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. Doobis
    Apr 3, 2022
    8
    Great game with a lot of content, but framerate issues even when playing on lower settings than the game recommends for my PC hold the game back.
  2. JBinSF
    Apr 3, 2022
    10
    137 hours played so far on Steam. The next highest on there for me are Crusader Kings II (69 hrs), No Man's Sky (51 hrs), Factorio (46 hrs), Fallout 4 (44 hrs). The last game I played this much was Breath of the Wild.

    It is definitely not an easy game. And, you need to become more comfortable with dying. But, once you get the hang of it, it's an addicting game with plenty to do. The    137 hours played so far on Steam. The next highest on there for me are Crusader Kings II (69 hrs), No Man's Sky (51 hrs), Factorio (46 hrs), Fallout 4 (44 hrs). The last game I played this much was Breath of the Wild.

    It is definitely not an easy game. And, you need to become more comfortable with dying. But, once you get the hang of it, it's an addicting game with plenty to do. The world is absolutely huge, and there are dungeons and bosses and other secrets littered all over the place. It would be a nightmare to get 100% completion.

    The leveling system is a little whacky. You lose your runes (which are needed to level and buy things) every time you die, and you're given one chance to collect them. If you die again before returning to the place you died initially to collect them, they're lost forever. It can make the game incredibly frustrating. But, now I basically level by rune-farming a certain area, and ignore my lost runes when I die. Coupled with use of multiplayer where applicable, the game became 10x easier, and more like BoTW.

    I did experience the stuttering some PC folks complain about, and this is on a brand-new system with a GTX3070. After fiddling with the graphics, as well as the recent patch, I'm not experiencing much of that anymore.

    At the end of the day, any game that has me playing as much as this one does deserves a 10/10. Is it perfect? No. But if we reserved 10/10 for perfect games, I'm not sure if we'd ever use it.    … Expand
  3. 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
  4. Midgardknight
    Apr 3, 2022
    9
    Blown away by the vast world. I have been playing Fromsoft games since Armored Core 1 and king's Field-this, THIS is the zenith of all things they've made thus far. Forget the maidenless reviews from players who haven't taken the time to git gud. i rated it a 9 because of performance issues but you will not regret this game
  5. YY_
    Apr 3, 2022
    1
    Awful game. It's just 80 hours of raw, unforgiving pain. And not the fun kind of pain -- the stupid kind of pain. I love Dark Souls 1 and 3 and have completed them plenty of times, so it's not that I have an issue with the Souls series. I actually went back and started a playthrough of DS3 after getting most of the way through Elden Ring just to remind myself what a fun From SoftwareAwful game. It's just 80 hours of raw, unforgiving pain. And not the fun kind of pain -- the stupid kind of pain. I love Dark Souls 1 and 3 and have completed them plenty of times, so it's not that I have an issue with the Souls series. I actually went back and started a playthrough of DS3 after getting most of the way through Elden Ring just to remind myself what a fun From Software game looks like.

    The bad:

    1) Boss design. Absolute garbage. Every one of them is a giant dude that can hit you for 75% to 100% of your health from infinite range with AOE. Every one of them has an 8 hit combo. Every one of them has some illegible attack that they wind up, pause for 1-2 seconds, and then swing super fast. Tree sentinel? The first boss you come across (that you're supposed to skip, yes, yes, I know)? Yeah, it's a dude on a horse. His jump attack doesn't go straight at you. No, he jumps about 30 degrees off to the side so that your spells will miss him, and then changes direction in midair to hit you. If he had wings or was some ethereal being, sure, that would makes sense. He doesn't. He's just a dude on a horse and someone at From Software decided horses can defy physics now. Half the time, you're in a tiny room so you can't manuever too. One boss like that? Sure, it's fun. Capra demon was cool. Sister Friede was cool. But in this game, it's Every. Single. Boss.

    2) It should have been called Dark Souls 4. Once again, we're in a decaying world with a bunch of people who speak slowly and vaguely. There's some gods. They're not doing their part. We're some undead dude that needs to go fix the world. Souls are now runes. Bonfires are sites of grace (and they're still used as a loading icon on the lower left of your screen). Phantoms are still phantoms. Messages are still there. You still get a nice big YOU DIED when you die. It's all just too familiar. Look, if you're going to just reskin dark souls, right down to the plot, just call it dark souls.

