Elden Ring

 PlayStation 5
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 12214 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9,064 out of 12214
  2. Mixed: 809 out of 12214
  3. Negative: 2,341 out of 12214
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. TruthOfGaming
    Mar 8, 2022
    5
    Where do I begin on this title and the insanely inflated hype around it? Elden Ring is yet another entry to the Souls genre, and this time steps away from the tried and true design of tightly crafted game worlds that Fromsoft usually brings us. Unfortunately, we are left with a bland and lifeless Overworld, connected with obscured dungeons that feel copied straight from Bloodborne'sWhere do I begin on this title and the insanely inflated hype around it? Elden Ring is yet another entry to the Souls genre, and this time steps away from the tried and true design of tightly crafted game worlds that Fromsoft usually brings us. Unfortunately, we are left with a bland and lifeless Overworld, connected with obscured dungeons that feel copied straight from Bloodborne's Chalice Dungeons. There was something missed in translation here, as most open worlds draw you in with a plethora of things to experience, not just empty space between the next thing to kill.
    Speaking of killing, the entire game revolves around removing enemies out of your way. This is the same as every Souls game, but this is supposed to be an open world experience. Imagine just laying a linear game out on top of a big map and calling it "open world" now. With nothing else to do, you will be traveling across large, empty expanses to find another repetitive dungeon, another rehashed enemy, another reskinned boss...with rewards that do not give you incentive to explore. You hit walls where you cannot pass, so you must go try a different route until you are strong enough to do the "intended" route. You will begin to lose steam after the honeymoon phase wears off.

    The bosses get progressively more ridiculous as you move through the game. Instead of opting for a dance of combat like Bloodborne or Sekiro, you will spend the entire battle rolling around, counting on iframes to help scrape you out of a 9-hit combo alive, where each hit of the combo can chunk you for most of your health. Enemies everywhere rely on delay attacks, holding their weapons in the air just until you finish rolling for a cheap kill. Some will defy physics and spin midair to land on you. The whole thing is about being cheesed by enemies or cheesing them by leveling. Even having the strongest physical defense armor in the entire game, plus dumping most of your points into Vigor, you will still be 2 shot by end bosses. Highly disappointing.

    The "open world" is rife with shambling creatures that walk in circles or wait patiently for you to approach and dispatch them. NPC stand around, lifeless in this uninspired world. You cannot track any quests, so unless you have a really good memory, you are expected to play with a journal by your side for notes. The UI used is ugly and over a decade old. Movement is nearly a direct copy from Dark Souls 3, with weapon Arts.

    The biggest crime here, though, is the reviews from Critics. Unanimously overflowing 10/10 review from nearly every gaming company out there. For a continuation of pretty niche type of game, the how is unreal. Especially when NOTHING here is revolutionary, inventive, or deserving of the word "masterpiece." At best it is bait to get people to buy Elden Ring, only to be highly disappointed after the refund return window has closed.

    Lastly, the hype of George RR Martin to sell the game! This is just using a name to sell your product. You can replace entire words with phrases from Dark Souls. Point of Lost Grace = Bonfire.

