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
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  1. xWildWolfx
    Feb 27, 2022
    10
    I’m addicted to this game! Dark souls gameplay, breath of the wild exploration, Skyrim inspired map and tons of replay value this game is a masterpiece. If your looking for the perfect game to keep you playing for thousands of hours, this is the game!
  2. MexicanFake
    Feb 27, 2022
    10
    Simplemente impecable , ademas , yo no tuve ninguna clase de problemas de rendimiento.
  3. Ryanhanseng
    Feb 27, 2022
    10
    It's basically dark souls 4 placed in an open world-like setting.. which is fantastic! when the great critic reviews came out, I knew people would buy it and not know what they're getting themselves into.. hence the bad user reviews but as a fan of everything fromsoftware puts out, Iapprove of Elden Ring!
  4. vinkur
    Feb 28, 2022
    10
    Whoever is review bombing this game definitely hasn't made their way past the first open area by any means or hasn't even played the game. If you take a look at whatever lies past the first open area, you'd understand what massive game this is not only in terms of scale, but also in terms of art direction. I've never played anything like this and I've been playing videogames since theWhoever is review bombing this game definitely hasn't made their way past the first open area by any means or hasn't even played the game. If you take a look at whatever lies past the first open area, you'd understand what massive game this is not only in terms of scale, but also in terms of art direction. I've never played anything like this and I've been playing videogames since the early nineties. I'm a huge souls fan exactly for this reason: FROMSOFT NEVER DISAPPOINTS! This is a top tier game. I'm only 25 hours in and cannot believe the amount of work and love FROM has poured into this title. If I had a chance I'd go and thank each and every one of the developers for providing us such titles and not choosing to do something like other studios do for more revenue. MUST PLAY!… Expand
  5. Kir_Kostis_I
    Feb 27, 2022
    10
    The game is really fun and enjoyable as long as you know what you are doing. I really had a blast playing this game.
  6. Clover230
    Feb 27, 2022
    7
    It's fine but it's just another souls game with many recycled asset and animations

    It's cool and i'm enjoying it but it's nothing new or innovative
  7. N90nl
    Feb 27, 2022
    10
    A perfect masterpiece one of the best game I've ever played without review bomberd this game would get score higher than at least 9.5.
  8. lilsebastien
    Feb 27, 2022
    10
    Masterpiece. That is all. Masterpiece. That is all.Masterpiece. That is all.Masterpiece. That is all.Masterpiece. That is all.
  9. Zanatraz
    Feb 28, 2022
    10
    Blows every other open world game out of the water, huge amount of customization and fantastic combat, runs perfectly on PS5.
  10. DevynL
    Feb 28, 2022
    10
    Being my first “Souls” game, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself so far. The game starts out in an open world that is yours to explore. The leveling system is great, combat is exemplary, and the graphics are beautiful. There’s not a single part of the game that doesn’t have unique terrain, enemies, or a breathtaking view. The enemies are expectedly hard, and all unique to their regards. Even ifBeing my first “Souls” game, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself so far. The game starts out in an open world that is yours to explore. The leveling system is great, combat is exemplary, and the graphics are beautiful. There’s not a single part of the game that doesn’t have unique terrain, enemies, or a breathtaking view. The enemies are expectedly hard, and all unique to their regards. Even if an enemy is overwhelming, you can always leave to level up and come back when you have better gear. Being able to hop into your buddy’s world or vice versa, and taking on areas/bosses add a whole other level of enjoyability. There’s something about teaming up on a boss that gives you hell and taking them from different angles with your friends that makes it that much more fun. I currently have 40 hours in the game, and still have 60+ more to go easily. So far, it’s been an incredible experience and it’s hard to put the controller down. I can’t wait to traverse more of the endless lands, and encounter even more incredible enemy’s.… Expand
  11. KingFungus
    Feb 28, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Its game of year for 2022 its mix from dark souls series and bloodborne and sekiro… Expand
  12. eojlc
    Mar 2, 2022
    7
    The critics have got this one wrong.

