Gaming Review: Elden Ring, a Masterpiece of Modern Gaming    

Every few years, a long-awaited game that masterfully delivers on just about every passionate gamer’s wishes is released. From a vast open world full of mysteries and dangers to innovative combat, rewarding bosses, art that leaves players breathless, and an amazing soundtrack, wrapped up in a gripping storyline with challenging and engaging gameplay–Elden Ring is one such game.

One year ago, in February 2022, dark fantasy RPG game Elden Ring was officially released to gamers across the world after a five-year wait. The game’s development began in 2017 alongside the widely popular action-adventure game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, released in 2019. Elden Ring was developed by FromSoftware Inc. and published by Bandai Namco, both of whom are also responsible for RPG games Bloodborne, Demon Souls, and the Dark Souls series.

During the creation and writing of this massive, intricately designed game, Hidetaka Miyazaki, famed for being the main writer of the above-mentioned games, joined forces with A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin to write the lore and background story of the game. One may describe Elden Ring as being a more punishing Dark Souls meeting epic fantasy and mythology to create a tragedy or a hero’s tale.

Since its release, Elden Ring has amassed immense popularity, captivated and united gaming audiences, and has been hailed as a masterpiece of the modern gaming world. And as secrets throughout the complex game continue to be unraveled, the praise and renown continues to grow.

Elden Ring shares many qualities with its predecessors, including but not limited to a customizable character, multiple endings (6 currently known) determined by players’ choices, a pitiless difficulty, an explorable world. Furthermore, the truth behind this game’s story, lore, and characters are largely left up to the players’ imagination and analysis. 

To briefly summarize the setup for the game’s storyline, the player journeys through the game across a dying world, The Lands Between, as a Tarnished, an undead individual of no renown or name who is given a chance to attain lordship over the world through restoring the Elden Ring, said to have been shattered by a wrathful goddess. The fate of this world is placed in the hands of the player’s character, whether that fate be one of restoration, destruction, or the dawn of a new age.

The reasons for Elden Ring’s incredible success expand beyond its similarities to its predecessors, its rich story, enchanting landscapes, and the efforts that went into its creation. The game not only appealed to already devoted fans of the Soulsborne (Dark Souls+Demon Souls+Bloodborne) franchise, but also new audiences who enjoyed all kinds of open-world RPG dark fantasy games and lovers of fantasy and mythology in general.

It was structured to have a world with as much free-roaming space as possible while delivering an even more brutal challenge to players through its immense and hostile world and its terrifying inhabitants. The game contains a multitude of hidden treasures, dungeons, puzzles, side quests, and surprise bosses. It features more customizable character traits and a greater selection of weapons with more availability than in previous games. 

Another appraisal Elden Ring receives is that the ideal conditions its design and features provide for intense and competitive online player-versus-player (pvp) gaming. But this is where gamers say one of the game’s main drawbacks lies. As with all Soulsborne games, the combination of Elden Ring’s gameplay, environment, difficulty, and combat naturally fosters a highly competitive pvp community, where in discipline, skill, and fairness are highly valued but also not infrequently ignored. 

Like with other reputedly overpowered Soulsborne weapons and attacks, some players will exploit these for an unfair advantage in competitive settings. But with such expansive fanbases, this situation is inevitable.