    Watch reviews (not 10/10 "critic" reviews, but actual USER reviews), check out some gameplay. Read reddit posts that are not biased towards it being great. Don't just jump on a train taking gaming in the wrong direction.    … Expand
  2. jacko6299
    Feb 28, 2022
    6
    Am I the only sane person without mob mentality left?
    Man I don't know what is warranting these high scores, I've never seen so many misleading review scores in my entire life. There's no story really, just esoteric lore peppered around. While the open world can be visually interesting from a aesthetic point of view at times, the open world can feel boring, empty lots of space and no    Am I the only sane person without mob mentality left?
    Man I don't know what is warranting these high scores, I've never seen so many misleading review scores in my entire life. There's no story really, just esoteric lore peppered around. While the open world can be visually interesting from a aesthetic point of view at times, the open world can feel boring, empty lots of space and no real incentive to fight a lot of the monsters. So the BOTW comparisons is laughable and Skyrim! lol i cant even... The game isn't bad its just 100% more of the same, don't let these people fool you about the magic of "discovering the open world" That this is straight up dark souls 4. same look, same feel same outdated graphics and same gameplay. You fight monsters in sometimes interesting fantasy settings, with extremely difficult combat. But 10s!! no!    … Expand
  3. anoncritic
    Mar 5, 2022
    6
    After years of success, which each entry into fromsoftwares legacy, Elden Ring was hyped to be the pinnacle of the Souls experience. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t live up to the hype. It feels like a step back from the progress sekiro and Bloodbourne made. The open world is bland, empty and boring. Finding reasons to continue playing the game gets more and more difficult as time goes on.After years of success, which each entry into fromsoftwares legacy, Elden Ring was hyped to be the pinnacle of the Souls experience. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t live up to the hype. It feels like a step back from the progress sekiro and Bloodbourne made. The open world is bland, empty and boring. Finding reasons to continue playing the game gets more and more difficult as time goes on. It is nowhere near FromSofts best entry, arguable being their worst. It feels like open world dark souls 1. A major step back. Completely disappointing. Rampant with performance issues and bugs. I could not see myself recommending this game to anyone.… Expand
  4. RowanBlack
    Mar 1, 2022
    5
    Very pretty but after a while you feel the world is silent and alone, often feeling like a fantasy MMO with no other people playing. It's not that the game is bad just the world while surprising at times is often very quiet. It also seems to be a large map of "lets see what's over there and can I kill it?" I'm not sure what exactly is says about a game that the community is moreVery pretty but after a while you feel the world is silent and alone, often feeling like a fantasy MMO with no other people playing. It's not that the game is bad just the world while surprising at times is often very quiet. It also seems to be a large map of "lets see what's over there and can I kill it?" I'm not sure what exactly is says about a game that the community is more concerned with finding leveling exploit spots than discussing the game it's self. If you like a constant string of challenging combat this will be for you. Everyone else? It's okay to explorers their is a lot to see. Anyone who likes a game to give you an explanation of how things work and where things are...you will not find that.… Expand
  5. cacwhere
    Mar 2, 2022
    5
    It's far from a masterpiece.

    Outdated graphics, poor optimization, simply not that great. I'd like to see reviews from journalists that aren't huge FS fans. This is a disgrace.
  6. Kryss_Everson
    Mar 12, 2022
    6
    If it's the GOTY, this year would be awful for gaming. It's just a Dark Souls 4 in an open world, nothing more. I you don't like the Dark Souls series and other look alike, you won't like this game too. The open world isn't revolutionary as some people said.
  7. Digital_Malz
    Mar 3, 2022
    5
    Let's break into points:
    1. A boring repetitive empty giant open world. Generic and recycled bosses and enemies;
    2. The same old-style FromSoftware way of telling a story: a boring puzzle that has to be solved through reading hundreds of items descriptions and cryptic conversations with stoned NPCs; 3. Clunky combat system and light-speed bosses from Tekken: rolling through infinite AoE    Let's break into points:
    1. A boring repetitive empty giant open world. Generic and recycled bosses and enemies;
    2. The same old-style FromSoftware way of telling a story: a boring puzzle that has to be solved through reading hundreds of items descriptions and cryptic conversations with stoned NPCs;
    3. Clunky combat system and light-speed bosses from Tekken: rolling through infinite AoE attack combos just to land one or two strikes, repeat;
    4. Few pieces of equipment and terrible drop rates. You kill a boss just to receive some useless material;
    5. Very beautiful art direction, BUT terrible graphics;
    6. Poor performance;
    7. Different from Dark Souls, and the others, Elden Ring is mediocre at building tension. Dark Souls is a game that has you always under pressure, theres is little to no rest. You can only feel safe when you're resting at a bonfire. When you play for the first time, you never know what to expect. Enemies are strategically placed, as well as traps. And they're everywhere, all the time. Elden Ring can't do this. There are long pauses to "commune with nature", because the big empty open world is not threatening. You can see the enemies from distance, and you're never caught by surprise. The way from Ruin A to Ruin B is safe and sound... And once you approach Ruin B, you know "ok, now I'll face some challenge", at this moment, there's no tension, it was ruined by the anticipation. You always know what to expect and when;
    8. Multiplayer is the same old song: dependant on consumable items and limited to smoke walls. FS could have delivered a true multiplayer, but they are too addicted to the same old colorful phantoms paradigma.
    Am I saying the game is not good? No, I'm not. I'm just convicted that Elden Ring is far from being the Eight World Wonder that media wants it to be. Way too far from 97 on Metacritic. In my opinion, the worst among it's siblings.    … Expand
  8. Gothmog94
    Mar 2, 2022
    6
    Its ok but that's all it really is. Its DS3 but with more build customization basically. So if you just want the same old Dark Souls but more content you'll be satisfied. But it isn't nearly as innovative as the press and streamers have made it out to be.

