Elden Ring — The Open World That Redefined What "Hard" Can Mean

Developer: FromSoftware · Publisher: Bandai Namco · Released: February 25, 2022 Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC · Genre: Action RPG · Rating: M (Mature)

Elden Ring is a third-person action RPG built on the foundation of FromSoftware's Soulsborne series — the lineage that includes Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro. If you've never played one of these games, the short version is this: every fight has weight, mistakes cost you, and beating a tough boss produces a satisfaction that's hard to find elsewhere in gaming.

What makes Elden Ring different from its predecessors is the world itself. Rather than a series of interconnected corridors, you get the Lands Between — a sweeping open world filled with ruined castles, underground labyrinths, sheer cliffs hiding secret dungeons, and bosses lurking in places you'd never expect. You can ride your spirit horse Torrent across golden fields, spot something ominous on the horizon, ride toward it, and two hours later emerge with a completely different build than you started with.

The combat loop is deliberate and demanding. You dodge, block, parry, and strike — but the order matters enormously, because getting hit by the wrong enemy at the wrong moment can erase half your health bar. The game never holds your hand on this. You'll die. Often. But the design is consistently fair: once you learn an enemy's patterns, that death starts to feel instructive rather than cheap.

Where Elden Ring pulls away from older Souls games is in how many ways you can approach any given fight. The arsenal is staggering — hundreds of weapons, each with a unique moveset and a special "Ash of War" skill that can be swapped between them. You can build a character who tanks hits in full plate armor with a greatshield, one who snipes from cliffs with crossbows and incantations, or one who turns invisible, casts madness-inflicting spells, and rolls out before enemies can react. The game adapts to your playstyle rather than demanding a specific one 2.

IGN's Mitchell Saltzman called it "one of the best open-world games I've ever played," comparing its sense of discovery to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 3. That comparison lands: the world is designed to reward curiosity, not to punish it. Climb a cliff face and you might find a hidden grace point (a save/respawn location). Drop into a well and there's a whole underground region the main path never hints at.

Critics were nearly unanimous — 100% of Metacritic's 86 critic reviews were positive at launch. But real player reactions are more textured.

The believers: "Exploring this game's open world is the best experience I've ever had in my entire life. Every boss, build, and everything that has a variety feels completely different and unique." — Metacritic user omertaha1453 1

The honest critics: Some players push back on the open world's repetition — mini-dungeons recycle boss encounters, and the sheer volume of content can tip into exhaustion on a first playthrough. One Metacritic user noted: "I was exhausted by the time the credits rolled and didn't want to try out any cool new builds." That's a real trade-off with a 60-plus-hour game.

The newcomers: Players coming from action games with more responsive or combo-forward combat sometimes find Elden Ring's deliberate pace jarring. It is, genuinely, not for everyone. If you've never clicked with a Souls game before, the open world gives you more flexibility to go at your own pace — but the core DNA hasn't changed.

Game Informer's Daniel Tack put it as cleanly as anyone: "Elden Ring isn't just the best game this year; it's one of the best games ever made." 4

You are a Tarnished — someone who lost the blessing of the Erdtree long ago and was exiled from the Lands Between. Now the Elden Ring, a source of cosmic order, has been shattered, and the grace that once guided the chosen has scattered. You return to a land in chaos, where demigods have seized the shards of the Elden Ring and reshaped entire regions in their image.

That's the premise. FromSoftware and co-writer George R.R. Martin (yes, the Game of Thrones author) designed the lore to be discovered sideways — through item descriptions, environmental details, and cryptic NPC dialogue — rather than spelled out in cutscenes. You'll start with fragments of context, piece together what happened, and probably finish the game still debating interpretations with other players online. If you like your stories delivered in tidy exposition, this isn't it. If you like your stories felt more than told, few games do it better.

Yes, if you: want one of the most technically accomplished open worlds ever built, enjoy combat that rewards attention and patience, or don't mind dying a lot on the way to a very satisfying finish.

Maybe not, if you: bounced hard off Dark Souls in the past and the open-world flexibility still doesn't sound like enough of a lifeline, or if you prefer games that hold a clear narrative thread throughout.

The game is available on PS4/PS5, Xbox One/Series, and PC. A major expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree (Metacritic: 94), was released in June 2024 for those who want more after the base game.