    Elden Ring has suffered from timing. This was a game we needed during the pandemic not after, and a game that needed to be released before Sekiro – from which its gameplay is a downgrade; before the Demon’s Souls remake – from which the graphics are a downgrade; and far closer to Breath of the Wild - which it hasn’t fully understood desperate liberal    The critics have got this one wrong.

    Elden Ring has suffered from timing. This was a game we needed during the pandemic not after, and a game that needed to be released before Sekiro – from which its gameplay is a downgrade; before the Demon’s Souls remake – from which the graphics are a downgrade; and far closer to Breath of the Wild - which it hasn’t fully understood desperate liberal plagiarism. Elden Ring, and it is disappointing to write this, feels much more like a large-scale fan-made Dark Souls 3 mod for Breath of the Wild than it does the next artistic offering from Miyazaki & co.

    It is difficult to pinpoint what, if anything, is actually new. The gameplay is a mirror image of Dark Souls 3 save for the guard counter, which is an easy and accessible miniest of mini-game versions of Sekiro’s poise system. The open world style of legacy dungeons and procedural dungeons is lifted straight from BotW - if only the crucial beauty of allowing the player to traverse anything and everything were lifted too, there’s nothing elegant about watching your avatar hop clumsily around a slightly too lumpy rock. Those reviewers calling this a new benchmark for open-world games can’t have played The Witcher 3 or Breath of the Wild.

    Sekiro proved that unique combat systems can not only exist but thrive within the broader souls-like formula. With Elden Ring, From have returned to the tried, tested, and frankly hackneyed. After the three-year wait one can’t help but be a little disappointed not to be enjoying the next step in the evolution of souls-like combat.

    While Link’s ability to climb or Wolf’s grappling rope are sorely missed when roaming Elden Ring’s open world, it is a deeper Dark Souls mechanic which most noticeably grates: loot. Almost every weapon you pick up in Elden Ring will be worse than what you currently have equipped because you’ve likely been upgrading that as soon as you possibly can to take on some of the extraordinarily difficult bosses. Imagine if, rather than repeatedly travelling back to vendors to sell most of what you pick up to keep upgrading your Uchigatana, you simply kept finding better Uchigatanas, or better yet a variety weapons that you could pick up and start slaying with. Wouldn’t this make slaying mobs in the wilderness more enticing?

    It frustrates to find an exciting bit of gear but feel that using it will retard your progress in the game as enemies will now die in four hits rather than three. A defence of this system may be that one is intended to replay the game using different builds. However, there is far too much repetitive travelling for this to be as limitlessly replayable as the Dark Souls series or Bloodborne.

    Perhaps Miyazaki has given birth to the golden cow of the souls-like and now needs to stop milking it. While Sekiro was a masterpiece that proved impenetrable for too many, Elden Ring is your favourite band selling out with a pop song that more people can enjoy but may well disgust a good chunk of the fanbase. The commercial angle is confirmed by the comically apparent involvement of G.R.R Martin, whose presence is mysteriously eclipsed by his absence.

    Elden Ring isn’t From’s best game, and it may well be their worst. What it is, however, is fresh souls-like content, which is always fun for as long as it lasts.

    After a long string of 9 out of 10s, Elden Ring unfortunately feels like a 7.    … Expand
  13. westsiderocker
    Mar 2, 2022
    10
    From Software hat sich selbst übertroffen und mit Elden Ring ein Meisterwerk geschaffen.
  14. ACme01
    Mar 9, 2022
    1
    Let's start by saying that I played, replayed, and loved the DS games. Let's also preface this with me admitting that I saw the reviews for the game before playing it and that may have affected my expectations.

    Anyway, I wonder if most of the critics played this on console. I played it on PC and it's very far from the near-perfect experience most of them promised. The controls alone    Let's start by saying that I played, replayed, and loved the DS games. Let's also preface this with me admitting that I saw the reviews for the game before playing it and that may have affected my expectations.

    Anyway, I wonder if most of the critics played this on console. I played it on PC and it's very far from the near-perfect experience most of them promised.

    The controls alone are some of the clunkiest I've seen. G for map, E + an arrow key (and if you're on a 60% keeb, this is really annoying), etc.

    There's also the way it almost seems designed to make things difficult for you unnecessarily if you're on a KB+M. Yes, I know the usual advice: play it with a controller instead, and so on.

