Elden Ring is presented through a third-person perspective with players freely roaming its open world. The six main areas can be traversed using the player character's steed Torrent. Linear, hidden dungeons can be explored to find useful items. Players can use several types of weapons and magic spells, including non-direct engagement enabled by stealth mechanics. Throughout the game's world, checkpoints enable fast travel and allow players to improve their attributes using an in-game currency called runes. Elden Ring features an online multiplayer mode in which players join through cooperative play to fight bosses or engage in player versus player combat.
FromSoftware wanted to create an open-world game based on Dark Souls. Miyazaki admired Martin's previous work and hoped that his contributions would produce a more accessible narrative than those of the company's earlier games. Martin was given unrestricted freedom to design the backstory, while Miyazaki was lead writer for the in-game narrative. However, the game's narrative is still presented through flavor text, dialogue, visual narrative, and players' interpretations. The developers concentrated on environmental scale, stat management, and the story; the scale required the construction of several structures around its world.
Elden Ring won several Game of the Year awards and has been cited as one of the greatest games of all time, with praise directed towards its open world, gameplay systems, and setting. It sold over 28 million copies, also making it one of the best-selling games of all time. The downloadable content (DLC) Shadow of the Erdtree follows the player character in the Land of Shadow. It was released in June 2024 to similar acclaim and sold over five million copies. A multiplayer-focused spinoff game, Elden Ring Nightreign, is scheduled for a 2025 release.
Gameplay
The player fighting a dragon while riding their steed Torrent
Elden Ring is an action role-playing game set in third-person perspective. It includes elements that are similar to those in other FromSoftware-developed games, such as the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The game is set in an open world; players can freely explore the Lands Between and its six main areas, which include Limgrave—an area of grassy plains and ancient ruins—and Caelid, a reddish wasteland home to undead monsters.[1] The open world is explored using the character's mount Torrent as the main mode of transportation, though players may use fast travel outside combat. Throughout the game, players encounter non-player characters (NPCs) and enemies, including demigods who rule each main area and serve as the game's main bosses.[2][3] Aside from the main areas, Elden Ring has hidden dungeons, catacombs, tunnels, and caves where players can fight bosses and gather helpful items.[4]
At the game's start, the player chooses a character class, which determines their starting spells, equipment, and attributes.[5] Combat with enemies can be within melee, or from a distance using ranged weapons. Enemy attacks can be dodged or blocked using shields. Spells allow players to enhance their weapons, fight enemies from afar, and restore lost hit points. The player can memorize a limited amount of these spells, which can be cast using a staff or sacred seal item.[6][7] Weapons can be improved using ashes of war, which are obtainable enchantments that grant weapons new capabilities. Ashes of war can be applied to or removed from weapons, and each Ash adds a weapon art, a special ability that can be used during combat.[8] Aside from direct combat, stealth mechanics can be used to avoid enemies or allow the targeting of foes with critical hits while hidden.[9][10] Staggering enemies and parrying their attacks can also create opportunities for critical hits.[11][12]
Checkpoints called sites of grace are located throughout the game; in these places, characters can increase the power of their attributes, change memorized spells, swap ashes of war, or walk to using fast travel. Upon death, players respawn at the last site of grace they interacted with. Alternatively, they may choose to respawn at certain locations highlighted by "stakes of Marika" provided they died nearby.[8][13][14] To increase their attributes at sites of grace, the player must spend runes, an in-game currency that is acquired by defeating enemies.[15] Runes can be used to buy items, and improve weapons and armor. Dying in Elden Ring causes the player to lose all collected runes at the location of death; if the player dies again before retrieving the runes, they will be lost forever.[16]
Elden Ring contains crafting mechanics; the creation of items requires materials. Recipes, which are required for the crafting of items, can be found inside collectibles called cookbooks, which are scattered throughout the world. Materials can be collected by defeating enemies, exploring the game's world, or by trading with merchant NPCs. Crafted items include poison darts, exploding pots, and consumables that temporarily increase the player's combat strength.[17][18] Similar to the Dark Souls games, the player can summon friendly NPCs called spirits to fight enemies.[19] Summoning each type of spirit requires its equivalent Spirit Ash; different types of Spirit Ashes can be discovered as the player explores the game world. Spirits can only be summoned near structures called Rebirth Monuments, which are primarily found in large areas and inside boss fight arenas.[20]
Elden Ring has a multiplayer system that allows players to be summoned for both cooperative and player-versus-player (PvP) play over the Internet.[21] Cooperative play involves the placing of a summon sign on the ground, which causes the sign to become visible to online players who have used a corresponding item. If another player interacts with the sign, the player who placed the sign is summoned into their world. Cooperative players remain in the same world until the boss of the area is defeated or until a summoned player dies and is returned to their home world. In PvP combat, a summon sign is used to challenge another player to a duel, or the player can use additional items to invade the worlds of others. World hosts may use a "taunter's tongue" to increase the likelihood their world will be invaded by others and to decrease the time between invasions.[22][23][24]
Synopsis
Setting and characters
Elden Ring takes place in the Lands Between, a realm blessed by entities called Outer Gods. Most prominent is the Greater Will, who created the Elden Ring – a collection of runes that govern the laws of reality. The Greater Will's emissary, the Two Fingers, made a woman named Marika the Elden Ring's vessel, ascending her to godhood. She then formed a religion called the Golden Order alongside a consort, the Elden Lord; two held this title: Godfrey, a barbarian warlord who was later banished for unknown reasons; and Radagon, Marika's male alter-ego. Marika also planted a massive, golden tree called the Erdtree that graces the realm's inhabitants. Finally, she removed the Rune of Death from the Elden Ring and entrusted it to her bodyguard, Maliketh, causing the deceased not to pass on but to be reborn through the Erdtree instead. However, the Golden Order also persecuted certain races: the Omens, people born with horns growing all over their bodies, and Tarnished, Godfrey's warriors who were stripped of grace and banished alongside their leader.
