Elden Ring

About Elden Ring

FromSoftware dropped this action RPG in February 2022, published by Bandai Namco. You play as the Tarnished in the Lands Between, a fractured realm ruled by demigods fighting over shards of the Elden Ring. George R. R. Martin helped build the lore while Hidetaka Miyazaki directed the game. It launched on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and now the Switch 2. The core idea involves exploring a massive open world filled with secrets, dungeons, and deadly bosses. You must repair the Ring to claim the title of Elden Lord. This is an adventure that demands patience and skill from day one.

Gameplay

You navigate the map on foot or by horse, hunting down fog gates that lead to boss fights. Combat relies on stamina management for attacks, dodges, and blocks rather than flashy combos. You can cast spells, use incantations, or rely on heavy weapons depending on your character build. The open structure lets you skip tough areas to train elsewhere before returning. Multiplayer modes let you summon other players for co-op or invade others as a phantom to disrupt their run. Dynamic weather shifts the atmosphere while you explore, and the day-night cycle changes enemy spawns. You spend most minutes learning attack patterns and managing resources in a high-stakes environment where one mistake often means death.

What Players Think

PlayPile data shows an average playtime of 47.7 hours for our four logged users. The community moods lean heavily toward Emotional with three votes, while two players felt it was Cooperative and one found it Strategic. Critics gave this a near-perfect score with Metacritic at 95 out of 100 and OpenCritic at 95 out of 100. 97.55% of critics recommend the title according to OpenCritic data. IGDB rates it 95.2 points as of 2026. Players unlock an average of only 41.7 percent of the 42 total achievements, suggesting a steep difficulty curve. Current Twitch rankings place the game at number 65, keeping it relevant in streaming culture despite its age.

PlayPile's Take

This title is for players who enjoy punishing combat and deep exploration without hand-holding. You can pick it up for as low as $15.00 on Green Man Gaming, a steep drop from its historical low of $43.98. The achievement grind proves difficult since most people do not finish the full list. Do not expect an easy time given the low unlock rates. If you want a challenging RPG with a massive world and high stakes, this fits that need. Otherwise, skip it and find something less demanding.

Storyline

Elden Ring takes place in the Lands Between, a fictional realm over which several demigods rule. It was previously ruled over by the immortal Queen Marika, who acted as keeper of the Elden Ring, a powerful force that manifested itself as the physical concept of order. When Marika shattered the Elden Ring and disappeared, her demigod children began fighting over pieces of the Ring in an event called The Shattering. Each demigod has a shard of the Ring called a Great Rune, which corrupts them with power. In the game, the player character is a Tarnished, one of a group of exiles from the Lands Between who are summoned back after the Shattering. The player must traverse the realm to repair the Elden Ring and become the Elden Lord.