From Software have proven time and time again that they're masters of their craft, and Elden Ring exemplifies this in astonishing ways. Their latest action-RPG isn't necessarily an evolution of their formula, but rather a perfection of it - a culmination of years worth of honing their experience from Dark Souls to Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and arguably much earlier than that. The result is, quite honestly, nothing short of a masterpiece that will likely be talked about for decades to come.



Elden Ring throws players into the mysterious Lands Between, taking on the role as a Tarnished. The world has gone through a great calamity where the Elden Ring, the binding force that governs life and death, has been shattered and scattered around the realms. It's up to the Tarnished to reclaim the shards of the powerful Elden Ring and restore The Lands Between to its former glory, all the while uncovering a greater family conspiracy at the heart of the multi-layered story.

It all comes together in From Software's most narratively complex work yet.

From Software have a knack for keeping their stories relatively vague and cryptic, and it's no different in Elden Ring. However, thanks to the addition of A Song of Ice & Fire author George R.R. Martin, there's a more concise narrative flow with clearly defined characters that, like Game of Thrones, are all chess pieces on a grand board. Lore hunters will still search for story threads in item descriptions, while the observant will seek out secrets beyond the pages, but it all comes together in From Software's most narratively complex work yet.



If you're familiar with any number of From Software RPGs, Elden Ring plays out quite similarly, albeit with a few welcomed additions and changes. Like Dark Souls that defined this gameplay loop, souls are replaced with runes and bonfires with Sites of Grace. Weapon Arts from Dark Souls 3 make an appearance in Elden Ring as Ashes of War, while the handy jump function is now given its own dedicated button like Sekiro. However, how all of these systems come together in the end is absolutely brilliant.

Elden Ring's gameplay can simply be described as a far more robust rebalancing of Dark Souls, but with a lot more variety in gear and build opportunities. The amount of options on display here is staggering, as there's no shortage of insane builds you can accomplish with a little bit of grease work. These factor into the gameplay variety, catering towards several types of players. Sword, axe and spear lovers will find a good amount of melee weapons at their disposal, while mage users will lean towards the absurdly large pool of spells in the game.



There's an ebb and flow to Elden Ring's gameplay that feels familiar yet refined. The introduction of guard counters now allows players to perform a quick and brutal counterattack after a successful shield block. It's a simple to use yet difficult to master ability that I relied on more than I want to admit. Adding to the combat is Ashes of War, special abilities that can be imbued onto weapons, offering an additional powerful skill at the cost of FP (or the game's mana system). They're easy to ignore, but extremely viable in tougher encounters without compromising the difficulty.

The introduction of guard counters now allows players to perform a quick and brutal counterattack after a successful shield block.

That said, Elden Ring is From Software's most accessible game yet, but it's still a punishing affair for the careless player. Alleviating some of that stress is the newly introduced Spirit Summons, various spirits that can be used against bosses and other situations. They start off relatively weak and only offer minor distractions, but towards the late game (and once properly upgraded), they become worthy companions capable of trading blows and, sometimes, even completely carrying the fight. From Software masterfully balance fights so Spirit Summons offer enough breathing room to rely on, but not enough to entirely eliminate enemies for you. Their difficulty is still front and center at all times, so it's a matter of how you use the options available to you in order to make your experience a little less frustrating.



However, my greatest praise for Elden Ring is its world. This is From Software's first time developing an open-world structure, but they design it with veteran mentality. The interconnected nature of Dark Souls and Bloodborne's levels are simply expanded into a formidably sized sandbox - an often impossibly gigantic map layered with huge underground areas, sprawling dungeons and mines, towering castles, looming mountains, massive lakes, and hidden paths. Just talking about how large Elden Ring's world is doesn't do it enough justice.

From Software also wisely eliminate quest markers, with only a vague light guiding you to your next location to progress the story. Unlike many open-world games that hold your hand and guide you from one spot to the next, Elden Ring places a great emphasis on exploration and adventure. The Lands Between are designed so intricately and expertly, that landmarks and vague blotches on the map are enough to pique your curiosity and guide you to the next location. Best of all, none of this feels like bloat. Every new location feels deliberate and a joy to discover. I never once felt like I was wasting my time exploring, but rather expanding my map and addictively pursuing my next "fix" of adventure, excited at the possibilities that await.



Elden Ring also adds a trusty steed named [censored] for faster traversal around The Lands Between. Initially, I thought [censored] would simply be a transport vessel to get me from point A to point B, but it became much more than that when I realized just how crucial [censored] is in many boss fights. The infamous Tree Sentinel which greets you on your first leg of the journey is a much easier fight on horseback, while battling dragons with [censored] almost feels like a necessity. In short, [censored] is one of the best steeds in a video game yet, and it's not just because of a handy double-jump ability.