    Cons Combat hasn't taken any steps forward its still L1 Spam or R1 spam no real combos or varied movesets like Nioh has for example.    Its ok but that's all it really is. Its DS3 but with more build customization basically. So if you just want the same old Dark Souls but more content you'll be satisfied. But it isn't nearly as innovative as the press and streamers have made it out to be.

    Cons
    Combat hasn't taken any steps forward its still L1 Spam or R1 spam no real combos or varied movesets like Nioh has for example. Enviromental collision/obstacles is terrible with enemies reaching through whole walls and pillars as it always has been. Frames drop pretty consitently during combat even on framerate mode. But hopefully that'll be a simple patch here soon.

    Not enough boss variety to fill the open world. They use many of the bosses 4 or more times throughout a single playthrough. With one of them being Asylum Demon from DS1. I mean come on we already had to fight him 3 times in that one 11 years ago now another 4 in this game?! Poise still sucks. I don't want broken DS1 poise where everyone havels but there really is no point in heavy armor if even hits that do almost no damage can stagger/stun lock. Pros
    Atmosphere is the best its been for a souls game.
    Actually a decent number of NPCs to meet and have minor roles/quests with
    The new customizable flask is probably the best part/innovation.
    Map & fast travel is an extreme improvement but I can't give them major credit for something that's been a feature in other games since 2005 lol. That should have been a thing already.    … Expand
  9. Handheld_Gamer
    Mar 2, 2022
    6
    Still the souls games are weak from the narrative telling factor.. the world are fantastic however the game its not for all the gamers.. its too hard.. nice to try but its not a fun experience for the beginners..
  10. 2L4V
    Mar 2, 2022
    6
    The frame rate is bad in the performance mode. Rock solid 60 fps is mandatory for such game where your reflex plays first role. I do not understand why you have released it knowing how it works…
  11. Pablo_9648
    Mar 6, 2022
    5
    Definetly the worst game from the soul series, as it even gets to be called a "soul series game" even though it pretends (or was marketed pretending to) be something new and different. It is not. The game is a poor mixture of Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne and Sekiro. It's absolutely generic, as it copies infinite secondary and mini-bosses from the previous games. The game is an eternal liop inDefinetly the worst game from the soul series, as it even gets to be called a "soul series game" even though it pretends (or was marketed pretending to) be something new and different. It is not. The game is a poor mixture of Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne and Sekiro. It's absolutely generic, as it copies infinite secondary and mini-bosses from the previous games. The game is an eternal liop in a poor open word, boring and repetitive, with no plot (contrary to what was sold, using the name of George R. R. Martin). After all that, graphics were far better on Demon Souls. Even still, the game struggles to load scenarios, hardly runs smooth on 60 fps using the performance mode and has a lot of issues. For example, I had one boss, wich was so generic I can't remind his name, being sanding still at his final 10% of life waiting for me to put him out of misery (wich was probably being a part of this game). Never seen such an overrated game. I only recomend it if you are in for some dark souls copied gameplay, wich may be fun. Don't expect more than that.… Expand
  12. themostunclean
    Mar 6, 2022
    6
    First off, I can call myself a Soulsborne veteran at this point. After Bloodborne I went back and played every game since Demon’s Souls and even recently completed the remake. But the formula is getting boring and Elden Ring does literally nothing new outside of being set in a directionless open world. The move to an open world also destroyed everything that was actually fun about theFirst off, I can call myself a Soulsborne veteran at this point. After Bloodborne I went back and played every game since Demon’s Souls and even recently completed the remake. But the formula is getting boring and Elden Ring does literally nothing new outside of being set in a directionless open world. The move to an open world also destroyed everything that was actually fun about the earlier games. Secret shortcuts- almost none. Great rewards for defeating bosses you spent hours defeating- nope but hope you like getting a bunch of useless crafting materials or NOTHING AT ALL.

