thought out. And then there's the 10 different crafting items just to upgrade a single item to +10 as opposed to 2-3 items in past titles. And most of the crafting just feels like wasted potential.

    I'm pretty sure ELDEN RING 2 is going to solve a lot of these issues, but like I said, without bugs 7.5, with crashes... well this score.    … Expand
  69. ganisberke
    Mar 23, 2022
    5
    Elden Ring is a totally average game. Don't believe the trolls and the toxic community talk. Many people consider From Software to be the originator of the Souls genre. It actually has its origins in Nihon Falcom. Therefore, according to them, Miyazaki is a messiah. However, Miyazaki and the Souls team is still making the same mistakes.

    Objective problems: -Hitboxes are not good.    Elden Ring is a totally average game. Don't believe the trolls and the toxic community talk. Many people consider From Software to be the originator of the Souls genre. It actually has its origins in Nihon Falcom. Therefore, according to them, Miyazaki is a messiah. However, Miyazaki and the Souls team is still making the same mistakes.

    Objective problems:

    -Hitboxes are not good. There are times when it reminds me of the DS2.
    -Boss designs are very unbalanced. They didn't really work well with many bosses.
    -The game gets too repetitive. Open world exploration is nice, but it gets boring quickly.
    -There seems to be a lot of items, but in the end, a few items are the most useful. The game forces you for make to broken builds. Because some boss designs require it. All builds look alike. For example, more than half of even PvP uses blood builds.
    -Optimization is still not fixed and every update is getting worse.
    -Spells are powerful. Playing spell builds are more advantageous in many ways.
    -Camera angles are not good. It really causes trouble. When the number of enemies is high, you cannot control field of view.
    -Lore quality is definitely a controversial topic. However, it has the same lore in other Souls games. Only their names have changed. George R. R. Martin is just PR work.
    -Enemies are just based on nonstop spawn attacks with endless stamina as like most of bosses.
    -Many of the bosses repeat themselves. Most bosses are either the same or reskin version.
    -The hit feeling is not good. Especially the bosses don't even react properly to your attacks.
    -It has a toxic and cancerous player base.
    -Artificial intelligence problems. A real disaster.
    -It is a headache for some attacks in the game to pass through objects.

    Conclusion:

    This game is not a masterpiece. Not on a new ip. It's just Dark Souls 4 with open world.    … Expand
  70. plato1123
    Apr 29, 2022
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Ok the goood about this game...

    1) beautiful and diverse open world
    2) integrate fighting style

    Needs improvement:
    1) The fighting style is great but the reaction and timing from your opponents is completely arbitrary, meaning you have to die from every boss 3 times to know his time. It becomes clear pretty quick it's not based on skill or hand-eye coordination but how many times you've died to that exact f'ing boss. That is the cancer of the dark souls series, the fighting is cool but there's no consistency AT ALL. Oh this boss has a magic insta-move that kills you instantly, oh you didn't know about that?

    2) the thing the dark souls a-holes do where you lose your experience if you don't run to where you died... is f'ing stupid and is intended to make you churn up the same scenery over and over again. It's a dumb stunt and yes it makes your blood pressure boil on the spot but it inhibits your overall satisfaction of the game(s)

    Overall they did a lot of things right, this is better than Dark Souls which was addictive but then you were like ... why did I play that f'ing game for 8 hrs, what is wrong with me    … Expand
  71. Ordnik
    Mar 12, 2022
    7
    A really great game. But even a great game like this has lots of issues, and these issues ruin your whole experience.
  72. rafaeal
    Mar 4, 2022
    7
    Começou bem bugado mas está melhorando com as atualizações, é um optimo game mesmo assim.
  73. moirons
    Jul 2, 2022
    5
    This is how little you can trust online reviews: Publications who get paid by these game companies to gush over these games ranked it a 94. Users give it a 6.9 (probably a much more accurate evaluation). I stopped reading game reviews years ago because of this. Another example: WOW Shadowlands grabbed an 84. That game was a literal waltz into hell. It's one of the worst "big name games"This is how little you can trust online reviews: Publications who get paid by these game companies to gush over these games ranked it a 94. Users give it a 6.9 (probably a much more accurate evaluation). I stopped reading game reviews years ago because of this. Another example: WOW Shadowlands grabbed an 84. That game was a literal waltz into hell. It's one of the worst "big name games" I've ever played. Users correctly panned it at a 3.0, a much more accurate portrait.