After her firstborn, Godwyn, was rendered soulless using a stolen piece of the Rune of Death, Marika seemingly went mad and shattered the Elden Ring, prompting its true form, the Elden Beast, to imprison her inside the Erdtree. Afterward, Marika's relatives inherited shards of the Ring, sparking a war of succession. These demi-gods are Morgott, an Omen loyal to the Golden Order despite facing discrimination; Mohg, Morgott's twin who wishes to form his own dynasty under a different outer god; Radahn, a warrior general who went feral after being afflicted by the Scarlet Rot disease; Rykard, a former praetor who merged with a giant serpent god; Ranni, a witch seeking to overthrow the Greater Will who orchestrated Godwyn's death; Miquella, a charming mystic cursed with eternal youth; Malenia, Miquella's twin and knightess who is the progenitor of Scarlet Rot; Godrick, a distant relative who grafts his subjects' body parts onto himself; and Rennala, Radagon's ex-wife and queen of the Liurnia region.
The exiled Tarnished were gifted power by a mysterious source, resurrecting them and granting them immortality, before being called back to the Lands Between to repair the Elden Ring and become the new Elden Lord. Those summoned include Goldmask, a fundamentalist seeking to revitalize the Golden Order; Fia, a deathbed companion who is attempting to revive Godwyn; Dung Eater, a criminal who wants to strip everyone in the Lands Between of grace; Sir Gideon Ofnir, a spymaster researching current events; and the player character, a Tarnished of no renown.
Shadow of the Erdtree introduces the Land of Shadow, where Marika originated. Her people were wiped out by the Hornsent, beings similar to Omens who ruled the Lands Between at the time. Spurred on by the Two Fingers, this prompted her to become a god using an artifact called the Gate of Divinity. Afterward, she magically concealed the Land of Shadow from the rest of the Lands Between. She then had another of her offspring, Messmer, massacre the Hornsent to avenge her people. She later ostracized him, both to keep her origins hidden and to prevent him from becoming a future threat.
Plot
Elden Ring
During their quest, the Tarnished meets a mysterious maiden named Melina, who offers her assistance in return for being brought to the Erdtree. After proving their strength, Melina brings the Tarnished to the Roundtable Hold – a gathering place for fellow Tarnished – where they meet the Two Fingers, who reveals that at least two of the Elden Ring's shards must be collected and brought to the Erdtree to repair it.
Eventually, the Tarnished makes their way to the foot of the Erdtree, where they duel Morgott to gain entry. However, even when having the necessary shards, they find the path inside blocked by thorns. In response, Melina advises the Tarnished to seek out the Fell God's power, the Flame of Ruin, and ignite the Erdtree. Alternatively, they can also form a pact with another outer god, the corruptive Frenzied Flame. Should the Tarnished use the Flame of Ruin, Melina immolates herself as the kindling to set the Erdtree alight. No sacrifice is needed if the Frenzied Flame is used, but Melina abandons the Tarnished.
As the Erdtree burns, the Tarnished tracks down and kills Maliketh to obtain the Rune of Death, infusing it into the flames to burn away the thorns. On their way back to the Erdtree, however, they are confronted by Gideon, who has gone mad after learning the truth about the Greater Will, and Godfrey, who seeks to reclaim the Elden Lord title. After vanquishing them both, the Tarnished enters the Erdtree, where they fight and slay both Radagon and the Elden Beast. Afterward, the Tarnished gains access to Marika's corpse, containing the remnants of the Elden Ring, from which six endings are available depending on their choice of allies:
The first four endings all have the Tarnished become Elden Lord and usher in a new age.
The default ending; if the Tarnished allied with no one, the Lands Between are left as is, resulting in the Age of Fracture.