    3) The characters. Just about every character in this game starts with a G, R, or M. Want to keep track of the difference between Godric and Godwyn? How about Marika, Malenia, and Melina? Maybe you'd like some Ranni, Renna, and Rennala? Redahn and Radagon? What the hell. I completely stopped caring about this plot -- George R. R. Martin and Miyazaki have lost their minds.

    4) PC performance. Awful. Even on a high end machine, you'll come up against constant stuttering. Enemies and allies will turn invisible. Half the time, my dude is riding around on an invisible horse. It's kinda funny, but it's really frustrating when you can't see the Adds in a huge boss fight.

    The good:

    1) The environments and enemies still look cool. They look great, even, and the world is huge. But it's just not enough to carry this game on its own. Especially since it's still the same art style that we've come to know from other Dark Souls games.

    Skip it. Just skip it. Buy it when it's in the bargain bin in two years if you must, for curiosity's sake.    … Expand
  6. Nobody1234
    Apr 3, 2022
    3
    I do not understand why those who love the game love it so much. I played the game for 20 hours and heard 30 sentences in total, how is this a perfect game? Is it the game of the year to make a map and fill it with ridiculous bosses and creatures? I've played the game for 20 hours and I don't understand what's going on in the game, there is no such nonsense game.

    There are already a few    I do not understand why those who love the game love it so much. I played the game for 20 hours and heard 30 sentences in total, how is this a perfect game? Is it the game of the year to make a map and fill it with ridiculous bosses and creatures? I've played the game for 20 hours and I don't understand what's going on in the game, there is no such nonsense game.

    There are already a few dialogues in total, and they wrote them so strangely to create mystery. For example, I see someone in the game, I think he will talk about what the game is about. He makes two stupid sentences and says go on, I can't deal with you. When I went to that round table, for the first time I said, "Okay, now they'll tell you two things". They said two ridiculous things. Someone said let me know if you see that woman, a woman hugged me and then said f.. off now. The other one has a wheel on his head, he said, "Let me teach you something" and he was teaching magic. Someone stands and looks at me and doesn't speak at all. Something like two statues is holding on to a stick selling something, what kind of environment is that? Tell me this. Is not it?

    For example, I came across something like a big cauldron while I was traveling, it was stuck on the ground and I saved it by hitting it, so this is not a normal type, is it? You have to explain this, the talking cauldron, it has hands and arms, what is it, where did it come from? No. "I'm alexander I'm traveling" that's it???

    I entered one cave, there are wolves etc. Then I went through a fog and there's a creature I can't remember the exact name of, something like the monster man of azura. I killed him and got out in 5-6 tries. Eh? What's up now? What did I understand, he is a type that looks like he has mutated from wolves, what is he looking for here, who is he? They modeled it and threw it there, two moves, it's over. Is this the perfect game?

    In short, there is no story that draws me in. If there is a story with a boss, you are ambitious to learn the continuation of that story, you try to defeat it, right? What's the story in this game? What motivates you in this game? What makes you wonder to continue? Does the next boss shoot by spinning, or does he create a sword out of nothing and shoot to understand it? For example, I think that first boss appeared in a place like a bridge. Tarnished etc. he said. Who is this? What does it do? What's the deal with this? His face is like rabies, he hits with a big stick in one hand, hits with his tail, throws out an imaginary knife, hits with an imaginary sledgehammer, hits with an imaginary sword, but what is the place of this in that story? I watched a few videos and there are too many meaningless bosses. I don't think any of them are told about their story, because as I said, I played for 20 hours and I must have heard 30 sentences or something. The cat statue is the boss, the dragon is the boss, the big horse is the little boss, etc.

    Even the item names are meaningless. There was an item named something like "white pickled rabbit" :D

    I think the man who did it thought "let this boss have a tail, hmm this one has 30 hands, what should it be, sir? Let it shoot" and shook everything out of his head. Anyway, I guess people thought they would make up a story in their head. If there is a decent story, do I have to open it and look it up on the internet etc.? Tell me the story in the game. I would like to learn the story of the game in the game, not by asking uncle google, we are playing a game, after all, we are not doing thesis research, are we?

