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Elden RingEdit

Elden Ring is an open-world action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Released in 2022, it represents a culmination of the studio’s long-running design philosophy—challenging, atmospheric, and deeply rewarding play—now expanded into a vast, interconnected world known as the Lands Between. The game blends FromSoftware’s trademark toughness with a sprawling outdoor landscape, richly detailed lore built in collaboration with novelist George R. R. Martin, and a core loop that rewards preparation, patience, and decisive execution. It became a cultural touchstone for gamers who value depth of world-building, strategic combat, and the satisfaction of overcoming difficult encounters.

Elden Ring is widely noted for its seamless fusion of tight, Soulslike combat with expansive exploration. Players contend with a variety of foes, traverse punctuated dungeons, and face epic bosses that demand study and adaptation. The open world is punctuated by strong environmental storytelling, optional lore fragments, and a non-linear progression that invites experimentation. The core experiences—stamina management, timing, tactical use of items, and learning enemy patterns—remain central, while traversal is aided by the player’s mount and a day-night cycle that affects encounters. The setting is deliberately mythic and morally ordered in ways that mirror classic fantasy traditions, inviting players to weigh risk, reward, and the consequences of choice within the Lands Between. Lands Between serves as the centerpiece of the game’s geography, with locales like Limgrave, Liurnia, and Caelid providing distinct atmospheres and tactical options for exploration. The game sits within the broader lineage of FromSoftware titles such as Dark Souls, Dark Souls II, and Bloodborne, while also pushing into a more expansive, modern open-world design. The project’s ambitions were aided by collaboration with George R. R. Martin, who contributed to the world-building and lore that underpins the game’s overarching narrative architecture. The resulting product is often discussed in the context of both traditional fantasy storytelling and contemporary game design.

Overview

  • Genre and structure: Elden Ring is an Action role-playing game in the Soulslike tradition, adapted to an Open world format. It emphasizes non-linear progression, exploration, and boss battles that test a player's long-term mastery rather than quick reflexes alone.
  • Setting and lore: The Lands Between is a fractured realm shaped by the shattering of the Elden Ring and the withered influence of the Erdtree. The world is brought to life through environmental storytelling, mythic elements, and lore fragments scattered throughout the world.
  • Development and release: The game was produced by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Its design and narrative integration drew on the studio’s history of crafting challenging, atmospheric experiences and on the lore contributions of George R. R. Martin.
  • Platform and reception: Elden Ring released on multiple platforms and received widespread critical acclaim for its scope, depth, and engineering. It is frequently cited as a benchmark for open-world design within the action RPG genre, alongside earlier titles in the studio’s catalog such as Dark Souls and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Gameplay and world design

  • Core mechanics: Players build a customized character and navigate combat that emphasizes stamina management, precise timing, weapon choice, and environmental awareness. The game rewards learning enemy patterns and planning several steps ahead.
  • World structure: The Lands Between is a large, interconnected space with multiple regional hubs that can be explored in a non-linear order. Its design rewards exploration and careful resource management, including upgrading equipment and leveling up in and around contested sites of power.
  • Exploration and guidance: While the game is challenging, it offers a sense of autonomy—players can tackle optional bosses, discover hidden paths, and uncover lore that enriches the main story. The balance between guided story beats and open-ended exploration is a defining feature of the experience.
  • Multiplayer and social systems: Elden Ring retains multiplayer elements typical of FromSoftware titles, including cooperative play for difficult areas and competitive encounters through PvP. These systems extend the game’s longevity and create community-driven strategies and discussions around boss encounters and builds. PvP and Cooperative play are integral to the extended experience.

Story and themes

  • Narrative approach: The plot is less a straightforward, linear script and more an atmospheric framework built from lore fragments, environmental cues, and character-driven quests. Players assemble the story through exploration and interaction with key figures and factions across the Lands Between.
  • Characters and factions: The game features a diverse cast of leaders, witches, tarnished knights, and other influential figures who steer or resist the fate of the realm. The interplay between these characters and the world’s power structures underpins the game’s dramatic tension.
  • Moral order and ambition: The game’s world-building often foregrounds themes of order, decay, and the pursuit of power. The player’s choices—and the consequences those choices bear in different regions—reflect a classical fantasy ethos in which individuals navigate competing claims to authority within a mythic order.
  • Representation and critique: Some observers have raised questions about representation and inclusion in high fantasy settings. Supporters of the game’s approach argue that Elden Ring’s focus on mythic storytelling, artistic vision, and merit-based progression stands apart from modern identity-politics discourse and rewards skill, curiosity, and perseverance. Critics on various sides have debated the balance between artistic liberty and contemporary expectations, with proponents typically arguing that a fantasy framework should prioritize narrative coherence and gameplay design over real-world political analogies.