    But if you release something for PC, you should plan for KB+M. You shouldn't expect your players to have to invest in a controller for a single game that has already cost them $60.

    It's clear that even after all the critique levelled at them for doing the same thing in DS games, FromSoft still hasn't learned a thing about porting to PC or KB+M play. You'd be astonished how flawless your own gameplay can be only to be interrupted repeatedly by a camera seizing control or the auto-targeting locking onto a mosquito when you're trying to deliver a final blow to a boss.

    That's my main gripe, but it's not the only one. There's also the frame-skipping and input lag. I haven't died to any bosses yet, but I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before that instability hits me at a critical moment. And I'm on a 5950x with a 3090.

    Yes, I've heard the argument to just treat this as another hurdle or another level of difficulty to make the game more interesting, by the way. But while I don't mind intentional difficulty, I mind sloppy sources of annoyance. I don't play games to be irritated by someone else's oversights or laziness.

    Finally, I'm a little let down by parts of the game, I think. I like some things - some things genuinely seem new and add interesting mechanics to the gameplay FromSoft offers. But too many things seem to still be stuck in the DS world. I've seen bosses like these before. I've seen enemies like these before.

    Maybe the promise of something new and revolutionary got me expecting too much. But this was neither new nor revolutionary. I'm almost done playing through it, and I'm thinking I won't replay it... which isn't how I want to feel after playing an open-world game.    … Expand
  15. vikven
    Mar 10, 2022
    10
    My favorite From Software game to date. It combines all the best elements from previous games and puts them in the best open world I’ve ever seen.
  16. stu0508
    Mar 23, 2022
    0
    I hate this game. Anything that takes progress away from you when you die is not my kind of game, add to that i find my friends grinding to bump up their runes so they don't lose them all and can make the next level. It's just tedious for me. Ruthless for the sake of it. I didn't even notice the prologue at the start, it's just ridculous. Guides i have read online say it is a good idea toI hate this game. Anything that takes progress away from you when you die is not my kind of game, add to that i find my friends grinding to bump up their runes so they don't lose them all and can make the next level. It's just tedious for me. Ruthless for the sake of it. I didn't even notice the prologue at the start, it's just ridculous. Guides i have read online say it is a good idea to have a pen and paper to remember stuff? F right off! That's not a game, that's a job! Playing Horizon Forbideen West i can turn on how much the game helps me, how hard the enemies are, how tanky i am and that is brilliant, i can make it stupidly hard or not. I don't want some other nerds idea of a good game whether i like it or not, i want fun. This is a grindy death grind of bleak boring old gamey ness. People who like these games weird me the f out! And for the record i beawt Margit in the first day of playing it, i just hated every minute of it and sold it after that. It's not fun.… Expand
  17. Ollyoxenfree
    Apr 11, 2022
    4
    Honestly tried to like the game because I did like the atmosphere and general world. But it soon became more frustrating than enjoyable. The game is grindy, repeats bosses, glitches out in frame rate during boss encounters (looking at you tree sentinel), and there is such a lack of any story which is funny because they attached George R Martin to this. Did he not bother to finish thisHonestly tried to like the game because I did like the atmosphere and general world. But it soon became more frustrating than enjoyable. The game is grindy, repeats bosses, glitches out in frame rate during boss encounters (looking at you tree sentinel), and there is such a lack of any story which is funny because they attached George R Martin to this. Did he not bother to finish this story either ? Like what really happened here? This game is FAR from a 10/10. This souls game is hard just for the sack of being hard with little to no reward. Such trash and will NEVER give into hype again.… Expand
  18. RAGEGAMERINO
    Apr 12, 2022
    3
    i seriously just made an account so i can rant over this crap game. i‘m sorry i have to give it such a bad rating but i feel from my heart that somebody needs to lower it’s score. don’t get me wrong, i played demons, ds 3, sekiro etc. but man do i hate this game and everything it stands for. spare your fn time - don’t buy it. so here starts my rant:

    i played like 140hrs and this game is    i seriously just made an account so i can rant over this crap game. i‘m sorry i have to give it such a bad rating but i feel from my heart that somebody needs to lower it’s score. don’t get me wrong, i played demons, ds 3, sekiro etc. but man do i hate this game and everything it stands for. spare your fn time - don’t buy it. so here starts my rant:

    i played like 140hrs and this game is just not coming to an end. like in a bad way. it’s tedious. after all that time i‘m doing all the same crap like at the start, there is literally NO development in any case. it’s just fighting over and over and over and over and over and over again. which could be OK, but the highly appraised combat system is like the same sh*t like EVER. with all it’s flaws like 15 years ago. camera? super crap. hitboxes? super crap. movement? super irresponsive crap. what, theres a crappy endboss which is totally unfair cause he just spams 5 super range attacks in a row that one hit kills you over 50m? we‘ll just copy that boss later on and DOUBLE him. wow. what exceptional GAME DESIGN. now i know some virgins are gonna come up with git gut: why should i waste my fn time memorizing a tedious unfair boss by battling it 20 times? it’s just a waste of time. and the thing with difficulty is: i don’t mind difficult games. i played through returnal with six deaths, which is pretty ok i think. some say it’s the over all harder game. but you know what? it’s responsive. every button you press is immediately carried out on screen. returnal is a fn gaming heaven with hard but fair combat and the smoothest controls ever made. elden ring on the other hand is just so sluggish and lame and slow and sloppy and SO. FN. UNPRECISE. every hit i take, i‘ve 100% foreseen and pressed the damn block or roll button but the game is just so slow and badly designed… i have no words. i swear to god if my character ONCE more stumbles around like an idiot after a hit and not lifting up his shield like i tell him to, i‘ll fn break the controller in half. ITS JUST BAD GAME DESIGN. ok if the combat is bad and irresponsive, maybe roaming and exploring is cool. just two words: open world. just ride or walk 5000km to see… whatever copied ruin or magic tower or dungeon. it’s just typical open world BS. you could compress it into a nice 80hrs and it would be okish but that… which brings me to my next two points:

    the music fn sucks. it’s like 5 tracks made of annoyingly undesdinctive ambient crap music which KILLS your ears already in limgrave after a good 10 hrs. it’s so annoying i turned the music off. for the first time in my 25yrs gaming history. the atmosphere could be a plus. but whats that? everything ruined. dark. broken, bla bla bla. it’s the same fn stuff youve heard like 10 times in a row with every from soft game. i cant stand it anymore. but worse: the storytelling is STILL AS SH*TTY AS IT HAS EVER BEEN. don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to explain everything for a good story, i‘m in the filmbizz, i know that. but that crap is just so random undefined snot, i have no fn clue who i am, the people around me, the world and places and especially what i am doing. all atmosphere gets so compromised by this non-storytelling, i could not care less about ANYTHING in this game. who am i fighting right now? why? where am i? why has he a lion on his back or breaks the reality?.. plus: you have such unsatisfying choices all over this game it makes me angry. why give me the choice to change ANYTHING, when i have NO FKN clue for whom, why and what for i make the choices. spoiler free example: i could tell you you have to make a life changing decision RIGHT NOW by saying either PIDGEON or YELLOW. you have to choose. so you choose just out of random with no fn clue why and what for. thats how EVERY decision in this game feels. you just give up to care. it’s just REALLY BAD GAME DESIGN. in the end it’s just a repetitive, unresponsive, unfair, tedious, badly designed game with bad music and even worse storytelling. i‘m so done with it. it’s so boring me out i cant even comprehend. maybe it’s fun a few hours but after all this time i couldnt care less about anything that happens randomly and screams in my face: I‘M SO BADASS WITH MY BADLY DESIGNED COMBAT AND BOSSES WHICH YOU HAVE TO STUDY 50 TIMES WHILE DYING WITHOUT YOUR FAULT BECAUSE I SPAM A RANGE ATTACK WHICH YOU’D HAVE PROBABLY AVOIDED IF I DID ANYTHING YOU PRESSED IN TIME. if you want a soulslike play ds3. its shorter, more tense and pretty much the same crap, but less crappier. OR play returnal: the epidome of good game design, responsive controls, hard but fair combat and great music and superb (still cryptic) storytelling. where returnal is a bright shining star on the night sky, elden ring is an old sh*tstain on the side of a portable potty on the most disgusting construction site of the third world. 3/10 bussi baba    … Expand
  19. DweezilMoon
    Apr 12, 2022
    2
    my main complaint is that it is so dead, lifeless and somewhat dinjuncted. It is beautifull, and the map has tons of lovely crafted areas, but there is no interaction between the different areas at all. The enemies are incredibly stupid, starting with their ultra short sight , lack of peripheral awareness to the way they uterly ignore the world around them (ignoring corpses they aremy main complaint is that it is so dead, lifeless and somewhat dinjuncted. It is beautifull, and the map has tons of lovely crafted areas, but there is no interaction between the different areas at all. The enemies are incredibly stupid, starting with their ultra short sight , lack of peripheral awareness to the way they uterly ignore the world around them (ignoring corpses they are basically trodding on, suddenly missing companions, ... etc) just to return to the same short patterns. For all that matters you are fighting braindead zombies, and you do that with 2 buttons, a roll and a jump (how innovative!). I just found it pretty boring to be honest. All in all it felt like a very basic single player (don't get me started on the "multiplayer" part ... there is more littering in ER than in Cyberpunk 2077's street) action MMORPG.