    The game world is full. Get out of there. If we don't see the game, we will eat it. Creatures wandering around aimlessly. Go around and kill. Is this the full world? There is no sign of a living world or the like.

    I played a total of 30 hours with other characters and I always played in the mind of "people have always loved this game, what do I not understand, I should love it too". But it's a very bad game. You're stuck on a hype. The game also got 96 points??? What does 96 points mean? It means everything has to be perfect. Performance issues alone should have prevented him from getting that score. No story, no enemy AI. If we look at the graph, it sucks too. If other games had these problems, the whole game world would curse that game. But if you ask about this game, the answer is always the same "Souls games don't look for these" :D Don't look at the animation, don't look at the graphics, don't look at the story presentation, don't look at the optimization, what the hell are we looking for? Come to a boss, die 50 times to that boss, go back that way, memorize the moves of that boss and finally when you kill him, "oovaaaauuuvvv, this is the game, what a defeat, this is the pleasure of difficulty, yiaaa". The game is just that.    … Expand
  7. BeatHour
    Apr 3, 2022
    8
    Easily the best open world and minimalist UX experience ever invented, nearly ruined by its being a technical dumpster fire. While amateur critics lambasted games like Cyberpunk for sporadic texture glitches, Elden Ring features server disconnects in a single player game, a plethora of CTDs, save corruptions that will see dozens of hours of progress lost, multiplayer disconnects, and aEasily the best open world and minimalist UX experience ever invented, nearly ruined by its being a technical dumpster fire. While amateur critics lambasted games like Cyberpunk for sporadic texture glitches, Elden Ring features server disconnects in a single player game, a plethora of CTDs, save corruptions that will see dozens of hours of progress lost, multiplayer disconnects, and a complete lack of matchmaking in multiplayer that will make gameplay with a friend a slog of level 100+ players camping level 1-30 areas.

    Elden Ring has an expansive and meaningful world and rich, perfectly understated lore. Unfortunately, it struggles at being a game underneath everything it does well. Monsters will hit you through walls, iframes on dodges and hitboxes on attacks are imperfect, and the class/leveling system is skewed in importance early on due to the game's prioritization of level over stats as an expression of the player's power.

    It's a great game. I just wish they spent a little more time making the gameplay enjoyable and maybe consider using their cloud system to protect players from save corruption? This is the first time I've seen save corruption in over a decade, and it's inexcusable. That alone is worth taking two points off the total score.    … Expand
  8. 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
  9. Potitoman
    Apr 3, 2022
    9
    Is this Dark Souls 4?
    On the surface, it appears so, but if you play it like a Dark Souls game, you'll have a very short lifespan.
    The open world and horse mechanics opens up new possibilities during combat which are completely necessary to overcome the challenges. This is an evolution of DS and Sekiro set in an open world. It is engrossing and the urge to explore and discover new    Is this Dark Souls 4?
    On the surface, it appears so, but if you play it like a Dark Souls game, you'll have a very short lifespan.
    The open world and horse mechanics opens up new possibilities during combat which are completely necessary to overcome the challenges.
    This is an evolution of DS and Sekiro set in an open world.
    It is engrossing and the urge to explore and discover new mysteries is palpable.
    Highly recommended to those who have loved the DS series and even those who have never played them. It is exquisite!    … Expand
  10. iSimon420
    Apr 2, 2022
    10
    The hardest video game I have ever played in my life is also the masterpiece of the decade bar none! Elden Ring has raised every bar imaginable for every game across every category, and this is the rare title that truly deserves its hype. Gushing with content from head to toe, a gorgeous open-world that puts everything else, even the amazing Horizon Forbidden West to shame! IncredibleThe hardest video game I have ever played in my life is also the masterpiece of the decade bar none! Elden Ring has raised every bar imaginable for every game across every category, and this is the rare title that truly deserves its hype. Gushing with content from head to toe, a gorgeous open-world that puts everything else, even the amazing Horizon Forbidden West to shame! Incredible combat system that pulls no punches with savage enemies who will adapt to every situation. The most intense boss fights I have ever experienced.