    The internet is corporate. When you read online gaming publication reviews for something like Elden Ring, you're basically reading what the makers of Elden Ring thought of Elden Ring. Even some of the user reviews were paid, and you can tell this is so. So here is a real review:

    The graphics on this game are beautiful. The music is beautiful. You'll have some fantastic moments. Overall, though, the Gameplay is wooden, and it's a World of Warcraft fever dream where someone imagined what a 2022 Warcraft would look like. Some of the backgrounds are "2006 WOW scene re-imagined in 2022." This doesn't make it a bad game. Lots of people will like this. And just as many people will flip it off and not be able to finish it because it's a flashback. And some people get bored with those.

    If you want to read accurate reviews of any game, ignore 0. Ignore 10. And read every review listing it as something in-between. Some of the most classic games in history aren't a 10. And even some of the worst games in history still have some value to them, ranking above a 0. Just keep the golden rule in mind: Zeros are competitors. Tens are paid reviewers.

    - Sincerely, someone who gets offers for positive or negative reviews all the time and never, ever takes companies up on their offers    … Expand
  74. sonicfan69
    Apr 8, 2022
    5
    Let's focus on the positives first:
    - Awesome world design, absolutely incredible open world
    - Soundtrack is great as always - Character and boss designs are great visually speaking - So many builds and customization options So how does a game with this much good in it fall so flat? Laziness, really. The game is lazily put together in so many aspects. It feels like they just threw    Let's focus on the positives first:
    - Awesome world design, absolutely incredible open world
    - Soundtrack is great as always
    - Character and boss designs are great visually speaking
    - So many builds and customization options

    So how does a game with this much good in it fall so flat?
    Laziness, really. The game is lazily put together in so many aspects. It feels like they just threw proper level scaling and actually difficulty out of the window for the late game. Featuring bosses with undodgeable kill combos, ridiculous damage, bad hitboxes, and unfair design all around. For every amazing moment there is in the early game, there is like 5 bad moments in the late game. So many late game bosses would be so cool if they weren't infuriatingly unfair and badly designed.

    Beyond that, the difficulty at large, which in the early game felt carefully and expertly crafted, becomes unfair as well in the late game. The same reasons as highlighted above but apply it to basically every enemy that they introduce in the late game.

    In all honesty, if you want to play this game, you should really only play all of the earlygame and some of the midgame, as the rest will just make you hate it.

    Luckily, the issues as to why the late game is bad are all fixable, the ideas behind the enemies themselves do not get worse, they are just horribly unbalanced and unfair. A few balance patches can really save this game.

    So for now, it is a 5 out of 10, it is still a really good game, but it truly feels like it only lives up to half of its potential due to the laziness in balancing the late game. Hopeful to see that fixed soon.    … Expand
  75. ArthurYakovlev
    Apr 3, 2022
    5
    Dark Souls 3:Ctrl+C Ctrl+V edition. Extra textures pack. Plz buy our deluxe edition for 1 useless emote
  76. UmberLink
    Mar 22, 2022
    6
    It's fine if you like the current path FromSoft is going down. Otherwise not really

    Horrible PC port, locked to 60 fps, horrible performance issues, horrible graphical settings. Unacceptable for a supposed "10/10". These reviewers are embarassing themselves with these reviews and showing a complete lack of substance and credibility when they write these inane, pandering reviews. The    It's fine if you like the current path FromSoft is going down. Otherwise not really

    Horrible PC port, locked to 60 fps, horrible performance issues, horrible graphical settings. Unacceptable for a supposed "10/10". These reviewers are embarassing themselves with these reviews and showing a complete lack of substance and credibility when they write these inane, pandering reviews.

    The combat is what it is, the now well established degeneration of the souls de facto series. Roll and poke. The most major addition is the lazy abundance of delayed attacks, the only thing FS could think of to spice things up for veterans. No mechanical diversity, virtual all bosses are a variation on the same theme, with just a slight different attack skin on top.

    A far cry from an amazing game, let alone the perfect masterpiece people are deluding themselves into thinking it is.

