Elden Ring Review

 Every now and then, a game combines superb gameplay, an amazing universe, amazing tone-setting music, and unmatched art direction. Elden Ring, an action role-playing game developed by From Software, combines the best elements of the studio's previous ten years of work into one massive product. This ridiculously ambitious open-world piqued my interest, luring me in with riddles, mysteries, and secrets; it also provided me with incredibly fulfilling moments as I went through one of the greatest adventures ever experienced. Every experience, from my first steps into the world until the very last, is a remark in a unique epic that drew me in and made me return for more. This journey into a dark and twisted fantasy realm is one of never-ending discovery, offering breathtaking views that only grow more amazing and captivating as you travel.

The Field Between is an exciting place to explore, and although there is a clear way forward for those who ask for it, exploring the fields aimlessly without a specific destination frequently leads to unexpected discoveries. I frequently had a noted location on my map that I wanted to visit, but I frequently veered off course and discovered completely new places with lots of features. There are important regions, monsters, dungeons, and other major disclosures that can be overlooked in Elden Ring, unlike an open-world theme park where every ride is supported by breadcrumbs to ensure it won't be missed. This makes these discoveries even more enchanting. Even after more than 55 hours, I'm sure I still have a lot to learn. Rather than feeling sorry for what I haven't discovered, I'm motivated to continue looking. There are a tonne of missions, personalities, and dungeon crawls in the opulent environment, from small catacombs to enormous multilevel tombs. Although the adventure begins with little caverns, mines, and other dungeon explorations, these encounters grow increasingly intricate. Eventually, two-room adventures become complex teleport puzzles or situations where you find novel methods to interact with the surroundings, such as figuring out how to employ traps to go around or smell out hidden walls. 

Even the most straightforward overworld dungeons house hidden boss rooms and treasures in addition to their standard yields, rewarding the most inquisitive adventurers. Finding creative ways to travel to places that don’t appear accessible before the standard path guides you there feels remarkably refreshing, and more than one area delivers picturesque vistas upon arrival. Looking over a new area for the first time and realizing you can go everywhere you see is breathtaking and overwhelming. Some open-world locals, like churches, ruins, and Erdtrees, feel a bit familiar from realm to realm but make no mistake, there are numerous and unique points to explore and get lost in for hours. From mysterious castles to haunted magical grounds, the world is full of exciting diversions. 

The fact that you can customize your persona so much was really satisfying to me. You may genuinely design your own version of a wandering hero with the ability to attach different skills and scaling mechanics to every aspect of the game. Respecialization and alterations give you the freedom to fine-tune your invention without having to worry too much about experimenting as you arm yourself with powerful scents and exploding pots to go along with your ever-expanding arsenal. Although combat will differ significantly between players and builds, the exact ballet of melee battle is more sophisticated and varied than before. With a behind-the-scenes stagger system that incentivizes players to take calculated risks with time, the combat flow renders the single spamming hit less effective when facing a formidable opponent.

The open world is magnificent, rich in flavor and ambiance, and teeming with amazing discoveries. But the heritage dungeons—which frequently have many points of access to the outside world—are the stuff of legend. These carefully planned sprawls are a pleasure to explore, and Elden Ring frequently provides a variety of routes across these sections. For example, in one of these enormous dungeons, I found an entirely new way to "solve" the way to the last fight. I then went back and discovered a different path through another environment, leading to a wealth of battles, bosses, and loot. Sometimes, access to certain areas is in the last place you look, but the route to unearth it is laden with even more attractive paths to pursue.

While some monster and boss designs are reused, the scope and scale of Elden Ring are enormous, which makes the repetition easy to ignore. I feel like I ran into around one hundred bosses in my playthrough. I’m not exaggerating. Some of these can feel commonplace and uninteresting, at the end of a small dungeon, like a repeat cave troll or magma drake, but the overall diversity of encounters meant that I never knew exactly what I was going up against at the end of any given expedition. I might run into a reskinned knight, but I might also go toe-to-toe against something truly astronomical. 

The major boss battles, which are typically encountered at the conclusion of legacy dungeons, resemble epic battles with demigods. These amazing set-piece fights are thrilling highlights of a ridiculous journey, breathtaking spectacles, and deftly balancing suspense and victory. Of all the From Software games released to date, Elden Ring boasts the most difficult and impressive boss battle. I kept waking up in the middle of the night to return and crash against its gorgeous and horrific ruin because it was hidden away and optional. Following at last I sat there in the dark in my pajamas, wanting nothing more than to relive the encounter after defeating this opponent and letting out a victorious roar. This demonstrates how incredibly captivating and engrossing Elden Ring is; every time I set it down to do something else, I would find myself back in a matter of minutes. There's always one more unsolved puzzle to solve, one more boss to defeat, and one more secret path to discover.

Elden Ring pushed me, fascinated me, and mesmerized me; an unrelenting flood of learning and creative insight unlocked. Elden Ring is an incredibly creative fusion of many game components that come together to form something captivating, unique, and unforgettable. Not only is Elden Ring the greatest game of the year, but it's among the greatest ever created.

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