If the Tarnished allied with Goldmask, they usher in the Age of Order by enforcing laws into the Elden Ring.
If the Tarnished allied with Fia, they usher in the Age of the Duskborn by altering how death works in the Lands Between.
If the Tarnished allied with Dung Eater, they unleash a Blessing of Despair, stripping everyone in the Lands Between of grace.
If the Tarnished conspired with Ranni, they become her consort and she destroys the Elden Ring, ushering in the Age of Stars.
If the Tarnished made a pact with the Frenzied Flame, they set the Lands Between ablaze, becoming a Lord of Frenzied Flame. Afterward, Melina vows vengeance against the Tarnished.
Shadow of the Erdtree
The Tarnished follows the trail of Miquella, whom Mohg seemingly abducted. After slaying Mohg and Radahn, they discover that Miquella abandoned his body to pass into the Land of Shadow. Entering the realm through Miquella's corpse, the Tarnished continues tracking him by locating aspects of him throughout the land, which he abandoned to sever his ties to the Erdtree. Optionally, the Tarnished can also interact with Miquella's followers: Leda, one of Miquella's knights; Dane, a monk disillusioned with the Golden Order; Freyja, a soldier of Radahn's army; Hornsent, a Land of Shadow native; Thiollier, a worshipper of Miquella's female alter-ego, St. Trina; Sir Ansbach, a former follower of Mohg; and Moore, a Scarlet Rot creature.
Miquella's trail leads the Tarnished to the Gate of Divinity, but they find it locked behind magical thorns, forcing them to confront and kill Messmer to burn them away using his power. However, upon nearing the Gate, they are confronted by Miquella's followers, who had turned on each other after his affection-compelling charm came undone, with the survivors dependent on the Tarnished's choices. Confronting Miquella, it is revealed that he had orchestrated his own abduction and used Mohg's corpse to revive Radahn as his consort in a divine ascension ritual. The Tarnished proceeds to kill both Miquella and Radahn, thwarting the mystic's ascendency to godhood and preventing his 'Age of Compassion' from coming to pass.
FromSoftware's Dark Souls series of games is noted for its high level of difficulty.[25][26] Director Hidetaka Miyazaki wanted to create an open world game, intending Elden Ring as a mechanical evolution of Dark Souls. Elden Ring was designed to have a more-expansive environment than the narrow dungeons of FromSoftware's previous games; Miyazaki hoped the grander scale would add freedom and depth to exploration. FromSoftware approached American author George R. R. Martin, creator of the fantasy-novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, to provide worldbuilding for Elden Ring. Miyazaki, a fan of Martin's work, hoped his contributions would produce a more accessible narrative than those of the studio's earlier games.[27][28][29]
Miyazaki remained lead writer for the game's main storyline but gave Martin creative freedom to write about events that occurred before the main narrative. Miyazaki compared the process to using a "dungeon master's handbook in a tabletop [role-playing game]".[30][29] As with many of FromSoftware's previous games, the story was designed to be scantily explained; the developers wanted players to interpret the story for themselves via flavor text and optional discussions with non-player characters (NPCs). Miyazaki said he enjoyed writing NPCs with more detail, believing they are more compelling than those in his earlier works.[29][31] In an interview with IGN, Miyazaki said he chose to give Martin control over the backstory because of the restrictions FromSoftware's method of storytelling placed on writers. He noted FromSoftware did not want a linear or story-focused game, and by giving Martin oversight of a backstory with which the player is not directly involved, he could allow Martin to freely design his contributions.[28] Some staff from Game of Thrones, a television series adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, assisted with the game's development.[32]
Production of the game began in early 2017 following the release of The Ringed City, a piece of downloadable content (DLC) for Dark Souls III. Elden Ring was developed alongside Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which Miyazaki also directed. He said although the combat in Elden Ring has similarities to that in Sekiro, neither game directly inspired the mechanics of the other.[33][34] FromSoftware simultaneously developed both games using a "co-director" structure in which each of the games had a staff member acting as director through its first stages of development. Miyazaki would then provide direction on the game's mechanics, art, and music.[28] Yui Tanimura, who previously directed Dark Souls II and co-directed Dark Souls III, served as co-director for the game.[35] The design team of Elden Ring concentrated on environmental scale, role-playing, and storytelling as the main elements. Developers credited the scale with responsibility for creating a sense of diversity, and intended the roleplaying elements to allow for a variety of player-environment interactions. Increasing the game's scale required the creation of several explorable structures, which the team conjoined in the open world.[36] Miyazaki named Shadow of the Colossus, The Elder Scrolls, The Witcher 3, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as design influences for Elden Ring. He credited the tabletop role-playing gameRuneQuest, and the novels The Lord of the Rings and The Eternal Champion as inspirations for the game's story.[37][38] Tsukasa Saitoh, Shoi Miyazawa, Tai Tomisawa, Yuka Kitamura, and Yoshimi Kudo composed Elden Ring's original score.[39]
