Elden Ring

Adventure soulsborne-action in a dark fantasy world from the creators of the Dark Souls series with the participation of the author of "Game of Thrones". The focus is on a dying world where only warriors who have lost their blessing try to bring it back to life. Players can expect a wide variety of weapons and magic; an improved combat system that gives more control over the character; new role-playing elements compared to previous From Software games.

How the world of Elden Ring came to be and what it represents is a mystery. The game introduces only a small part of it, the Lands Between, a continent in the middle of the ocean. The Outer Gods — powerful incorporeal beings from space, incomprehensible by human logic — fight for presence in it.

It all began at the change of epochs when the Lands Between caught the interest of a god known as the Greater Will. He drove away the patron of the ruling Dragons and began to build a new "golden" world order based on the Elden Ring and a set of small and large Runes (commandments), and also grew the Erdtree, which still stands tall. The Erdtree governs everything that happens and allows the souls of the dead to be reborn for a new life.

The Golden Order spread through violence (the inhabitants of the Lands Between opposed the outsiders), absorbing new followers through the efforts of the Fingers and Readers, and was ruled by Queen Marika, the full vessel of the god's power. Over time, she manifested free will: she intervened in the Elden Ring and removed the Rune of Death from it, transforming into Marika the Eternal — both god and ruler of the Lands Between.

This explains the abundance of non-viable beings in the game world. Those who fell out of favor were deprived of "grace" — a vital substance, without which they were considered cursed, and they became "tarnished."

After hundreds of years of continuous battles, having conquered or exterminated all the dissenters, Marika's Golden Order was established, but the era of peace and prosperity did not last long. The queen doubted the righteousness of the Path and the means of achieving it, shattered the Elden Ring into separate runes, distributed them to her descendants, and disappeared. The children quickly clashed for supreme power, plunging the Lands Between into an era of Discord.

There were no winners in the war. Each of the rune holders suffered physically or mentally, and the unified kingdom became fragmented and weak. Hundreds of years passed, and decay affected the entire Lands Between. The Greater Will ceased to rely on Marika's remaining descendants and through the grace of the Erdtree summoned the tarnished to reassemble the great Runes and restore the Elden Ring. Marika also returned, hoping to influence the tarnished so that one of them could change the world for the better.

The narrative of Elden Ring has taken a step forward compared to previous souls games: a well-written, albeit convoluted, plot, diverse and quite extensive NPC quests, more substance in dialogues, improved cut-scene direction. All of this is supported by rich lore hidden everywhere.

The main and side plots are so intertwined that skipping the latter can prevent you from unlocking story arcs and learning many important details, which will affect the ending. There are 6 in total: bad, alternative, and 4 versions of the main ending.

All NPCs have been developed in terms of motivation and backstory, sometimes quite deeply, but to understand them, you will need to complete each one's personal quest. The same cannot be said for the main character. The protagonist is one of the many Tarnished who have returned to the Lands Between, whose backstory is not important, and whose history is written before the player's eyes.

As a result, the plot turned out deep and multifaceted, revealing events from different sides and offering choices. It is not a typical "dark fantasy," but a profound story that includes simple joys and reflections on the eternal, touching and oppressive moments, friendship and betrayal.

To understand it, you will have to read all the notes and item descriptions, listen carefully to the dialogues multiple times, study the environment, etc. But, as in other Hidetaka Miyazaki games, the plot and NPCs are secondary. Elden Ring can be completed without delving into the essence.

The world is truly vast, including 6 completely different biomes, each with its own landscape and flora: wooded sunny plains, smelly foggy swamps, phantasmagoric mountains, and more. There are also gloomy castles, intricate dungeons, and secret locations. And beneath this world, there is another, underground. All with stunning art design in the dark fantasy aesthetic.

Due to its scale, the world suffers from insufficiently dense filling, with the same mobs or fauna, and some parts are made by copy-paste. At the same time, the Lands Between has many unique, meticulously crafted areas where everything revolves around the player. Fast travel is possible with the help of a horse or through sites of grace (bonfires), where you can replenish your strength and more.

The freedom is complete: go wherever you want right away, do whatever you want, no markers or mandatory activities, but due to level zoning, exploring the world will not be easy. You need to vacuum every meter — the world of Elden Ring has many secrets with valuable loot and experience. And upon finding the hub location, the hero will find important characters, a series of interesting quests, and new mysteries.

The world is populated by various and extremely different peoples: giants, living crystals, flying hawks, beastmen, representatives of alien worlds, and, of course, humans. Here and there you will meet merchants, blacksmiths, travelers, and other characters.

In Elden Ring, there are 10 classes of characters, differing in 8 attributes and a roster of suitable weapons and armor. The choice of class only affects the first hours; further, you can develop the character in any way to suit the desired play style: a Samurai can turn into a Mage, and the latter into a Prophet or Scoundrel.

Leveling has migrated from souls games with minor changes. The build can be completely reassembled. A number of useful skills and spells can only be mastered by learning from friendly NPCs. There is no armor upgrading, but weapons can be improved in various ways. Dynamic time-of-day changes also affect gameplay.

Crafting is all-encompassing and even excessive: everything from arrows and swords to grenades and weapon greases can be made by yourself, not without effort, obtaining the necessary resources in the open world, such as plants, animal remains, and loot from killed enemies and chests.

The combat system takes into account the hero's leveling, skills and attributes, all equipment. The influence of health, stamina, and dexterity parameters has been rebalanced. Появились чекпоинты перед боссами, призыв духов-помощников, примитивный стелс, возможность прыгать и бегать (ускорение). Из прошлых игр перекочевали такие механики, как баланс равновесия у врагов и боссов, Power Stance и другие.

Сражения не изменились — изучаем паттерны врагов, защищаемся или уклоняемся от их атак, в нужный момент наносим свои удары. Боссы (сюжетные или опциональные) по-прежнему имеют несколько фаз, каждая со своими мувсетами, атаками, таймингами и миньонами. Некоторых боссов победить можно только верхом. Оружие и экипировка должны учитывать слабые стороны каждого босса. Искусственный интеллект врагов всё еще туповат, а обсчет движком попаданий вызывает нарекания даже после патчей.

Мультиплеер доступен после включения в настройках и через активацию знаков призыва.