    The "story" completely failed to grip me too, so that didn't help

    I reinstalled "Dark Messiah" (2004!) after playing Elden Ring, and whilst it doesn't have the vast spawning map, and it obviously looks dated (uses the Source Engine too btw;), the way the enemies notice what goes on around them, move far from their predefined patterns, run back to get reinforcement when they are wounded and even use the environment to their advantage was refreshing compared to Elden Ring. Same with the combat mechanics (which includes stuff like climbing beside jumping... can you imagine?!), and the story, whilst not Oscar worthy (you can't slap, but you can kick, so still not bad), is presented in an entertaining manner.

    I also bought a game on sale a few days ago called "Tainted Grail : Conquest". There is no real time combat, as it is basically a rogue like-TC:G (think "Slay The Spire", but with some shiny 3D graphics and really weird and gross monsters. I highly recommend it if you're looking for another kind of RPG), but the atmosphere is very similar to that of Elden Ring (it also happens in an afterlife of sort and has the same "you're supposed to die often!" approach), and even THAT world feels more lived in than ER's. The story is told well, the characters you meet in the different areas even interact with each other through you, and there is some persistence when you kill mobs ... something I also very much missed from Elden Ring.

    so ... . Elden Ring is "okay'ish" ... but definitely not worthy of any real praise in 2022.    … Expand
  20. Mouxpez
    Apr 24, 2022
    3
    Although it is beautiful and the design is great, enemies are so dumb and robotic it feels like you're playing a vintage game that's had a very expensive face lift. You can sneak up on enemies that are directly looking at you and avoid almost any foe with ease. And I'm not playing on easy mode. Forget about range weapons, these seem to be an after thought. Menus and leveling system areAlthough it is beautiful and the design is great, enemies are so dumb and robotic it feels like you're playing a vintage game that's had a very expensive face lift. You can sneak up on enemies that are directly looking at you and avoid almost any foe with ease. And I'm not playing on easy mode. Forget about range weapons, these seem to be an after thought. Menus and leveling system are pretty poor too. Still can't make sense of how to map certain items to shortcuts. Not what I'd expect for a premium title.… Expand
  21. station1984
    Apr 27, 2022
    0
    PS4 or PS5 Versions:

