Elden Ring Reviews
It’s been thirteen years since the gaming world first encountered Demon Souls. This hard-core RPG from Armored Core developer FromSoftware was the unknowing precursor to the whole “Soulsborne” genre. Even with its relentless assault on its player base’s sanity, those who experienced the initial PlayStation 3 release were instantly hooked. Not only was this due to its punishing yet rewarding difficulty, but also the vast amount of lore and deep RPG elements that hid underneath.
Elden Ring is a triumph. It's the best game FromSoftware has ever made, easily, and sets a new benchmark for the Soulslike genre. Everything about this game is perfectly polished and after 50 hours of logged game time I feel like I still have so much side content to explore. Not only is this the best Soulslike game ever, it's one of the best games of all time.
Elden Ring handled the transition of the Soulsborne genre to the open-world with flying colors and even though it has some issues, it represents a monumental success for FromSoftware.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Similarities to past games and references to Dark Souls 4 aside, it's difficult to directly compare Elden Ring to other FromSoftware games in the way that it's difficult to compare Demon's Souls to Bloodborne or Dark Souls to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It certainly feels like FromSoftware's most ambitious and thoughtful game to date, however, and with all the considerations to different audiences, it stands to be a familiar return and a welcome jumping-on point for any Tarnished who hope to become the Elden Lord.
While clearly a continuation of the Dark Souls games, Elden Ring is a natural evolution of that style but delivered in a package that is bigger and more breathtaking than anything the company has done before.
I think that there are many opportunities to feel something powerful in Elden Ring.
Brilliant combination of open world and souls formula.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Elden Ring is the point of arrival, and departure, of all Miyazaki's productions prior to Sekiro. Where Sekiro was that butterfly born from a chrysalis called Bloodborne, Elden Ring picks up the important gaming heritage of Demon's Souls, matured over the years, to transplant it in a context at the same time new and familiar to fans of the genre. Elden Ring is not the classic open world but a Soulsborne that violently bends the rules of open world games to its will, defining new standards for the genre that cannot be ignored in the years to come...neither by future open world titles nor by the next Souls-Like productions. You can undoubtedly question the choice to reuse assets already seen, and overdone, in the past, as well as it is obvious that the general performance of Elden Ring are not among the best currently in circulation, but in practice, when you immerse yourself in the vastness of the Interregno, the only truth that comes out is that From Software, as it did in 2009, has once again overturned the rules of the game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
More options than ever before in an immense open world make Elden Ring the type of game nearly everyone should give a shot, even if its difficulty remains as tough as ever.
An absolute master class in game design, storytelling, and world-building come together to make Elden Ring the game to beat in 2022. It can be daunting knowing the history of From Software producing difficult games, but if you have the patience to learn the rules of engagement in this tough but fair experience, you will achieve some of the most exhilarating achievements a video game can offer.
Elden Ring takes the Souls-like franchise in a new direction, much in the same way Sekiro did. It provides you with a world that’s incredibly beautiful, better than any Souls game to come before it in my opinion, and exploring it is as rewarding as it is satisfying.
Elden Ring is the best game FromSoftware has made to date.
Within my first thirty minutes of stepping into the George R.R. Martin-inspired world of Elden Ring, I opened up a booby-trapped treasure chest that flung me to—what I thought at the time was—the far corner of the map. I had no horse yet, nor a way to level up, and was surrounded by enemies that could kill me in one hit. Even so, I spent the next hour or so pushing onwards into this area I clearly wasn’t supposed to be in yet, in constant fear of a swift death at any moment. And I was loving every moment of it.
With all that said, 80 hours of gameplay has been the bare minimum to complete this massive escapade. I’ve still yet to complete an abundance of sidequests which I’m looking forward to. Knowingly taking my time through this task, will seemingly demand another hundred hours but I’m willing to give this game my undivided attention, as FromSoftware has carved out quite possibly their most ambitious project and have unequivocally sacrificed hundreds of their own in development.
Elden Ring surprised us a lot thanks to the massive dose of content built with maniacal care and with a focus on exploration. The mistakes that could be made were many, but From Software has managed to deliver a complete game, enjoyable and extremely interesting from several points of view.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Elden Ring is one the the best games ever released, raising quickly to our personal top of favorite games of all time. The game manages to evolve the Souls-style combat formula, while introducing an immaculate open world whose exploration is a first-minute to last-minute pleasure. Truly an experience accessible to new players, but without losing sight of the world famous "punishing game" label. Those who will invest their time and patience in learning its deep mechanics, find here an experience nothing short of perfection and that deserves all and any praise.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
There’s no question in my mind that Elden Ring is a great game, and an early leading contender for game of the year. The pertinent question may be "how great?", and that’s a little tougher to answer.
Elden Ring, with its enchanting world full of secrets, explorations, elaborate and varied gameplay, is the most thought-provoking game and certainly the epitome of Fromsoftware's expertise.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
From Software just released a new update which includes more Smithing Stones dropped and can be purchased, stronger shields, which I agree will help newcomers immensely. They have also changed some of the gameplay balancing, but remain tight-lipped as to what they have done. In this regard then and despite all my earlier ranting can I recommend Elden Ring? Yes, definitely. It's a much more interesting title than previous games in the series and in my view a step in the right direction. But...and this is the caveat here, a lot of the older combat systems remain despite improvements which means expect tons of frustrating moments which requires perseverance in buckets. Or do what I do, rage quit, rant, then come back later and try again. Honestly, that is the best way to approach these games.