    A solid 6    … Expand
  77. Vzinan
    Mar 21, 2022
    5
    Fantastic bosses and skillls, but poor interaction and disgusting monsters ruin the expolration. Luckily, side quests become integrity.
  78. jinisgamer
    Mar 24, 2022
    6
    After 140 hours of gameplay, this is clearly rushed and unfinished game. Dont even get me start with reuse enemy and boss.
  79. hachemancour
    Mar 24, 2022
    5
    It's a very empty game. If you're interested exclusively in challenging hack and slash gameplay then you may enjoy it.

    If you're looking for a plot or narrative, or any sort of actual substance, you will not find it in Elden Ring. The open world feels devoid of life. You'll find yourself doing the same thing over and over again, but in different areas. You have to hunt for content    It's a very empty game. If you're interested exclusively in challenging hack and slash gameplay then you may enjoy it.

    If you're looking for a plot or narrative, or any sort of actual substance, you will not find it in Elden Ring. The open world feels devoid of life. You'll find yourself doing the same thing over and over again, but in different areas. You have to hunt for content outside of combat in a bad way. I just don't know what else to say, the game feels cadaverous. It's got no soul.    … Expand
  80. Unswqung
    Mar 25, 2022
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Just for perspective I completed the game and got 100% in the steam achievements.

    Started stellar and ended like a bloated mess. Halfway through the game the new additions and general pacing started to feel worse and worse (physicks were cool though), crafting turned into a waste of time which in turn negated the open world items to an extent. So many repeated bosses which discouraged me to even check dungeons anymore, so many fights felt like they were designed around ashes (which I would prefer to be treated more like DS summons), issues from previous games that weren't addressed, bosses that felt more at home in DBZ (one literally has an instant transmission).

    No triumph overcoming a challenge. And I felt that way the entire game. Everything was either a total romp or just felt ridiculous. Again the open world nature ruins the pacing and trivializes bosses or makes them impossible. Radahn? Dodge OHKO's. Rennala? I walked at her and hit r1 a bunch and she died. The final boss was primarily me running at them just to land one hit, then running 20 seconds again to do the same.

    Front loaded and I wonder if everyone giving it a 10 hasn't hit the capital yet. I felt it got significantly worse after Caelid and the Liurnia (sp?) area was where the warts started to show.

    The open world only cheapened the game, the boss design was substandard for the series, the previous problems in DS games were still apparent, new additions lost their luster the longer the game went, and it felt bloated the longer you played. 6/10 -1 for rough optimization but that will change eventually I am sure. I guess I got my money's worth but I would rather play DS1, DS3 or Sekiro. I felt nostalgic for DS2. At the end of the day a large portion of From games are about the challenge of overcoming a boss and the structure of this one completely undermined it. It never felt right the entire way through. Too many walkover bosses, too many flippy OHKO and AoE attacks (that still paradoxically didn't feel challenging?).

    Might be my least favourite From game. Pay attention if the glowing praise is coming from someone who has yet to finish, or only has ~30 hours. Because their 10/10 is probably accurate... but only for the portion they have played.    … Expand
  81. GoldmanSechs
    Apr 2, 2022
    7
    The beginning of this game is probably some of the best time I've had gaming, ever. However, the more you go on, the more you realize the game is full of copy/paste dungeons and bosses. I can't put into words how bored I got fighting the same bosses over and over and over again. There are 6(!!) different versions of the same boss, 5 for another boss. And the farther you get into the game,The beginning of this game is probably some of the best time I've had gaming, ever. However, the more you go on, the more you realize the game is full of copy/paste dungeons and bosses. I can't put into words how bored I got fighting the same bosses over and over and over again. There are 6(!!) different versions of the same boss, 5 for another boss. And the farther you get into the game, the emptier the world feels. Aesthetically, the world is absolutely beautiful, but it's just empty. I do understand that this is a problem with just about every open world game, but I think it was a mistake to make a FromSoft game open world.

    On top of the open world issues, the game is just too easy. The allure of an open world (and fromsoft games in general) is to explore every inch, find secrets, and acquire more gear. However this leads to you being over-leveled way too fast, which meant I was just breezing through the game more than I ever have in Dark Souls, Bloodborne, or Sekiro.

