Directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki, with world-building by George R. R. Martin, Elden Ring takes the punishing combat FromSoftware perfected in Dark Souls and Sekiro and sets it loose in an enormous open world.
You are Tarnished
The Elden Ring has been shattered, and the demigods who hold its fragments have gone mad with power. As one of the Tarnished, exiles called back to the Lands Between, your goal is to claim the fragments and become Elden Lord. The story is told the FromSoftware way: in item descriptions, ruined architecture and cryptic conversations you have to piece together yourself.
Freedom as a difficulty setting
What made Elden Ring a phenomenon is choice. Stuck on Margit at the gates of Stormveil Castle? Ride away on Torrent, your spectral steed, and explore somewhere else. Come back stronger, summon Spirit Ashes, try a different weapon or call in another player. The game is still hard — Malenia will test anyone — but it no longer has a single wall that stops you.
The joy of discovery
The best moments are unplanned: a cave hiding a boss you were not ready for, an elevator descending for an absurdly long time into an underground starlit world, a castle that is somehow far bigger than it looked from outside. Few games trust the player this much.
The verdict
Elden Ring won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2022, sold tens of millions of copies, and its 2024 expansion Shadow of the Erdtree is a full-sized adventure of its own. If you have bounced off "souls-like" games before, this is the one to try.