    The reviewers major outlets chose are mostly Fromsoft veteran fanboys who believe every Souls game is a masterpiece. If you’re a veteran like me and felt the games were getting a bit stale DO NOT BELIEVE the 97 score. This game does nothing revolutionary for Souls games or for open world titles.    … Expand
  13. aligalahan
    Mar 6, 2022
    6
    I own both PC and PS5 versions of the game. For PS5 version i will ignore the technical aspects. To call this game Open World RPG will be huge misleading the gamers. It is not a story driven RPG. The "world" is not lived in. It is not a meaningful representation of any world setting. Best way to explain what it is a Lovecraftian nightmarish realm with bosses and monsters spread around theI own both PC and PS5 versions of the game. For PS5 version i will ignore the technical aspects. To call this game Open World RPG will be huge misleading the gamers. It is not a story driven RPG. The "world" is not lived in. It is not a meaningful representation of any world setting. Best way to explain what it is a Lovecraftian nightmarish realm with bosses and monsters spread around the map. Only meaningful anchors for a human players are the occasional NPCs that are as vendors. They are incredibly out of place, literally and figuratively. So this cannot be the best Open World RPG game ever, since it is neither a open world nor an RPG game. It is a soul game takes place on a open area/field. It is more like a monster fighting arena game with skill progression. It is not something you can compare to Witcher3 or Skyrim etc. Let's get that part straight first since professional media is misleading players who are not familiar with Soul games.

    Defining characteristic of a Soul game is "extremely hard" boss fights. And not its story. Not so surprisingly that is also the case here. There is no meaningful story here, there are tons of obscure and non sensical narrative. Part Japanese translation, part source material. Whatever GRR martin has written (if any), clearly developer just tromped on it and what is left is nonsensical garbage. You will enjoy this game, if primary reason you play the games is challenge and skill progression.

    The game is closer to MMOs than single player open world RPGs. You need to farm a lot in this game to give your character a chance to kill next required boss. It has even same MMO raid zoning type setups in the game.

    Now i know i sound negative. But in reality game is an addictive and good game. It is more like 7 or 8 out of 10. That is if you like the unique genre this game is. Yes there is something like that. It is called "Soul like" games. You die hundreds of times and build the skillset to kill impossibly difficult nightmarish next boss.

    Graphics of the game is closer to Oblivion than Skyrim, much worse than Witcher3, or Red Dead Redemption. It runs on old engine. Developer tried to compensate this by adding "Silmarillion" style majestic light trees, and that is creating an illusion of fantastic setting. graphics are poor. But artistic style is good, with what is available to them developers created an interesting world. I wish they actually put some stories in there to explain the lore behind it.

    Overall it is the best Souls game. but it is no way the best open world RPG where all reviewers are lying about. Be aware before buying. Especially the ones that are not familiar with this genre.

    So how did this game got the 10/10 scores from all professional reviewers. It looks like there is a simple answer. Because unlike other games, only the "soul fanatics" reviewed this game. Why is that? Because game is so so difficult to play and beat in the given time frame for a preview of 1 week, for most media sites, only the Fans of the Soul like games have committed to the review, and result is magnum opus rating, for a not so magnum opus product.

    Now that said, i started to enjoy more and more as i play the game. It is extremely addictive and exploration and character progression aspects are well done. So i am altering my score to 6. I think if you are not uber fan of souls genre, this is more reasonable rating.