It's a game that I quite literally stopped to gawk at every 10 minutes, and even 80 hours in, I'm still in constant awe of its grandeur.

As enticing as The Lands Between are to explore, it's the little moments that truly made me appreciate just how beautiful Elden Ring is as an open-world game. Despite the guiding lights, there was never a great sense of urgency to the story, meaning I simply took my time exploring and basking in its sites to soak in as much as I could. The looming godly Erdtree at the center of its world sets the stage for one of the most gorgeous fantasy worlds I've ever seen in fiction. This is a land with rich history and moving parts that exist with or without you. You're simply a wanderer lost in its breathtaking maze. There's nothing more satisfying than finding something that truly feels like you've earned that discovery. Elden Ring does this with ease. It's a game that I quite literally stopped to gawk at every 10 minutes, and even 80 hours in, I'm still in constant awe of its grandeur.



If you thought From Software's best boss fights were behind them, you'd be mistaken. Elden Ring delivers dozens upon dozens of boss encounters, some minor while others tied to the story, that each escalate in spectacle and difficulty. One minute you could be fighting a dragon in a massive lake, while the next you could be battling a multi-limbed demi-god atop a stormy castle. Elden Ring possesses some of the most cinematic, the most dizzying, and easily the most varied bosses in From Software's entire history.

If you thought From Software's best boss fights were behind them, you'd be mistaken.

I won't spoil some of the phenomenal late game bosses, but this is where From Software elevates themselves into masterclass designers. One fight encourages players to use a certain magically imbued weapon that's crucial to fighting one of the bosses, while another is an incredible battle of attrition and endurance. It constantly asks players to put everything they've learned to the test, making you feel like the land's mightiest warrior when you overcome them. Like most From Software games, there's an immensely satisfying feeling of accomplishment when you overcome a tough challenge, and that sense of victory is a drug that keeps you hooked until the end.



There's a lot I haven't even talked about because Elden Ring is just that massive in scope and content. I haven't even touched upon the on-the-fly item crafting by gathering materials scattered around the land, the gargantuan size and spiraling madness of its Legacy dungeons, the flexible build variety of classes, the rebalanced weapon upgrading that encourages hunting for resources, the great character customization, the web of NPC questlines, the improved and perfected hit boxes, the passive skills on weapons in addition to Ashes of War, the way the map subtly guides you upwards and keeps expanding, the respite of the Roundtable Hold hub area and its complex NPCs, the jaw-dropping diversity of biomes, the punishing Evergoal boss fights, power stancing and its numerous uses, the surprises and hidden paths that lead to entirely new areas, the distant landmarks on the horizon that constantly push you into several directions - you get it, Elden Ring is a juggernaut of a game, and that's putting it lightly.



In terms of performance, this is where Elden Ring has gained somewhat of a divisive reception. I played the game on Xbox Series X which is apparently the best console to play on for stability, though I did run into a few performance hiccups such as minor framerate drops and one game crash when trying PvP. However, none of it left a lasting impact to really take notice of it nor did it break the immersion for me. That said, I've heard reports of PC and PS5 players encountering some nasty performance issues that will require a bit of patchwork to smoothen out. As it stands, I simply speak for my Xbox Series X playthrough which this review is based on, and technical issues were never a big blight on the game in my time.

The world design is masterful, to say the least.

As far as visuals and sound design goes, Elden Ring is in a league of its own. Sure, it doesn't have the refined visual shine and detail of a big-budget release like Horizon Forbidden West, but From Software's striking art direction ensures Elden Ring has a unique and engrossing visual style. The world design is masterful, to say the least, but my praises don't end there. The soundtrack, composed by the collective talents of Tsukasa Saitoh, Shoi Miyazawa, Yoshimi Kudo, Yuka Kitamura and Tai Tomisawa, is phenomenal. The main menu greets you with the booming, drum-heavy orchestra of the game's theme song, which invigorates you and promises something truly epic to come.



From Software have made their magnum opus in Elden Ring, the culmination of everything the developer has learned through a decades worth of prior masterpieces. Even as I type, I'm yearning to return to The Lands Between and continue my journey then restart it as soon as I dig up every secret the game has to offer. The phrase "one of the greatest games of all time" was thrown around a lot at launch. I thought it might be an exaggeration, but I stand corrected. Elden Ring absolutely earns the badge of one of the best games ever made.



*Review code provided by Bandai Namco | Reviewed on Xbox Series X