Elden Ring is the culminative mastering of Fromsoft's design for the past decade on top of treading new grounds in the form of an open world with horizontal progression compared to past games which were much more linear in design. It is unabashedly masterful in execution; it feels like the Soulsborne series was always meant to reach this.

By far this is the game where it is the easiest to get into; progression gating is very limited, most of the map is accessible without the need to defeat bosses. There is a plethora of play-styles that are viable; Miracle builds are now finally made viable, its on that level. The Spirit Ashes add a new option for solo play that's more available for players to use.

The story feels much more cohesive and fleshed out than any previous Fromsoft game that I have experienced. Not going to drop spoilers, but its amazing how things feel connected as you progress through the story.

There are a few prominent pain points. There is some reusing of bosses, which in an open world game is perfectly fine, however there are instances where they are poorly placed, such as two different instances of a boss enemy with different movesets in a small arena, which makes the encounter feel arbitrarily difficult. There are a few enemies that are less than enjoyable to fight as well, and there is a big difficulty spike in the later areas. However these are relatively minor flaws that can be circumvented.

Elden Ring feels like a childhood dream of adventure. Its easy to lose yourself to the adventure. Take it from me; game already ate up 100+ hours in the first week. To the veterans of the Soulsborne games, this is a worthwhile purchase. To the newcomers, this is probably the best first game for the series, it will take some learning but if you really want to get into souls games, this is one.