Elden Ring was revealed at E3 2019 in June.[40][41] Some information about the game had previously been leaked online due to a vulnerability of the servers at Bandai Namco Entertainment.[42]Elden Ring was widely anticipated on announcement but no further material was released until a trailer was shown in June 2021.[43]Playtesting was facilitated by Bandai Namco, which in November 2021 initially released the game as a closed beta that players could sign up to test.[44] The game's full release was scheduled for January 21, 2022, but was postponed to February 25 the same year.[45][46]Elden Ring had performance issues at launch; players complained of an insufficient frame rate.[47][48] Bandai Namco addressed some of these problems through software patches and updates.[49][50] In February 2023, the downloadable content (DLC) expansion Shadow of the Erdtree was announced.[51] It was released on June 20, 2024.[52]
The game's open world setting received acclaim; reviewers praised the exploration mechanics. Tamoor Hussain of GameSpot praised the Lands Between as the most-expansive of FromSoftware's settings, calling exploration and discovery the game's main appeal.[76] Mitchell Saltzman of IGN lauded Elden Ring for rewarding exploration in every part of the map.[77]Simon Parkin of The Guardian called the game's environments "intriguing and inventive".[78] Some reviewers liked the open landscape's provision of opportunities to discover and try multiple challenges.[79][80] The game's exploration drew many favorable comparisons with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.[76][77][81] The game's environments were also praised for their artistic designs; reviewers positively rated their execution in an open setting and appreciated the designs of linear dungeons.[76][82][83]
Similarly to many of FromSoftware's earlier games, Elden Ring's difficulty provoked much commentary; reviewers both praised and criticized its lack of easy modes.[84][85][86] Other reviewers considered Elden Ring the most-accessible Souls game, saying the player can choose to avoid difficult threats and return with more experience.[79][80][81] The combat of Elden Ring was praised for offering options for fighting enemies while keeping the game challenging.[80][82][87] Torrent and fast travel were well-received features, with reviewers citing them as large improvements towards making the game easier to explore.[79][80][88] The placing of checkpoints was praised as helpful to the game's approachability.[89][87][90]
Some reviewers criticized a number of the game's menu and accessibility systems.[91][92] Reviewers complained about the poor performance of the Windows version; framerate issues were commonly mentioned.[88][93] Reviewers noted the story of Elden Ring lacks Martin's writing style. Kyle Orland of Ars Technica said the game's storytelling is "characteristically sparse and cryptic", and differs from the expectations of Martin's fans.[83] Chris Carter of Destructoid called the story "low key" but said it is better-told than those of previous FromSoftware games.[87] Aoife Wilson of Eurogamer said George R. R. Martin's heavy inclusion in the marketing was "baffling" when his contributions to the overall narrative were unclear.[79] Mitchell Saltzman did not mind the lack of Martin's style, saying the side-stories rather than any grand, overarching plot kept him "enthralled".[77]
Journalists have covered Elden Ring'sspeedrunning community.[94][95] Shortly after release, players discovered a glitch called the "zip glitch" which allows players to warp across the map.[95] The glitch was removed by the developers, leading speedrunners to use an older version of the game for speedruns.[95] The game has been beaten in under five minutes using the glitch.[96]
The expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, received a score of 94/100 on Metacritic.[97] The DLC was generally praised for offering a similar sense of rewarding exploration, and atmosphere.[98]
Sales
Elden Ring sold 13.4 million copies worldwide by the end of March 2022 and 28.6 million by September 2024, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time.[99][100] It was the best-selling game in several regions between February and March 2022,[101][102] and is the fastest-selling Bandai Namco game of all time.[103][104] It was the second-bestselling game of 2022 in the US after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II,[105] the third-bestselling in Europe,[106] and the tenth-bestselling in Japan at retail.[107]
Shadow of the Erdtree sold five million copies within three days of its release.[108]
At The Game Awards 2024, Shadow of the Erdtree received five nominations, including for Game of the Year, a move that generated controversy as many believed DLC should not have been eligible for nomination.[120][121]
↑ Graeber, Brendan; Hoolihan, Hannah; Barnett, Brian (June 10, 2021). "Tips and Tricks - Elden Ring Guide". IGN. Archived from the original on March 31, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
↑ Fenlon, Wes; Litchfield, Ted; James, Sarah; Colp, Tyler; Brown, Fraser; Valentine, Robin; Morton, Lauren; Martin, Sean (December 30, 2022). "Game of the Year 2022: Elden Ring". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on April 16, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
↑ Mahardy, Mike; etal. (March 2, 2022). "The Best Game of 2022". Polygon. Archived from the original on January 5, 2023. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
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