    Overall, it's a good game, better than most, even. But for a FromSoft game, I'm disappointed.    … Expand
  82. MadMN9
    Feb 26, 2022
    5
    From Software with yet another solid entry. Many will say their best piece of work yet. But this experience is unfortunately plagued by stuttering issues and terrible optimization on PC. I’d give this game a pass for a bit until the issues are fixed. Will update the score once the game is fixed.
  83. scyre
    Mar 9, 2022
    6
    Honestly an overhyped RPG only because of it's developers reputation from the dark souls games. It got a good open world and interesting developments for your character but lacks a good story line (which is the core of an RPG) and the movement response is mediocre at best. You could say, it works as designed but for me it sounds like an excuse to make a combat response more accurate. AlsoHonestly an overhyped RPG only because of it's developers reputation from the dark souls games. It got a good open world and interesting developments for your character but lacks a good story line (which is the core of an RPG) and the movement response is mediocre at best. You could say, it works as designed but for me it sounds like an excuse to make a combat response more accurate. Also it's full of bugs & exploits, dunno where those rating coming from.… Expand
  84. jexilef
    Mar 13, 2022
    7
    Decent game but really not deserving of the 10s. A nice map that you can barely stop to appreciate due to being 1-shot by some enemy if you stand still.
    Some of the most awkward one-sided dialogue in a game where your character has no voice.
    A wide variety of skills and weapons that have no in-game explanation of what they do. One of the worst cameras on recent memory. It's another Souls    Decent game but really not deserving of the 10s. A nice map that you can barely stop to appreciate due to being 1-shot by some enemy if you stand still.
    Some of the most awkward one-sided dialogue in a game where your character has no voice.
    A wide variety of skills and weapons that have no in-game explanation of what they do.
    One of the worst cameras on recent memory.
    It's another Souls game, take it or leave it.    … Expand
  85. RazielFair
    Feb 28, 2022
    5
    Game is a masterpiece, but it's a terrific port for PC, for frame rate but especially for not showing the key binds for keyboard and mouse, you have to figure out the controls just trying. From software has been very lazy.
  86. Nuythe
    Mar 10, 2022
    7
    This game could have been perfect.

    Before I start I want to say that I have thousands of hours on Fromsoft games and that they are my favorite games, and also that the 7/10 is score is not influenced by the bad PC performance, not in the slightest. All of my problems with this game arise from the place that matters.. Design. I could write a 5000 word essay about the flaws of this    This game could have been perfect.

    Before I start I want to say that I have thousands of hours on Fromsoft games and that they are my favorite games, and also that the 7/10 is score is not influenced by the bad PC performance, not in the slightest. All of my problems with this game arise from the place that matters.. Design.

    I could write a 5000 word essay about the flaws of this game and everything that brings it down, but that's too much commitment for a single game especially after an 82 hour playthrough.

    I'm splitting this review into two parts, questing and bosses.

    In short; the quests are random and there is no way for the player to tell what an NPC wants them to do or where they might have headed to without looking online or asking around. I spend 3 hours looking for Millencent's new location after I gave up and asked on r/EldenRing. Turns out she's supposed to be in the Alteus Plateau in Erdtree Gazing hill. How in the seven am I supposed to know that? Same thing with Ranni, I visited Ranni's Rise before killing Radhan and she wasn't there so I assumed that's all what the area had to offer, which obviously, is not the case. It feels like a King's Quest game more than a Souls game.

    For the bosses, there isn't much to say. I can name 5 bosses that are probably the best boss fights of any game, Period. HOWEVER, it seems like Fromsoft got lazy after making the first quarter of the game and started copy pasting bosses all around the world. Often even repeating the DS2 sin where they end up putting two entirely different, independent and pretty tough previous bosses in the same non-optional boss fight because?

    Frankly this game has frustrated me to the point of which I can't even write a proper review/rant it. I'm done with it and I don't think i'll ever be playing it again.

    tl;dr : Sould you play it? YES. Is it the most flawed Fromsoft game? Yes, unfortunately    … Expand
  87. atom511
    Mar 7, 2022
    5
    The selling point for me was the "story by George RR Martin" - however, after playing for about 8-10 hours there does not appear to be much of a story.

    The game initially would not run on my PC. I had to google Reddit forums for tricks on how to do so. Game controls were mapped to an Xbox controller. Had to Google reddit forums on how to switch to PC. I made it to one mini-boss    The selling point for me was the "story by George RR Martin" - however, after playing for about 8-10 hours there does not appear to be much of a story.

    The game initially would not run on my PC. I had to google Reddit forums for tricks on how to do so.

