TL;DR ELDEN RING IS ONE OF THE BEST GAMES I HAVE EVER PLAYED IN MY 2 DECADES OF GAMING

I'm no stranger to FromSoft games, or sitting down for long periods of time with a game in general, and Elden Ring is no exception. I knew from the first few hours of gameplay that this was going to be FromSoft at it's best, but I wanted to wait until I finished my first playthrough to write this review. I think my time speaks for itself. I explored, I referenced a wiki, I grinded, and I tried to follow as many NPC quest lines as I could, but I can say with confidence that I missed items, dungeons, bosses, and failed more than one NPC quest line. Personally, I couldn't be happier knowing that there is still more out there I haven't experienced, and may never if I don't stumble upon it or find it on a wiki or reddit. I can't stress enough: THIS GAME IS WORTH YOUR TIME .

Firstly, let me say that this game is NOT a 10/10, at least not for someone with my setup. My PC specs are on my profile, but simply put, I have a 3080Ti and an ultrawide monitor. I'm not gonna lie, it's disappointing to have a game come out in 2022 with no ultrawide support and no FPS cap higher than 60. I'm aware that this is a console port, and I'm also aware that you can use certain mods to bypass both of these problems with the condition you play offline, but I have a friend group that I drop in and out of for co-op all the time, practically every day at the time of writing this, and that's simply not a feasible option when games like FEAR had ultrawide support in 2005 and Switch ports like MonHun Rise have caps up to 144, the FPS of my monitor. I won't go as far to call this laziness on the part of FromSoft, and I'm aware PC is secondary in their minds to a console release, but this is frankly disappointing, even though they have a track record of doing this in their other games as well. I'm sure in a few years time when my friends have moved on to other games that playing offline with mods will scratch this itch, but that's still not official support and doesn't solve the problem, which this is.

Now, onto what's good about Elden Ring: EVERYTHING ELSE . This game is tremendously large. It puts other open world games to shame with just how much there is to see. This is without stating how full it is, with almost nowhere being empty and devoid of something to do. This game will consistently reward your exploration efforts with items, weapons, armor, etc., and then there will just be more around the next corner. Top this all off with some of the best designs for gear and bosses that this studio has ever had and you have practically unlimited potential for enjoyment. New quality of life features such as jumping, horseback riding, and swapping weapon arts between different weapons allows a player to make a build that, statistically, is more than likely unique to them that others may never use, making more variety in gameplay than ever before. Combine this with the buff to magic in the form of Sorceries and pyromancy/miracles in the form of Incantations, and we can actually have entire playthroughs of non-physical builds that are actually effective. When you sit down and start to take this game all in, it comes as no surprise that this game took over 5 years of development to make, and this really shines through when you compare it to its competition.

If you've played at least a handful of AAA games in the last 5 years, you no doubt know the absolute abysmal state that almost every single one of them launch into for a Day One playing experience. This is then how the game is for months, sometimes a year plus, while developers scramble to make a stable experience that doesn't feel like an Early Access title (*cough* Cyberpunk *cough*). In over 130 hours of gameplay, I experienced just ONE crash and only 2 glitches that resulted in my death, both of which were about 60 hours apart and resolved themselves quickly without me having to restart or reload. I did experience FPS drops in certain areas, but these were few and far between and certainly not as bad as I've heard they are online, but that may be due to my GPU being very high-end. After about 40-50 hours of gameplay, I felt like I had cheated FromSoft on Elden Ring. How did I only buy this game for $60? How did it not cost more? And then it finally hit me; This is what a $60 game is SUPPOSED to feel like. This is actual value for your money! It's no wonder how developers at other studios bashed Elden Ring on Twitter (yes, that's real, please look it up for easy laughs) about anything they could think of; FromSoft simply made a better game then they ever had! Developers being bitter at each other over the kind of content they make isn't healthy for our communities, but it really does showcase the HUGE difference in quality between Elden Ring and any AAA game released in quite a long time.

In conclusion, this game is for you. A FromSoft game has never been more approachable, including for those who have NEVER played Dark Souls. If you're someone who can only get ONE full price game this year, and you don't want to wait for hotfixes and patches to make a game enjoyable, this is it. This game is worth every dollar and every hour you put into it.