    If you are an expat living in Asia or have the desire to play the game in English, tough luck because you will get the game in Chinese whether you like it or not. Sony will not issue a refund. Neither Sony nor Bandai is willing to announce that an English language pack is coming for English speakers living in Asia. The entire menu is in Chinese.
  22. Kdot1
    Apr 30, 2022
    4
    This game really forces you to play co-op
    OP enemies Ashes of war bs Boring story Go kill 1,2,3.. boss
    Absolute mess It's flooded with stupid mechanics it forces you to use
    And the compat is is just not fun
    I was waiting for this game cause I adored bloodborne But what a waste of hours playing waiting for for the game to grasp me
  23. ChasingFalcon
    May 9, 2022
    4
    They should've stopped after Limgrave and than my oppinion wouldn't be so negative.
    Bad grafic for 2022, way to repetitive, way to much enemy recycling, bad balancing.
  24. Mihai2103
    May 10, 2022
    4
    I can not say that this game is the best ,game of the year .For me it's just repetitive,long,with very poor graphics and often annoying.The most you struggle to do level up ,to run after a weapon that you upgrade to be able to pass a boss otherwise you have no chance,can not select difficulty.Sometimes during some fights you can not press the buttons if you do not confirm something youI can not say that this game is the best ,game of the year .For me it's just repetitive,long,with very poor graphics and often annoying.The most you struggle to do level up ,to run after a weapon that you upgrade to be able to pass a boss otherwise you have no chance,can not select difficulty.Sometimes during some fights you can not press the buttons if you do not confirm something you have previously found, for example a weapon. The graphics are pitiful for a super "AAA"game,Demon Souls has 10 times better graphics.Those repetitive bosses, a long world, big but useless. I do not recommend, I recommend only Demon Souls to those who ask me. The last game from Software,I've played Bloodborne before. I will not repeat the mistake buying another game from Software.… Expand
  25. Smisswiss
    May 10, 2022
    2
    Tying coop with pvp is one of the most brain dead decisions to an otherwise excellent game. Some continuously argue that "it's part of the experience" or "just get good", it goes against the very fabric of the core gameplay which is play your way or play your build. PvE has always allowed for greater freedom in viable builds, while some builds are less efficient and others more, it doesn'tTying coop with pvp is one of the most brain dead decisions to an otherwise excellent game. Some continuously argue that "it's part of the experience" or "just get good", it goes against the very fabric of the core gameplay which is play your way or play your build. PvE has always allowed for greater freedom in viable builds, while some builds are less efficient and others more, it doesn't truly matter as practicially any build will work throughout the entire game. PvP on the other hand is by nature an exercise in group intelligence. in PvP people quickly filter down to what works best and what works quickest. What this translates to, is a jarring difference in how the game plays out when youre PvPing or PvEing.

    So that comes back to my original complaint, that a forced invasion when you're playing with friends, turns a rather chill or relaxed exploration game, into yet another PvP meta game. If you don't run the cheese builds, or know of every explotative environmental advantage, then tough luck, you'll have to start all over again.    … Expand
  26. onil
    Jun 16, 2022
    0
    The open world is amazing, there is so much detail to this game. But I can’t really call Elden Ring a game, because games are fun. Elden Ring is not fun. Its very simple why it is terrible.
    Elden Ring punishes you in more ways than just charging you $70, by giving you re-used Bosses, lots of dead ends, terrible game logic, zero fun, and a broken controller. Its mainly the terrible boss    The open world is amazing, there is so much detail to this game. But I can’t really call Elden Ring a game, because games are fun. Elden Ring is not fun. Its very simple why it is terrible.
    Elden Ring punishes you in more ways than just charging you $70, by giving you re-used Bosses, lots of dead ends, terrible game logic, zero fun, and a broken controller. Its mainly the terrible boss design, I get killed at full health in two hits while taking 30 minutes to recover from the last attack! And to just arrive at the boss fight, you have to deal with a plethora of nuisances that deal unreasonable amounts of damage. And by late game, you can only really level up your character and weapons by killing the bosses that kill you in less that 10 seconds. What really aggravated me and lots of other Elden Ring players was the Godskin Duo, the most annoying boss in the entire game. They are near impossible to fight without dying immediately. I know Elden Ring has one of the largest and most detailed maps, good graphics, and is a great challenge, but it all comes down to how much fun and joy you can have. There is no fun and joy in this. Zero. It is mentally draining to play. You should only buy Elden Ring if you an absurd amount of time on your hands and if you hate yourself.    … Expand
  27. Arafel-Kralizec
    Jun 6, 2022
    2
    Boring, repetitive and PS3 graphics.... You never know where is the F**ing quest, and you're all the time disturbed by other players, or their sh*ty messages ....
  28. HyperionHere
    Jun 18, 2022
    6
    This game is a very broken masterpiece. Its open world is beautiful, although quite repetitive by the end. The Catacombs or Dungeons spread throughout the world get boring very quickly, although that's quite common in lots of games. The Boss battles are either laughably easy or excruciatingly unfair, and the high difficulty in some bosses may lead to most players just using the same brokenThis game is a very broken masterpiece. Its open world is beautiful, although quite repetitive by the end. The Catacombs or Dungeons spread throughout the world get boring very quickly, although that's quite common in lots of games. The Boss battles are either laughably easy or excruciatingly unfair, and the high difficulty in some bosses may lead to most players just using the same broken builds to compensate for the piss poor balancing and boss design. Gank bosses AI is some of the worst, leading to you fighting two very aggressive enemies at the same time in a room with almost no way to split aggression.