    Game controls were mapped to an Xbox controller. Had to Google reddit forums on how to switch to PC.

    I made it to one mini-boss that was punishingly difficult far beyond any ability to enjoy the challenge. Good game design is not just enemies that pummel you mercilessly over and over again.

    I remember buying Skyrim on release day, and it was infinitely more enjoyable than Elden Ring.

    Give me Super Mario or Legend of Zelda any day over this nonsense.    … Expand
  88. Zero_89
    Jun 11, 2022
    5
    Average by the numbers dark souls like, not much new here besides the horse riding and the open world nature of the game which at times did make the whole experience a bit unfocused.
    Overall a decent game bogged down by poor performance and asset recycling that to my knowledge never got this egregiously transparent in any of the previous From software games
  89. Veska
    Feb 27, 2022
    7
    60 fps with drops on 5600X/6700XT, no V-Sync in setting, no ultrawide support. Graphic like Dark Soul 3. Yeah, if you are on hype train and love DS games, you will probably love this one too. But poor optimation, only 60 fps lock, ugly graphic, fps drops, bugs, crashes, problems with Xbox controller, horrible menu and settings. Shader quality doesnt work (it did nothing), same issue with60 fps with drops on 5600X/6700XT, no V-Sync in setting, no ultrawide support. Graphic like Dark Soul 3. Yeah, if you are on hype train and love DS games, you will probably love this one too. But poor optimation, only 60 fps lock, ugly graphic, fps drops, bugs, crashes, problems with Xbox controller, horrible menu and settings. Shader quality doesnt work (it did nothing), same issue with Auto-detect best rendering setting. Half of the changes like grass quality do virtually nothing.

    I asked for a refund. It makes no sense. From Software **** on the PC again. The game can be great, but if I have to rate the PC port, forget about it. 60 fps with graphics at least 6 years outdated, non-functional graphics settings. If you have a PS5, you may enjoy it more on the console. It's a horrible experience here. And as for the game itself. It's "just" another Soul game. Nothing more, nothing less. But it's definitely not a game of the century, as some are trying to suggest.    … Expand
  90. Androoss
    Feb 27, 2022
    7
    ok optimisation is verry bad but the gam does not deserve 0's because the world is vast and the lore is incredible
  91. Hmoodi
    Feb 28, 2022
    7
    -No arabic language -Bad performance -Drop frames -Crashes -60 frame cap -Bad graphics +great gameplay +Good story +Graet open world
  92. kyleb2112
    Mar 3, 2022
    6
    This is currently sitting ABOVE God of War on the metacritic score. That would be the God of War with the fantastic graphics, story, combat, exploration, acting, and PC optimization. After playing Elden Ring for a few days now, I'm just here to point that out. Read the siliconera.com reviewer who gave it a 70. Apparently he's the only critic who escaped the FromSoft reality distortionThis is currently sitting ABOVE God of War on the metacritic score. That would be the God of War with the fantastic graphics, story, combat, exploration, acting, and PC optimization. After playing Elden Ring for a few days now, I'm just here to point that out. Read the siliconera.com reviewer who gave it a 70. Apparently he's the only critic who escaped the FromSoft reality distortion field. The graphics, the bad pc port, or the bugs ALONE should be putting any score above 80 out of reach for this game.… Expand
  93. BenFauWriter
    Apr 11, 2022
    6
    Don't expect an open world full of things, this is a soul game, so you'll die a lot and the "open world" will be full of tough monsters/knights to farm in order to level up. Unfortunately, you'll have to rely on guides to find what to do at the beginning. The game is good, but certainly not goty! Graphics are disappointing for ps5/xbox series x, there's a lot of bugs. Gameplay is archaic.Don't expect an open world full of things, this is a soul game, so you'll die a lot and the "open world" will be full of tough monsters/knights to farm in order to level up. Unfortunately, you'll have to rely on guides to find what to do at the beginning. The game is good, but certainly not goty! Graphics are disappointing for ps5/xbox series x, there's a lot of bugs. Gameplay is archaic. Fan of the Souls serie will love it, but again isn't for everyone and is certainly not as good as all the reviews says.… Expand
  94. wakara
    Apr 29, 2022
    5
    Once again I fell for the corrupt reviews of journalists who put this game 10/10. Scripted quests and dialogues break, NPCs disappear, there is no balance. You can play normally only as a magician, a pure warrior sucks. Pumping so insignificantly strengthens the character that it could not be added. Worst open world I've ever seen: 1) 90% of game time is horseback riding, 2) repetitiveOnce again I fell for the corrupt reviews of journalists who put this game 10/10. Scripted quests and dialogues break, NPCs disappear, there is no balance. You can play normally only as a magician, a pure warrior sucks. Pumping so insignificantly strengthens the character that it could not be added. Worst open world I've ever seen: 1) 90% of game time is horseback riding, 2) repetitive assets of enemies, buildings, etc., 3) just not fun to explore.… Expand
  95. AlasdairPlays
    Mar 1, 2022
    7
    Since I'm playing on PC it's only justified that I write a review for the PC version. Elden Ring is a beautiful vast open world with plenty of things to explore and bosses to fight but at the same time it just feels so empty. Following the same format of the previous Souls games you are thrown into a barren world bent on a task to restore order.