[b] TL;DR ELDEN RING IS ONE OF THE BEST GAMES I HAVE EVER PLAYED IN MY 2 DECADES OF GAMING [/b] I'm no stranger to FromSoft games, or sitting down for long periods of time with a game in general, and Elden Ring is no exception. I knew from the first few hours of gameplay that this was going to be FromSoft at it's best, but I wanted to wait until I finished my first playthrough to write this review. I think my time speaks for itself. I explored, I referenced a wiki, I grinded, and I tried to follow as many NPC quest lines as I could, but I can say with confidence that I missed items, dungeons, bosses, and failed more than one NPC quest line. Personally, I couldn't be happier knowing that there is still more out there I haven't experienced, and may never if I don't stumble upon it or find it on a wiki or reddit. I can't stress enough: [b] THIS GAME IS WORTH YOUR TIME [/b] . Firstly, let me say that this game is [b] NOT [/b] a 10/10, at least not for someone with my setup. My PC specs are on my profile, but simply put, I have a 3080Ti and an ultrawide monitor. I'm not gonna lie, it's disappointing to have a game come out in 2022 with no ultrawide support and no FPS cap higher than 60. I'm aware that this is a console port, and I'm also aware that you can use certain mods to bypass both of these problems with the condition you play offline, but I have a friend group that I drop in and out of for co-op all the time, practically every day at the time of writing this, and that's simply not a feasible option when games like FEAR had ultrawide support in 2005 and Switch ports like MonHun Rise have caps up to 144, the FPS of my monitor. I won't go as far to call this laziness on the part of FromSoft, and I'm aware PC is secondary in their minds to a console release, but this is frankly disappointing, even though they have a track record of doing this in their other games as well. I'm sure in a few years time when my friends have moved on to other games that playing offline with mods will scratch this itch, but that's still not official support and doesn't solve the problem, which this is. Now, onto what's good about Elden Ring: [b] EVERYTHING ELSE [/b] . This game is tremendously large. It puts other open world games to shame with just how much there is to see. This is without stating how full it is, with almost nowhere being empty and devoid of something to do. This game will consistently reward your exploration efforts with items, weapons, armor, etc., and then there will just be [b] more [/b] around the next corner. Top this all off with some of the best designs for gear and bosses that this studio has ever had and you have practically unlimited potential for enjoyment. New quality of life features such as jumping, horseback riding, and swapping weapon arts between different weapons allows a player to make a build that, statistically, is more than likely unique to them that others may never use, making more variety in gameplay than ever before. Combine this with the buff to magic in the form of Sorceries and pyromancy/miracles in the form of Incantations, and we can actually have entire playthroughs of non-physical builds that are actually effective. When you sit down and start to take this game all in, it comes as no surprise that this game took over 5 years of development to make, and this really shines through when you compare it to its competition. If you've played at least a handful of AAA games in the last 5 years, you no doubt know the absolute abysmal state that almost every single one of them launch into for a Day One playing experience. This is then how the game is for months, sometimes a year plus, while developers scramble to make a stable experience that doesn't feel like an Early Access title (*cough* Cyberpunk *cough*). In over 130 hours of gameplay, I experienced just ONE crash and only 2 glitches that resulted in my death, both of which were about 60 hours apart and resolved themselves quickly without me having to restart or reload. I did experience FPS drops in certain areas, but these were few and far between and certainly not as bad as I've heard they are online, but that may be due to my GPU being very high-end. After about 40-50 hours of gameplay, I felt like I had cheated FromSoft on Elden Ring. How did I only buy this game for $60? How did it not cost more? And then it finally hit me; This is what a $60 game is SUPPOSED to feel like. This is actual value for your money! It's no wonder how developers at other studios bashed Elden Ring on Twitter (yes, that's real, please look it up for easy laughs) about anything they could think of; FromSoft simply made a better game then they ever had! Developers being bitter at each other over the kind of content they make isn't healthy for our communities, but it really does showcase the HUGE difference in quality between Elden Ring and any AAA game released in quite a long time. In conclusion, this game is for you. A FromSoft game has never been more approachable, including for those who have NEVER played Dark Souls. If you're someone who can only get ONE full price game this year, and you don't want to wait for hotfixes and patches to make a game enjoyable, this is it. This game is worth every dollar and every hour you put into it.