Arunalu Heshitha

Elden Ring is FromSoftware's magnum opus. While not perfect, the game is quite exceptional. In a time where repetitive and boring cash grabs disguised as open-world games are abundant, Elden Ring is of a different breed. While the launch of the game was not very impressive, the developers have released multiple patches and updates to fix various unbalances and performance issues of the game. This changed the Steam reviews of Elden Ring from Mixed to Very Positive. I believe that the game has now fixed nearly 85% of the technical issues. Despite being the first completely open-world title of FromSoftware, Elden Ring's vast and diverse world of the Lands Between is brilliantly designed. While exploring the underground mine shafts, caves, lush woodlands, and deserted battlefields, the player will face countless grotesque and unique foes which can be incredibly difficult to overcome. While exploring the world, players will come across the Legacy Dungeons of the game. These are home to difficult bosses which are called Great Enemies. Defeating these enemies will help the player learn more about the story of the game. On the topic of the story, the player must piece together the evidence collected by defeating foes, exploring the world, and reading Item Descriptions to understand the story and lore of Elden Ring. I will not spoil anything about the story, and I implore the players to discover it themselves. While the art direction of the game is brilliant, the graphics fail to compare to even older titles. I'm not implying that Elden Ring looks bad, but it could use some more clarity to the textures and improvements to draw distance and lighting. The gameplay and combat of Elden Ring are similar to the Dark Souls games, but there are an insane amount of weapons and sorceries/incantations to choose from, promoting more build varieties than any of the previous games. The game has introduced a jump mechanic which can be used in exploration as well as combat. And the inclusion of stealth mechanics is a welcome surprise as well. The player has access to a steed which can be used in combat encounters and exploration. Overall, Elden Ring is one of the greatest open-world action role-playing games of the decade.