    There is nothing new or different about    Since I'm playing on PC it's only justified that I write a review for the PC version. Elden Ring is a beautiful vast open world with plenty of things to explore and bosses to fight but at the same time it just feels so empty. Following the same format of the previous Souls games you are thrown into a barren world bent on a task to restore order.

    There is nothing new or different about this game when compared to the other games released by FromSoftware. Sure you have a vast open world to explore which is new but the world just feels empty, don't you think that with doing a open world you might have thought about adding in a passive fort or village fighting just to make the world seem more lively. There are a few NPC's to be found throughout the world, some of which have quests to give but don't expect the game to tell you where to go for that quest. in all my 45+ hours of playing I have come across just one quest marker and that was to show me where to find a portal, other than that you better either be taking some notes or scrounging the wiki for the answer on where to go next.

    The variety of bosses in this game is great, some optional and some mandatory to continue the main story. The music is phenomenal with my favorite being during the Ancestor Spirit Boss Fight, that fight alone just reminds me of The Dancer fight from DS3, not as hard but just as wonderful and graceful. This is the perfect game for any newcomer to the series to start off with just because of how the open world provides a sort of play at your own pace feel to it.

    With as good as this game is though it's not without it's issues, I can't even begin to count the amount of times I have died due to stuttering or random FPS drops, the game is locked at 60 FPS which is fine but when it just randomly drops to 15 FPS it can be a bit jarring. Beyond that I've had my game crash on me a couple time and had a few enemies break to where they just start spinning.

    This game is fun, don't get me wrong. It's not deserving of a 0 but also not deserving of a 10. Down to it's core it's just another Dark Souls Game and nothing new.    … Expand
  96. Kerozen666
    Apr 1, 2022
    5
    It's a game that suffer from the same problem as it's predecessor. The art and overall world design is flawless (not counting the hostile part, that's for the next pat), there is nothing i can say on that, it's just wonderful. Where the problem is with the game, is the gameplay. Overall, the game end up being hard for the sake of being hard. The intricate story and the breathtakingIt's a game that suffer from the same problem as it's predecessor. The art and overall world design is flawless (not counting the hostile part, that's for the next pat), there is nothing i can say on that, it's just wonderful. Where the problem is with the game, is the gameplay. Overall, the game end up being hard for the sake of being hard. The intricate story and the breathtaking artstyle end up being painful to access as you have to face all the unceasing crap the game send your way.

    As with other game from the director, you can still screw yourself up from questline by doing things the games never indicate you should not, like attacking a bear in the area where they attack you (this cuts you out from a quest). This kind of situation can happen at any point, and considering the lenght of the game and how it save constantly, it is still impossible to correct the tiny mistake you make. But hey! it's still better than a game daring to hold your hand a bit, am i right?

