Short version:

Pros:
+ Amazing world-building and lore
+ Stellar locations and landmarks brimming with enemies and wildlife
+ Exploration feels rewarding
+ Responsive and satisfying combat
+ Outstanding amount of content
+ Tons of replay value
+ Epic soundtrack
+ Superb visuals
+ Splendid voice acting
+ Challenging boss fights

Cons:
- Limited, janky co-op play
- Horse combat could be better

“Long” version:
Elden Ring is an RPG developed by FromSoftware Inc and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is an ambitious game that attempts to bring the Dark Souls formula to an open world setting.

I really enjoyed Dark Souls I and III but I was never the sort of person to pre-order any of them and would always wait for a massive sale. With Elden Ring, I remember watching the reveal trailer and thinking it was not for me because of the huge open world. I have grown tired of the Ubisoft open-world formula so I lost my interest immediately. Fortunately, some gameplay videos came out and they looked glorious so I decided to give it a try.
Turns out it ended up being one of my favorite games of all time!

Just like other FromSoftware’s titles, Elden Ring’s approach to story is interesting.
You play as a Tarnished on a quest to become the Elden Lord. You get introduced to some events and characters on your journey and must rely on side missions, item descriptions and character dialogue to know more about this world. This might discourage some players, but I found the whole setting and story to be epic.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2820290211
Elden Ring’s gameplay is great.
The core gameplay loop has remained untouched – you go from checkpoint to checkpoint (called sites of grace in this game), disposing of enemies on the way, earning runes (currency) and allocating them to numerous stats that increase a plethora of things like HP, mana, stamina, immunities, etc.
If you die, you lose all your runes and must go back to pick them up. If you die before getting to them, however, they are gone for good. Every time you rest at a site of grace, all your healing/mana items come back but all enemies respawn too.

Exploration feels way better than before, as you now have a responsive, dedicated jump button. Additionally, you can now ride a swift and nimble horse named Torrent to quickly travel through the huge open world.
Plentiful sites of grace, where you can rest and level up, also allow you to quick travel with ease.
Exploring further but also revisiting areas is always encouraged, as there are always useful items and gear just around the corner.

Combat has also received a facelift.
It feels more responsive and fine-tuned. You still have a myriad of options when it comes to weapons, armor and other trinkets.
You can focus on swords, whips, staves, crossbows, shields, you name it… These have their standard attacks but also activated abilities that add versatility into the mix. The sheer amount of personalization present here is awesome.
You can pick from an absurd amount of armor and talismans, mixing and matching with different sorts of weapons. The options for weapon/gear combos are endless.
Enemies are as relentless as ever and feel super satisfying to slay. Some might feel impossible to beat but there is always something you can do – a different approach you can take, a different weapon, maybe coming back after you are more experienced.
There is always something to do in Elden Ring. The open world nature of the game allows you to visit whichever area you desire. This might end up killing you, but you might also find a new weapon or upgrade materials to make yourself strong. This might be a double-edged sword for some players. Personality, I loved it. I managed to find a spot that had considerably easy opponent to beat that were worth a lot of runes. After a few visits to that area, I managed to level up a great deal of times and felt quite overpowered for a good portion of the story mode. Thankfully, a lot of the side quests and bosses put me back in my place by killing me repeatedly.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2821580220
There are two more aspects of gameplay I must touch on and I will start off with horseback combat.
Mounted combat is fine, but I feel like it could be better. I have been told by friends that it really depends on what kind of weapon you are carrying and that makes sense, but, at the same time, the camera can get in the way if you lock onto targets and the whole combat aspect always feels a bit janky and unsatisfying. You can certainly cheese a few bosses while riding Torrent and you will get more skilled as you become more experienced, but I do not think it is as enjoyable as regular combat.

The final feature I want to mention is online co-op. It is present, but I think it has been poorly implemented. Summoning other players might not always work, as I had trouble finding my friend. When we finally got to play together, the summoned player would always return to their world after someone dies or after defeating a boss. I can see why some people enjoy this but I would have loved to be able to complete the story with a friend and not being sent back every time we kill something.
Furthermore, you are bound to a single location while playing co-op, as the game summons walls of fog to prevent you from going to other areas. You cannot ride your horse either, which is very unfortunate.
You could say it is due to technical limitations but, in this day and age, I do not think that is the case.
It is not a deal-breaker, obviously, I actually prefer playing these games on my own, for the most part – but adventuring in such an epic world with a friend, employing different strategies to overcome amazing bosses sounds terrific and you only get a small portion of that, which is very disappointing.
Invasions serve as the PvP component of Elden Ring and these are fine. They do not happen too often and you can disable them entirely, which is nice. The game also includes some story-driven invasions that give you an extra challenge to face.
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2823356962
I always say that Dark Souls game do not have great graphics but feature stellar art direction. Well, in Elden Ring , the graphics are absolutely stunning and the art direction is flawless. Environments are distinct and masterfully exude feelings of beauty, peace, rot and desperation; sometimes, at the same time. Really, I spent so much of my playtime just taking in the gorgeous vistas. It is art.

Sound design is up next. Another win, in my opinion.
Sound effects are amazing - hits feel visceral and impactful and ambient noises make the world feel lived-in. It is beautiful.
Voice acting is top-notch. Every single delivery is spectacular and Elden Ring actually made me care about the fate of a few NPCs, something that never happened in any of the Dark Souls games. I will protect Roderika, Hewg, Miriel and Sellen with my life.
The soundtrack is immaculate - there is something so thrilling about crossing a wall of fog and coming face to face with a towering monster while epic music plays. It really hypes you up and gives this grandiose feeling to the whole experience.

So, yeah… I am a big fan of Elden Ring.
I want to play it, even as I write this review. I played it for 100+ hours on my first week with it and I cannot wait to start a new playthrough!
It is an easy recommendation that will give you tons of high-quality content. It fixes the problems I have had with the open-world genre by offering a map filled with objectives that do not feel grindy. The gameplay is great, the visuals are breathtaking and its sense of scale is of legendary proportions.

Final score: 9.5 out of 10.

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