    Ultimately IMO Elden ring is not an RPG game, it is an Arcade game with similarities to modern MMOs than popular open world RPGs. Its biggest flaw in my mind it does not have a cohesive story, you can finish this entire game and you wouldnt know what the heck it was about. Every human you encounter in this world, save few NPCs are hostile against you. By definition the world is not immersive, it is an arcade battleground with focus on combat and killing bosses.

    Peace out.    … Expand
  14. chip1980
    Dec 9, 2022
    5
    I feel this game is massively overrated. It looks like a 2012-2013 game in terms of graphics and world design. The world is big, but not as live and open as you thought should be. Lot of linear caves, and areas only accessible by 1 path, and sadly, that goes in favor of the game overall. Certainly this game is a huge improvement over the Souls formula, but when compared outside the SoulsI feel this game is massively overrated. It looks like a 2012-2013 game in terms of graphics and world design. The world is big, but not as live and open as you thought should be. Lot of linear caves, and areas only accessible by 1 path, and sadly, that goes in favor of the game overall. Certainly this game is a huge improvement over the Souls formula, but when compared outside the Souls franchise with other action-RPG-souls-like games at best its mediocre. Only recomended if you like the Souls formula, because it's the only thing it can offer.… Expand
  15. yeastori
    Apr 15, 2023
    6
    Definitely overrated, I just got the Platinum Trophy and just can't for the life of me understand why people think its worth of GOTY. Its good and fun sure but visually aged, and game mechanic is repetitive. Not boring but repetitive. Not worth a buy but maybe a rent or borrow from your friends to try out. Story is really stupid and always nonexistence.
  16. MLG_MAX
    Dec 27, 2022
    5
    I wanted to love this game so much but once I reached the endgame I couldn't bring myself to play it any longer. while there are many things I love about the game I had become so bored of the repetitive bosses and enemies that I couldn't enjoy the game any longer. I was not under leveled nor did I have a crap build I just could not play it any longer I wished i loved the game butI wanted to love this game so much but once I reached the endgame I couldn't bring myself to play it any longer. while there are many things I love about the game I had become so bored of the repetitive bosses and enemies that I couldn't enjoy the game any longer. I was not under leveled nor did I have a crap build I just could not play it any longer I wished i loved the game but truthfully I can not even play it the bosses became so bad and just borderline unfair that even after taking breaks i could no longer progress. I am not just hating on the game and if you enjoyed it im glad but this game for me is unplayable and insanely boring.… Expand
  17. Jackward1
    Nov 20, 2022
    5
    (First of all, I have never played any souls game before Elden ring came out, so my opinions are probably not as reliable as others.) I think that this game is a good game, but it's just repetitive a lot of the time. When I bought this game I was expecting to have a massive world that I could explore and go anywhere that I want. The world is big, but you can not explore it easily, and many(First of all, I have never played any souls game before Elden ring came out, so my opinions are probably not as reliable as others.) I think that this game is a good game, but it's just repetitive a lot of the time. When I bought this game I was expecting to have a massive world that I could explore and go anywhere that I want. The world is big, but you can not explore it easily, and many areas are restricted. In my opinion, I think being able to just go anywhere on the map easily would benefit this game, similar to Zelda. On a positive note, I do think that the gameplay and difficulty are perfect, despite how hard it is. I do think this game definitely has its moments, especially when you are fighting a boss. This game probably has the most variety in terms of enemies and biomes, but a lot of the biomes are just bland and ugly. Another complaint I have is that the weapon/armor system is horrible. There is just way too many weapons that it becomes incredibly overwhelming to choose a good one that fits you. If someone were to ask me if they should buy Elden Ring, I would tell them that it really depends on the type of games that you like to play.… Expand
  18. rp36
    Apr 29, 2023
    7
    The high critic score is a case study in what happens when hype builds for so long. Similarly with all these 10/10 ratings. More and more people simply cannot think for themselves.