    Also, it's been 13 years and there is still no pause (that isn't an exploit). that you are alone in your game or even fully offline, in 2022, if you need to use the bathroom, Mr Miyazaki say you need to wait

    The needlessly painful experience, the lack of basic game functions like pause and the obcession with being overly cryptic to the point of negatively impacting the gamew experience is why i cannot give more than a 5. The game is gorgeous, but it's not worth much when everytrhing else is pain    … Expand
  97. mckaing10277
    Apr 3, 2022
    5
    I enjoyed this game and spent around 45 hours playing, my problem is I have reached a point where I just can't progress. The bosses are too difficult. Also I can't stand a game where I need to have the game guide open in a seperate tab for like 95% of gameplay. Some of the things I have had to use guides for I'm sure I would have NEVER figured out without them. It's just not fun for meI enjoyed this game and spent around 45 hours playing, my problem is I have reached a point where I just can't progress. The bosses are too difficult. Also I can't stand a game where I need to have the game guide open in a seperate tab for like 95% of gameplay. Some of the things I have had to use guides for I'm sure I would have NEVER figured out without them. It's just not fun for me when a game is so difficult that it requires a play guide.

    Also I cant not stand the fact that it is open world AND there is no indicator of how difficult an enemy is before you attack it (it would be really nice if they showed the enemies' levels rather than just getting one shotted all the time). I really gave this game an honest try but I've decided it isn't worth any further investment.

    I'm probably going to try and play dark souls because it is linear progression.    … Expand
  98. StarkAgentos
    Feb 26, 2022
    6
    Поиграл всего 1 час. Игра мне в первое время даже понравилась, пока я не понял, что не могу просто добраться из точки а в точку б и почти никого не могу одолеть...
  99. Rainbow_Lotus
    Mar 6, 2022
    5
    This is my biggest video-game-disapointment ever.
    A dark souls game of extreme quality, that has been opened for the casual gamer. That was my expectation. Now, 30 hours of later, im deinstalling, and am not going to ever play this, nor buy any From Software game ever again...
    Honestly: I regret the 30 hours of frustration i had, and the hilarious amount i paid for it. It basically is    This is my biggest video-game-disapointment ever.
    A dark souls game of extreme quality, that has been opened for the casual gamer. That was my expectation. Now, 30 hours of later, im deinstalling, and am not going to ever play this, nor buy any From Software game ever again...

    Honestly: I regret the 30 hours of frustration i had, and the hilarious amount i paid for it.
    It basically is just a fighting simulator. There is nothing more in this game. Run around, fight difficult to impossible (for me) battles, grind endlessly, progress extremely slowly, and, from time to time, discover items that may or may not be useful for you.
    You will die a lot, lose all character progress regulairly, and generally, have no idea what this game is actually about. The story is non-existent, the world is extremely lifeless, and just filled with enemies that wait only or you, and the storyline will come to an end pretty fast, because you will just not be able to beat the bosses. At least, if you are a casual gamer iike me.
    Which forces you to battle easy opponents forever, as rewards and character developement are hardly more than a cosmetic feature.

    Of course there are ways to exploit the game, but as soon as i need youtube in a tab to achieve any chance of progression, a game has failed for me.

