Elden Ring follows much of the same formula as the rest of From Software's recent titles. Kill things to get souls/runes, spend them to level up or buy materials and weapon upgrades, repeat until you can defeat a boss blocking your path. If you die, you can recover your lost runes unless you die again without getting them back. Sounds simple, right?

Elden Ring is often brutal but never unfair. Every enemy in the game can be learned and countered and you can always leave to become stronger before coming back again. This game is far more open for exploration than previous Dark Souls games, so you can get yourself into situations where you aren't really prepared for the difficulty of the local area, but you have the option of simply warping to any previous areas via your map so you're never trapped in this game. All in all, the features make for a refined experience in the Lands Between.

At around 300 hours, I've completed playthroughs for each of the endings in the game and gotten all the other achievements. Additionally, I've played through the game in multiplayer with a friend. While the game itself will be the same game after game, enemies will grow stronger between playthroughs and you can change your stats and try new strategies to keep things interesting.

Elden Ring follows much of the same formula as the rest of From Software's recent titles. Kill things to get souls/runes, spend them to level up or buy materials and weapon upgrades, repeat until you can defeat a boss blocking your path. If you die, you can recover your lost runes unless you die again without getting them back. Sounds simple, right? Elden Ring is often brutal but never unfair. Every enemy in the game can be learned and countered and you can always leave to become stronger before coming back again. This game is far more open for exploration than previous Dark Souls games, so you can get yourself into situations where you aren't really prepared for the difficulty of the local area, but you have the option of simply warping to any previous areas via your map so you're never trapped in this game. All in all, the features make for a refined experience in the Lands Between. At around 300 hours, I've completed playthroughs for each of the endings in the game and gotten all the other achievements. Additionally, I've played through the game in multiplayer with a friend. While the game itself will be the same game after game, enemies will grow stronger between playthroughs and you can change your stats and try new strategies to keep things interesting.