Development and release

  • Creative leadership: Hidetaka Miyazaki led the project at FromSoftware, bringing his long-running emphasis on atmosphere, challenge, and precise game feel. The development team drew on the studio’s experience with Dark Souls and other titles to craft a more expansive world while preserving the signature difficulty and methodical combat.
  • Narrative collaboration: George R. R. Martin contributed to world-building concepts and lore, helping to shape the broader mythic structure of the Lands Between without turning the game into a direct adaptation of his published works.
  • Technical scope: Elden Ring represents a technical acceleration for FromSoftware, expanding from compact, interconnected hubs to a vast, explorable landscape with a wide variety of environmental zones, enemy types, and combat scenarios. The design emphasizes player agency and multiple pathways to progress, a hallmark of its open-world approach.
  • Market and reception: The title achieved robust commercial success and sparked extensive discussion about game design, difficulty, and open-world execution within the broader industry. It has influenced subsequent open-world action RPGs and reaffirmed FromSoftware’s position as a leading innovator in the space. Bandai Namco Entertainment supported the game’s release across multiple platforms, reinforcing its global reach.

Reception and impact

  • Critical acclaim: Elden Ring received praise for its ambitious scope, enemy variety, intricate world-building, and the way it rewards skilled play. Critics highlighted the game’s sense of discovery and its ability to maintain challenge without sacrificing player agency.
  • Cultural footprint: The game helped popularize a certain reading of open-world design that prizes non-linear exploration and meaningful encounters over linear pacing. It also boosted discussion around game difficulty as a design choice and sparked conversations about how players engage with difficult content in modern gaming culture.
  • Community and speedrunning: A large, active community developed around best-tactics discussions, build optimization, and speedrunning. The game’s design invites procedural experimentation, and players frequently share routes, boss-kill strategies, and build ideas that push the boundaries of what is possible in a single playthrough. Speedrun culture has become a notable aspect of Elden Ring’s post-release life.
  • Legacy and influence: Elden Ring’s success has influenced how publishers and developers think about combining strong narrative worlds with sprawling, explorable environments. It is often cited alongside other major efforts in the studio’s catalog as a benchmark for design ambition, craftsmanship, and the synergy between authorial lore and interactive gameplay.

Controversies and debates

  • Difficulty versus accessibility: A central debate concerns whether the game should include easier modes or broader accessibility options. Supporters argue that the design emphasizes merit, resilience, and learning through practice, which cultivate a sense of accomplishment and personal growth. Critics contend that demanding difficulty can exclude players or reinforce gatekeeping. Proponents on the conservative side generally assert that players have the freedom to adjust their approach—via exploration, leveling, and build choices—without diluting the game’s core challenge.
  • Representation and cultural critique: Some observers have framed Elden Ring within a broader conversation about representation and social values in fantasy games. Proponents of the game’s approach emphasize artistic vision, mythic storytelling, and a world that operates on its own rules rather than aligning with contemporary political discourse. Critics argue that fantasy universes must reflect diverse experiences, while supporters contend that imposing modern political criteria on fantasy can undermine creative liberty and the archetypal power of myth.
  • Woke criticism and defense: In debates about reaction to contemporary social movements, some commentators label certain criticisms of the game as “woke” or politically motivated. From a perspective that prioritizes traditional storytelling and the craft of game design, such criticisms are viewed as misguided attempts to shoehorn real-world politics into fantasy worlds where the authorial choices primarily serve gameplay, atmosphere, and narrative coherence. Proponents of the game’s design often argue that the enjoyment of players comes from mastery, exploration, and personal interpretation rather than alignment with current cultural trends.
  • Online culture and conduct: The multiplayer ecosystem around Elden Ring has spawned a robust community, including cooperative play and competitive PvP. Like other online communities, it has faced issues around toxicity and moderation. Supporters argue that players can curate their own experiences and communities, while critics emphasize the need for constructive environments that welcome newcomers and veterans alike without compromising the game’s challenging nature.

See also