    My last experience in this game, after exploring the whole starting region desperately, was a sorceress who finally enabled me to learn new spells. Which gave me hope, that the torture had come to an end.
    And guess what: Those spells are far weaker than the weak ones, that you start with. Its a slap in the face, and im sure, that its an intended one.
    This is Elden Ring in a nutshell...    … Expand
  100. 0Everlast0
    Mar 14, 2022
    6
    It's an ok game. But it barely works.
    It keeps on stuttering and freezing, sometimes it doesn't even start remaining on a white screen forever. This situation makes some enemies impossible to beat, just because the game crumbles on itself when you are near them.
    The fighting system is annoying and unfair for the player, to make an example: if you manage to knock an enemy to the ground it    It's an ok game. But it barely works.
    It keeps on stuttering and freezing, sometimes it doesn't even start remaining on a white screen forever. This situation makes some enemies impossible to beat, just because the game crumbles on itself when you are near them.
    The fighting system is annoying and unfair for the player, to make an example: if you manage to knock an enemy to the ground it becomes invincible and you can't attack them. You would guess that the same goes for you, but no. If you get knocked down you receive a combo that kills you.
    The major bosses almost instakill you after one hit. The magic system is overpowered, and doing a parry is almost pointless because the combo that you can do after the parry, does the same damage that you would do with a charged attack. To make everything worse it's extremely hard to do because you can't understand when the enemies hit you. ( this is especially true for the major bosses ). Also, there are a lot of attacks that aren't parry-able, and there is no prompt or indication that they can't be parried. The mechanic of blocking the attacks is really interesting because you can follow it with a combo. But it is doable only on small enemies because after a boss combo you don't have enough stamina left to attack, and instead receive an attack in your face.
    The game feels generally old and every animation, every weapon, every combo has a feel of "already seen".
    If you go to an advanced area and beat an enemy that would have killed you in two hits, you receive the same exp that you would get beating the same enemy in his weaker version, in the starting zone. It is completely mental because advancing in the game, you need progressively more exp to level up, but the enemies give you always the same amount, even the harder ones.
    The game gives you the illusion to have the possibility to fuse a lot of styles, magics, weapons, armors, and abilities. But in reality, the only sensible ones reduce to a number countable with your fingers. This is especially true for armors, which are incredibly useless to one another, with really small chances between them and just a couple of them being really useful. I didn't understand the weight mechanic... between "medium-weight" and "light-weight" changes literally nothing. Moving speed is the same, attack speed is the same, you roll in the same way...
    The soundtrack is ok, nothing special. I've played dozens of hours and I can't recall even one track... so yeah, they work, but nothing memorable.
    The "new" mechanics are also annoying. The jump is utterly pointless because in the open world you can jump essentially nowhere, resolving in the end always using your mount jump. In a "closed" environment instead, it just becomes a way to give you anxiety and frustration. It opens new possibilities to explore the environment and have smart shortcuts, but the majority of them are on a freefall down, which in this game means INSTANT death. It wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that you respawn at the last checkpoint, and even if you manage to survive all the enemies on the road to get where you died, you could just slip down one of the platforms and LOSE ALL THE EXP you have collected to that moment. ( which could be a lot since going further in the game, you start to require something like 25.000 runes to level up ONE level; and the enemies give you around 150 runes average ).
    This could be acceptable if the jump mechanic was implemented decently in the game. But that isn't the case, the jump is hard to calibrate and sometimes unpredictable.

    I would recommend this game if you like exploration and BIG boss battles. Those are two points in which this game excels, It doesn't even seem the same game. Weird is... the game usually stutters less on the big bosses compared to the small ones. Also, being the Big B.s big you can challenge them also on your mount. Which is super satisfying. The exploration is always interesting and pretty much diverse even tho the story is comparable to a headache and is really confused.

    Overall it isn't a bad game. but not a good one either.
    It has its very good things, but sadly it also has HUGE negative and annoying things.

    P.S. during frame drops, enemies are literally invisible.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best PC Game of 2022
2
#2 Most Discussed PC Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
94

Universal acclaim - based on 60 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 57 out of 60
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 60
  3. Negative: 0 out of 60
  1. Cubed3
    Aug 29, 2022
    70
    Elden Ring is an experience that will not be forgotten in a hurry. It's a tremendous, hulking, massive achievement but because it is tremendous, hulking and massive, it is one that comes with many caveats. The shelves in CeX and conversations with people who stopped playing at Stormveil castle can certainly attest to some of those caveats. Much like any FromSoftware title, it's not going to be for everybody, but paradoxically it is one of their hardest and one of their most accessible to date. It offers huge value in one package, and perhaps is a little too much value, only becoming clearer when nearing the endgame. Don't be mistaken by the criticism, though. This is a phenomenal achievement with a moment-to-moment that is incredibly engaging and immersive. No doubt it will be deserving of the end-of-year accolades it will inevitably receive. One pushes through Elden Ring as one pushes through life, with all the highs and the lows that it brings.
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  2. Riot Pixels
    Apr 28, 2022
    82
    Elden Ring is massive, sometimes to its detriment. A thorough walkthrough might take up more than 100 hours to complete, and at some point it becomes clear that From Software did not have enough manpower to produce that much unique content. Still, it remains incredibly addictive even after those 100 hours pass…
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  3. RPGamer
    Apr 14, 2022
    90
    It’s hard to review Elden Ring without being comparative; that’s because Elden Ring is an evolutionary step, not a revolutionary one, and one can’t help but see how it’s built on what came before. Here is a massive undertaking of a game, not for the sake of chasing trends but as the natural progression of the style the company has been fostering for over a decade. It’s amazing how smoothly the transition to open world was and how much of the Souls identity is still present. In the short time since its release, it has already left a cultural mark, no doubt a result of the game’s increased approachability. Even after sifting past all the hype and grandiosity, there’s still an excellent game left and Elden Ring is a clear showcase of FromSoftware’s outstanding expertise in the field. Elden Ring really is just that good.
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