    This is arguably the worst soulslike game (better than DS2). The open world is large, but lifeless. The exploration can be good, and really does shine when you come across legacy dungeons, but the open world    The high critic score is a case study in what happens when hype builds for so long. Similarly with all these 10/10 ratings. More and more people simply cannot think for themselves.

    This is arguably the worst soulslike game (better than DS2). The open world is large, but lifeless. The exploration can be good, and really does shine when you come across legacy dungeons, but the open world is such a waste of time. The bosses are a smidge better than those of DS2, but there are so many with so few having high quality. The delayed attacks are so frequent it makes fighting jarring. Not difficult, just jarring and lacking in rhythm.

    I've platinumed Bloodborne, Sekiro, DS3, and DS2 (and completed DeS and DS1)...this is my least favourite by far. Though I can see how on an objective level it's superior to DS2.    … Expand
  19. SirMagicPenguin
    Mar 4, 2022
    7
    This game is brilliant and disappointing at the same time, I feel like a lot of these problems is the symptom of being a open world game. I won't go into technical issues as those could be fixed later on and I want to review the actual game instead of how it looks.

    Most bosses are amazing and fun to fight while others are some of the worst I have ever seen and I'm surprised they made it    This game is brilliant and disappointing at the same time, I feel like a lot of these problems is the symptom of being a open world game. I won't go into technical issues as those could be fixed later on and I want to review the actual game instead of how it looks.

    Most bosses are amazing and fun to fight while others are some of the worst I have ever seen and I'm surprised they made it into the final game. The early boss fights to me seem higher quality and less gimicky/unfair than the later ones and I found fighting them going from fun to incredibly tedious and boring.

    The dungeon design is incredibly frustrating with the way forward being chosen a random it seems, I think this was done to encourage exploration but it just leads to multiple times you run loops around a dungeon while getting very confused it makes me thankful for past souls games level design (mostly). I would say this overall is the worst dungeon design in any modern FromSoft game. A lot of the enemy placement in dungeons feels very spiteful as well, It gets tedious where there is a ambush every corridor or a instant kill trap you would not know is there until you died from it.

    Random enemies normally don't give enough rewards to fight them leading to me just simply running past because I don't feel they are worth my time. I think this is due to the fact there are soo many enemies to fill up the world so they can't give that many rewards to balance the game.

    Enemies also get reused a lot in the later areas leading to them feeling bland and lazy, including bosses. Like once you fought one dragon or Erdtree avatar you've fought them all.
    The map did make me want to explore with landmarks but I often found myself saying "That was it" or "That's disappointing" the map looks more interesting than it actually is to me because I was always getting gear or weapons I will never use.

    The level differences between areas is extreme where one minute your fine next you do next to no damage and get 1 shotted by everything, I think they should of had a gradient as you went further into areas where enemies got stronger the deeper you went instead of a line where a dog from one side is as weak as a pug and the other as strong as a wolf on steroids.

    Fighting bosses you can often tell if your underleveled for them since their health goes up a ton leading to a test run of a boss and realising "Oh I guess I'm too low level". The bosses are doable at lower levels but incredibly tedious to fight since they take ages since the health bosses have is very generous and one mistake and you get one shotted, but also this works in the other way where bosses you missed feel way too easy and die in seconds. This often makes bosses feel like they are stat checkers.

    Getting gear is a mixed bag, The builds you can do are amazing and I like the choice but getting that build is another story. You either have to get lucky with what you find or look up a guide since they are so spread out often leading to you feeling really weak cause you don't have anything decent or synergises well.

    Ashes of war are a good addition and spice up the gameplay is unique ways. Spirit summons are a good feature as well to help out those who need a little extra help. However having as many upgrades as they do for weapons is a little ridiculous and not enough resources drop to give the player much freedom to upgrade loads of weapons to test them out.

    Sorry for the rant but I love the game just like the other souls games but I am not one to sit back and not admit any of it's mistakes because this game makes many mistakes, and ones not learned from past souls games as well.    … Expand
  20. Tr4kt
    Mar 19, 2022
    7
    It's a decent game but not all that strong an effort from From. The graphics are quite lovely. The story is generic. The GUI is atrocious. Any game with out a quit to desktop function in 2022 is suspect. The combat is certainly the weakest of the From games I have played. It relies on copy pasted enemies, and unoptimized boss fights to pad game play time.