    I don't know how many more times I could say masterpiece about Elden Ring, its Zelda on a thousand steroids and is the must play title of the decade. Hardest game you will ever play, no hand holding whatsoever, but if you can get past its difficulty, its a diamond the size of Jupiter. 10/10    … Expand
  11. rotTheim
    Apr 2, 2022
    9
    The culmination of years of perfection by FromSoftware. Brutal, challenging & punishing. Yet also fair & easier than what came before, thanks to more options made available that the layer has to find & actively use. PC version's only real marring quality is it's stability, requiring waiting for the game to warm up before you stop seeing hitches in the frame rate or brief pauses. But evenThe culmination of years of perfection by FromSoftware. Brutal, challenging & punishing. Yet also fair & easier than what came before, thanks to more options made available that the layer has to find & actively use. PC version's only real marring quality is it's stability, requiring waiting for the game to warm up before you stop seeing hitches in the frame rate or brief pauses. But even then they don't go away.… Expand
  12. Leonardo45
    Apr 2, 2022
    0
    CONS
    1- The streamer is dumb
    2- The map is big and confusing
    3- the optimization is horrible, the game runs poorly on rtx
    4-the people who make tutorials are dumb too. They don't show the map, they just show a specific corner hoping we know where it is.

    PROS
    the game is beautiful, at 40 fps
  13. Drangleic
    Apr 2, 2022
    10
    This game super gud, buy 4 me please. World huge and has dragons. Patches wants to play too.
  14. Valonqarie
    Apr 2, 2022
    9
    It's a good, and fun game. Sure, it had some graphical issues, but none of them have caused any problems or annoyances for myself
  15. Hellonours
    Apr 2, 2022
    0
    The handling is clumsy. The gameplay itself is slow, outdated, like the graphics are. And despite that fact, the game manages to lag on a pretty good computer. Total waste of my money.
  16. H4X0R
    Apr 2, 2022
    2
    After 120h of pure frustration and 200 level (at least 40-50 farmed), I give this game 2/10. The game is beaten solo (offline). It sucks, and here is why:

    Main Story: There isn't one, after 200h the only thing that can be understood is that there is a stupid ring (G.R.R.'s courtesy), and that is it. You finish the game and there is no ring, you become "Elden Lord", whatever that means,    After 120h of pure frustration and 200 level (at least 40-50 farmed), I give this game 2/10. The game is beaten solo (offline). It sucks, and here is why:

    Main Story: There isn't one, after 200h the only thing that can be understood is that there is a stupid ring (G.R.R.'s courtesy), and that is it. You finish the game and there is no ring, you become "Elden Lord", whatever that means, and that is it.

    Side Quests: Not a one normal quest that I will remember. No quest tracking, no map points, nothing. I've finished the game and missed 90% of the quests. Some of them I finished following various YT videos because I needed some gear, otherwise I wouldn't finish any of them. All quests expect players to spend tens of hours figuring out where will the quest character appear and when, and since the world is huge, that is a non-sense. The whole "exhausting dialogs" approach is stupid in many ways.

    Combat: Pure frustration. Dark Souls sheep that believe that dodging is a "skill", I pity them. Controlling your character feels like controlling an old dude who is lagging in every movement, and you are supposed to dodge with him in front of enemies with limitless stamina, 5+ hit combos and 5m-long weapons. Drinking potions is slow, so you need to dodge at least 5-7 times away from some enemies in order to be able to drink one potion without getting hit again. Most enemies use endless combos. It doesn't matter which level you are, if you go back to the beginning and find yourself between 2-3 enemies, you will die from couple of hits. It seems that your health is taken by percentage, almost every boss in the game will kill you in 3 hits at most. Waving with staff takes the same amount of stamina as hitting enemy with 3m hammer!

    Enemies: Great design for some enemies and bosses, and that's it, everything else about enemies is frustrated. Big bosses are stupid: locked camera goes crazy, hit box is not accurate. Some normal enemies are way harder than some bosses. All enemies are way agile than your old dude. Double bosses are stupid. Double stage bosses are even more stupid. Some bosses have enemies before it, each time you have to deal with them before entering boss area, because if you don't, you will get hit from back, or your summons will fight the enemies behind the barrier instead of boss.