    All that said, still a decent game, but nowhere near the quality of the other games Fromsoft has made outside of Dark Souls 2.    … Expand
  29. eriatarka
    Aug 9, 2022
    6
    Elden Ring is an entry in the catalogue of From Software of extremes. I felt immense joy discovering new zones. I felt excitement at new weapons and spells and armor and talismans. I felt disappointment at recycled enemies and dungeons. I felt absolute dread at the forward directions of games they're going to release at many of the boss fights. As such Elden Ring has to have some of theElden Ring is an entry in the catalogue of From Software of extremes. I felt immense joy discovering new zones. I felt excitement at new weapons and spells and armor and talismans. I felt disappointment at recycled enemies and dungeons. I felt absolute dread at the forward directions of games they're going to release at many of the boss fights. As such Elden Ring has to have some of the lowest low points of any souls game, even lower than pre-SOFTS DS2.
    I've played these games since Dark Souls 1, and played every entry, and I'm confident in saying its the worst entry. This comes about not because the game is bad overall, but because where the game is bad it's atrocious.

    positives of the game: the open world is gorgeous and huge, the ashes of war system is brilliant and adds a great deal of variety, the art direction has never been better only being out by bloodborne in my opinion, the story feels more present and well written, there is a lot of stuff to do, inclusion of duplicating remembrances is convenient, bell bearings are also super convenient, theres more emphasis on elucidating some of the games more opaque features than in previous games

    negatives of the game: endgame bosses don't feel like they've been playtested, poor balancing of many things like endgame areas, dungeons outside of the legacy dungeons feel very hastily thrown together and cut and paste, horseback mechanics (which were a big part of the marketing) feel like an afterthought that was glued on after most of the game, drop rates are very abysmally low , spirit ashes don't feel like they were well balanced, platforming still feels like an afterthought, graphical performance leaves something to be desired, the tediousness of some side dungeons make them super easy to skip on subsequent playthroughs, there's very little incentive to collect great runes because they offer nothing if you don't use a rune arc (despite the fact that the item description misleads the player into thinking it does), enemy variety plummets significantly after the capital, item crafting seems half thought out and becomes irrelevant late game, many enemies feel like they were designed with sekiro in mind but were just ported into elden ring, still glitchy in areas that should have been ironed out by now

    Elden Ring is basically Dark Souls 4, for better and for worse, with every step forward in design there seem to be two steps back, for a game described as being more RPG oriented and more open world it feels like much of it is still oriented very much around the combat, which in itself isn't bad, but even the combat has changed for the worse. ultimately many promises were brought with the game and some of them just were not fulfilled. an open world of untold proportions was promised, and for the first three zones it is, but the late game areas become increasingly empty and bland, the horse combat was promised to be new and fun but it seems so poorly optimized its hard to imagine it wasn't just tacked on at the end. Difficulty is incredibly schizophrenic. Boss fights in the late game seem poorly designed and become less challenging battles and more of tests of patience for when their year long combos will end. all in all more of the same and different in the worst ways.

    A good game marred with incredibly low lows, but a good game for people who are more about the souls-like brand. an incredibly polarized game for an incredibly polarized age.

    TLDR: not the worst game in the world, not the best    … Expand
  30. Eyo82882
    Dec 7, 2022
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Combat is ass, could have it better if it wasn't such a boring gameplay roll, jump attack and roll again… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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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.
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  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.
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