    Go Play Dark Souls 1 if you    It's a decent game but not all that strong an effort from From. The graphics are quite lovely. The story is generic. The GUI is atrocious. Any game with out a quit to desktop function in 2022 is suspect. The combat is certainly the weakest of the From games I have played. It relies on copy pasted enemies, and unoptimized boss fights to pad game play time.

    Go Play Dark Souls 1 if you haven't already. its the same game play with a much better map.    … Expand
  21. DracomW
    Mar 19, 2022
    7
    Too many repeated bosses, late game is kinda boring, ashes of war are so weak and pathetic in comparison with unique weapons, performance problems... Ilike a lot in the begining but now is kinda sad, I love Radahn but I hate fighting with the same enemies over and over again
  22. unborn_pro
    Mar 4, 2022
    5
    Copy-Paste, Boring and repetitive gameplay, old graphics and pop in everywhere.
  23. Startainfectio
    Mar 19, 2022
    5
    Fromsoft continues to use archaic mechanics in the name of difficulty while other developers that were inspired to create difficult games because of fromsofts (undeserved) critical reception have seemingly all surpassed them in every aspect of game design from combat to traversal to designing a fun difficulty curve, absolutely not a “must play” for anyone unfamiliar with fromsoft’s pastFromsoft continues to use archaic mechanics in the name of difficulty while other developers that were inspired to create difficult games because of fromsofts (undeserved) critical reception have seemingly all surpassed them in every aspect of game design from combat to traversal to designing a fun difficulty curve, absolutely not a “must play” for anyone unfamiliar with fromsoft’s past games… Expand
  24. Afufu
    Mar 19, 2022
    7
    The first 20 hours were absolute phenomenal. It felt like an amazing open world game, in which you are free from the beginning. But after a while, the gameplay becomes repetitive and boring. All dungeons get frustrating and boring after you already completed some. This game is also unbalanced. You don't even need armor because the bosses will always two shot you. You could spend over anThe first 20 hours were absolute phenomenal. It felt like an amazing open world game, in which you are free from the beginning. But after a while, the gameplay becomes repetitive and boring. All dungeons get frustrating and boring after you already completed some. This game is also unbalanced. You don't even need armor because the bosses will always two shot you. You could spend over an hour trying to complete a dungeon and get nothing as a reward.
    I bet that if this game came out from an unknown publisher it wouldn't get a 96 rating which is way too high. Thus game had the potential to be one of the greatest games ever but after a while, so can see that its just not good enough.    … Expand
  25. Shmecus99
    Mar 19, 2022
    7
    Developers do not know how to balance the game whatsoever. Boss battles are often unfair, and really spammy.
  26. 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
  27. svensenk86
    Apr 5, 2022
    7
    so finally I managed to jump in Elden Ring, had it already on release day, but Forbidden West and another round of Zero Dawn took time....tough to go into that world when you come out of Horizon, which is much more beautiful, colorful and a driven story based game....so the first hours were really tough and I thought of quitting and putting it aside first, but no, I liked Demon Souls, Iso finally I managed to jump in Elden Ring, had it already on release day, but Forbidden West and another round of Zero Dawn took time....tough to go into that world when you come out of Horizon, which is much more beautiful, colorful and a driven story based game....so the first hours were really tough and I thought of quitting and putting it aside first, but no, I liked Demon Souls, I liked Dark Souls so I waited for that trigger to keep me playing, and there it was, now I am stuck in this world ;) it is all the best from DS3 and Demon Souls...the more you get into that the more you like it! graphic wise it cannot challenge Horizon, not even Zero Dawn, but it still looks pretty good sometimes. the enemies are awesome, Lord of the Rings feeling!
    The best improvements compared to prev Souls games: Refill of the healing drinks during open world travels, fair save points in the encounters, challenging, but fair.
    The worst: No quest log, I don`t know what the idea behind is, but it is impossible to remember every NPC quest...there is no sense at all I find not to have a questlog...for this alone minus 2 points....why do I need to google first what I have to do in castle Morone for example first. the other minus is for the performance on the PS5, in Horizon which is much more detailed and beautiful it is smooth as hot butter, but in Elden Ring I find myself with lags....annoying sometimes.
    All in all great game, but I never would rate it as high as it is in all the magazines. I will be lost in this world for a couple of hours I guess :)    … Expand
  28. dangerfar
    Apr 26, 2023
    6
    I'm frankly pretty surprised how widely acclaimed this game is. The huge world is devoid of anything interesting other than battles, the score is terrible other than a few standout bossfights and in the open world score is often bad enough to become actually grating, and there's nothing resembling the faintest bit of interesting story or lore here as there are no concepts in it fleshed outI'm frankly pretty surprised how widely acclaimed this game is. The huge world is devoid of anything interesting other than battles, the score is terrible other than a few standout bossfights and in the open world score is often bad enough to become actually grating, and there's nothing resembling the faintest bit of interesting story or lore here as there are no concepts in it fleshed out enough or given enough background to be even vaguely compelling.