    Difficulty: Nothing to say here, everybody knows it is kind of stupid difficulty that has nothing to do with the skills. I can only say that leveling up your character and coming back later is not fun at all. It makes you skip the content, the whole areas, the whole quests, and forgetting about them. Losing runes on death is just frustrating, it doesn't make the game any more difficult, it makes it longer because you will try to farm runes instead of playing the game.

    Open world: The design of the world is great, with wonderful scenes. The world is describing you its atmosphere graphically, whereas the music is not following that atmosphere at all. However, like many games, this one is also using open world to extend game's length in a lazy way. A lot of places have nothing, you are just traveling vast spaces without finding anything.

    Animations: Slow combat movement/drinking potion/opening doors/getting up when knocked down/bow attack, ...

    Controls: They chose the biggest idiot to make this port to PC. Never seen more stupid key bindings in any game, ever. How dafuq I am going to use E+ARROW KEY in the middle of a fight?! And don't tell me: "You have to use joystick, bla, bla, ...". If you are charging for PC game same as PS/XBOX, you should invest some time in adjusting it for PC. Have they just assigned random keys?! Then there is constant shuffling between spells, potions, weapons, ... Try doing that in front of boss that takes 90% of your health with one hit. I've died countless times because I shuffled wrong item. There is no consistency at all: sometimes you can use ESC to close something, something you must, sometimes you can't. Space for running instead of SHIFT like in every game?! G for map, why not M?! F for jump?!

    UI: Stupid Dark Souls recycled UI. It seems they copied everything they can from there. In a game where you die hundreds of times, you should be more creative with death message/animation, but they went with the lame "YOU DIED" for 100th time. Inventory management is painful. No pause! When you want to exit you are forced to see 2 logo animations again. Click "any" key to continue (except enter and space).

    Sound/music: I think there is one track throughout the whole game, and second one when somebody attacks you. And they both suck.

    I wouldn't recommend this game to anybody. This game feels like doing chores and not playing.    … Expand
  17. Hacktr0n
    Apr 2, 2022
    10
    I have logged just over 100 hours into this game over the last two weeks, and I am a working professional, husband, and father of 3.

    No game is without flaws; however, I am overjoyed with the value proposition of this game. For me, it is like a mix between of few of my favorite games such as Zelda Breath of the Wild, Tom Raider, and an old favorite Everquest, etc. It is a massive    I have logged just over 100 hours into this game over the last two weeks, and I am a working professional, husband, and father of 3.

    No game is without flaws; however, I am overjoyed with the value proposition of this game. For me, it is like a mix between of few of my favorite games such as Zelda Breath of the Wild, Tom Raider, and an old favorite Everquest, etc. It is a massive achievement, particularly in this age of poor quality releases. This game will be as timeless as Breath of the Wild, and more so for me due to its' adult nature and added verticality to many challenges.

    There is ample freedom to explore, creativity in tackling obstacles, and just when you find yourself on the verge of boredom or thinking you're approaching end game, the world opens up further and new challenges put you back in your place.

    I am often surprised by death in a way that brings a smile to my face - like OK you got me there. Then there is of course victory after several failed attempts that brings joy from overcoming.

    Bravo. Masterpiece, warts and all.    … Expand
  18. Melavin3
    Apr 2, 2022
    10
    Masterpiece. Perfect in every regard (except performance sometimes, but it's not that bad really)
  19. 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
  20. Specter36
    Apr 2, 2022
    6
    Пустой открытый мир, мёртвый нарратив, примитивный интерфейс, несбалансированность противников.
    Ситуацию спасают только проработанный лор, приятная для глаза картинка и механика боевой системы. Но всё то же самое было в серии DS. Получается, что все нововведения оказались излишни. Я наиграл уже больше 50-и часов и до сих пор не до конца понимаю, что делаю по сюжету. Игра просто утомляет и    Пустой открытый мир, мёртвый нарратив, примитивный интерфейс, несбалансированность противников.
    Ситуацию спасают только проработанный лор, приятная для глаза картинка и механика боевой системы. Но всё то же самое было в серии DS. Получается, что все нововведения оказались излишни. Я наиграл уже больше 50-и часов и до сих пор не до конца понимаю, что делаю по сюжету. Игра просто утомляет и больше 3-4 часов играть за один заход не возникает желания.    … Expand
  21. VibetheNOOK
    Apr 1, 2022
    9
    From Software has made recent history with one of the highest recently released games, Elden Ring. Every bit of praise has been deserved with how much this game has to offer, especially given the fact that the developers changed their formula quite a bit, making this souls-like ARPG open world and filled it to the brim with content. While there have been some performance complaints due toFrom Software has made recent history with one of the highest recently released games, Elden Ring. Every bit of praise has been deserved with how much this game has to offer, especially given the fact that the developers changed their formula quite a bit, making this souls-like ARPG open world and filled it to the brim with content. While there have been some performance complaints due to the network errors and stutters, most of the issues are minor and hardly game breaking. This game will no doubt make it to GOTY and is one of the best ARPGs to release since Witcher 3.
    There are no words that can describe how beautiful the Lands Between are, let alone how much content is filled in every nook and cranny. From the beautiful Lake of Liurnia, to the vast plains of the Atlus Plateau and the towering Mountaintops of the Giants, I constantly feel the need to screen capture every moment. Elden Ring is absolutely visually stunning, especially on a 30 series GPU. Not to mention, you never run out of things to do between dungeons, area bosses, hidden items and shacks of merchants, and evergaols around each and every corner. There is always something new to discover between the hours spent roaming each area and I absolutely love it. I would often find myself running into random caves that would ascend to the depths with a boss waiting for me, or even random ruins of a church or building with some much needed loot inside. Nothing feels too obvious to find, and everything becomes more challenging with puzzles and obstacles, or just a purely brutal boss. Each area is also filled with hours worth of quests and discoveries, I mean there are 83 bosses in the entire game. Limgrave alone will take a player around 25 hours to fully complete given the fact that there are 15 dungeons alone.
    Evergaols are a delightful surprise that often end in pain or fun. They are, in layman’s terms, what can be described as everlasting jails, with brutally tough bosses waiting to fight you in an arena that is basically their prison. Some will require a stonesword key to open, and usually those ones are a bit hard than the others. That being said, if you are over leveled, some of these fights can be a cake walk. The nice part about them is the fact that if you die, your souls will be left outside of the ring leaving little to no punishment, but the fights still feel rewarding to take part in. These gaols are scattered throughout the Lands Between with little to no obstacles in the way, and they can be challenged at any time without progression punishment and rewards.
    While every class has their unique stat priorities like any souls game or RPG in general, due to the sheer damage every enemy seems to cause, Vitality is one of the most important stats for every class. It is highly recommended to get this specific stat to at least 20, and even then most players have changed the spec even higher. Almost all magic using classes have become glass cannons as well as dexterity classes. Many bosses have a move that can one hit any player with 20 dumped into vitality which is insane. It should also be noted that soft and hard caps have completely changed for each stat. Every stat hard caps at 99, but now there are around three tiers of soft caps that are completely different for each class. A prime example would be that stats like Faith and Intelligence soft cap at 20, 80, and 90, while Endurance has four soft caps at 12, 18, 32, and 50. This in turn creates a whole new ball park for PVP, which we will have to wait and see where the meta turns.
    One added bonus to From Software’s first open world souls game is the spectral steed Torrent. Torrent is a life saver due to how massive the world is, but also changes fights entirely. I love the fact that you can fight with a weapon or use spells while mounted, but also sometimes choose not to due to the fact that you can fight area bosses mounted and it makes it way less challenging. Dragons are a prime example of this, because even though they can most likely one shot you, you can complete a lot of the fight without getting hit if you use Torrent. Convenient or not, it does take away from the impact and fun of the fight a lot of the time. However, Torrent is great if you want to grind for souls and quickly take out enemies.
    Overall, Elden Ring has slowly become one of my favorite games of all time, and is one of the top open world ARPGs to release this generation. While there can be some balancing changes, as well as some performance fixes that will come with time anyway, this game is almost perfect in story, side content, and gameplay all around.    … Expand
  22. Patsanas
    Apr 1, 2022
    2
    Can't give it a good rating, because of poor pc port. It's been a month since the game launched and it still stutters, no matter the graphic settings, drivers, anti-cheat or satanic rituals. The world does seem interesting, but fromsoft had the audacity to release a stuttering game that is all about reacting to your opponent? For real? Don't buy it, there's a high chances it won't runCan't give it a good rating, because of poor pc port. It's been a month since the game launched and it still stutters, no matter the graphic settings, drivers, anti-cheat or satanic rituals. The world does seem interesting, but fromsoft had the audacity to release a stuttering game that is all about reacting to your opponent? For real? Don't buy it, there's a high chances it won't run properly for you… Expand
  23. MancSoulja
    Apr 1, 2022
    0
    RTX 3080 and I can't even get 60fps, I wouldn't mind but the graphics aren't even that good.
  24. CoDEnjoyer
    Apr 1, 2022
    0
    - Lags on Release on pretop specs computer
    - Boring soundtrack(except Main Theme)
    - Fromsoftware repeats oneself, plagiarize gamedesing and mechanics from DS3
    - Repeating over and over similar bosses
    - lack of improvement or change in game mechanics(except for JUMPing with a separate key)
    - devastating Final Boss and endings
    - weak and useless magic
  25. Slowlydeadgame
    Apr 1, 2022
    10
    Overall good game, but this game need alot optimisation for PC port. but for the gameplay is fine.
  26. Remmaster
    Apr 1, 2022
    10
    Amazing game, one of the best i have played since 10years! I had zero problem with my pc with performance! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
  27. 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
  28. xHaikou
    Apr 1, 2022
    10
    This game is great. I heard it had a rough launch on PC, however I didn't have such problems, yes my game crashed once or twice in my 200 hours playing, but nothing too bad.
    The world of Elden Ring is amazing, is beautiful, the art direction is incredible. Graphics were never the strong suit of From Software games, so don't expect photo-realistic graphics, but its not a complain, the    This game is great. I heard it had a rough launch on PC, however I didn't have such problems, yes my game crashed once or twice in my 200 hours playing, but nothing too bad.
    The world of Elden Ring is amazing, is beautiful, the art direction is incredible. Graphics were never the strong suit of From Software games, so don't expect photo-realistic graphics, but its not a complain, the graphics are not bad either, its better than DS3 but worse than the Demon's Souls Remake for PS5.
    I was afraid of the open world, open world games normally are repetitive and empty, not Elden Ring tho, the world is full of things to do, every corner, every little cave has something waiting for you, if i have one complain is some bosses are reused especially on dungeons, but, normally makes sense, like, a knight from a army or a regiment, of course there are more then just the one knight dude, its a army after all. There are plenty of unique bosses and enemies, probably more than any other From Software game before.
    From software already proved that it is willing to release new patches for the game so than can correct any performance or balance issues, at this time i have played it in full once, exploring everything I found, killing every boss I encountered and I have to say this game has a lot of content, and a lot of it is a homage to past Souls-Borne games.
    If you already love the genre, this is a must buy, if you're new to the genre, this game offers a lot of ways to make you life easier, yes it is a hard game, but if you put the time to learn how to build your character and use all the tools given, you wont have too much trouble getting to the end credits. Summons for example can help you a lot during difficult encounters, splitting the enemies attention and giving you an opportunity to attack them while they attack your summons, and the coop still the same as ever, maybe easier, since you can craft the item that allows coop easily.
    This game is great, it isn't perfect , nothing in this world is, but is one of the better ones I have played.    … Expand
  29. evgenijblja
    Apr 1, 2022
    8
    Overhyped! But still a good game. It’s just a little bit monotonous. The only thing you are doing is fighting. Need better weapons? Fight! Want to explore the area? Fight! Want do something beside fighting? Buy a new game!
    The other point which I don’t like is the introduction. They do not explain so much things.
  30. cezar55555
    Apr 1, 2022
    10
    Absolutely phenomenal. The start is pretty difficult for people who are new to the series but once you get the hang of it, it becomes a glorious journey of slaying giant foes with precision. I would recommend this game to anyone wishing to challenge themselves.
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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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