    The combat, though it is wonderfully varied in the way you can approach it, in practice ends up becoming fairly tedious b/c the game is challenging enough that you don't really have time for experimentation/exploration (unless you can stand a lot of repetition), you just need to optimize a build and some builds (particularly magic) are spammy and repetitive. And again b/c of the annoying repetition that comes with wandering around and dying, you end up having to look things up to get sufficient tools to make meaningfully progress to actually open up the places you can go. Thus having such a large open world becomes fairly meaningless as the joy from exploration is sucked out of it.

    On the one hand the open world and and leveling system with diverse possibilities and the very impressive variety of enemies and environments is very attractive and makes me want to like the game, and has driven me enough to spend some 50 hours with it and at times really enjoy the experience (mostly when I was able to explore without dying constantly and the world was still new). But on the other the above detractors end up adding up to a rather drab experience overall where I feel like I'm running around without much interesting to do. Compared with say Skyrim which has rich possibilities to explore the world outside of combat with a sensational score to go along with it, playing games like this just feel fairly empty.

    But I guess they have a large audience. Sadly it seems I'm just not one of them.    … Expand
  29. SamuraiEdgeplay
    Mar 19, 2022
    7
    Immaculate, well built, and rewards curiosity, but it's unfortunately not fun, overstays its welcome, and seems to get more of a kick torturing you with some fights / mechanics than creating something enjoyable. Far from the perfect game, but too interesting not to experience yourself.
  30. mikas323
    Mar 19, 2022
    6
    Could be the best game ever but the buggy laggy mess destroyed this game to me...lag input is a thing in this game...unplayable game
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2022
3
#3 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
96

Universal acclaim - based on 86 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 86 out of 86
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 86
  3. Negative: 0 out of 86
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 30, 2024
    100
    Elden Ring is simply a game that the player naturally adapts to their own style of play. Challenging at times, vicious at others, but mostly incredibly fun. The enjoyable pace makes the hours of play pass by like water, and each path opens up a few more, only to come together again after a fair amount of exploration before the next big reveal. [Issue#318]
  2. Cubed3
    Jun 2, 2023
    90
    Elden Ring serves as a testament to open world video game design. There is a true sense of accomplishment once that rock-hard enemy has been slain and, something that compels a player to relentlessly do it over and over again until they succeed is truly rewarding. The world is humongous and an epitome of how exploration should be encouraged, by intriguing players to see what is over the hill. Elden Ring is an unmissable, must-play, gaming experience with surprises galore.
    Read full review
  3. T3
    Aug 11, 2022
    80
    Elden Ring's engaging combat, mythology and dynamite orchestral soundtrack goes a long way to overshadow an aggressive open world that punishes exploration from the beaten path. Fans of the Souls genre are in for a treat, while newcomers will need to persist to reap the benefits.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »