Elden Ring

Elden Ring is a highly popular and award-winning action role-playing game developed by From Software and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PC and home consoles in early 2022. Immediately after its release, Elden Ring became one of the biggest hits in the gaming industry, selling over 15 million copies, and attracting a significant amount of praise from both players and the game media, including several Game of the Year awards.

Even though it is a standalone title that is not directly connected with any prior release, this 2022 release closely follows the gameplay and narrative style formula established in the prior decade by several other From Software titles. It provides players with a difficult-to-play but satisfying-to-master gameplay style that allows everyone to learn how to dramatically increase their combat potential by exploring large open-world environments and interacting with a wide variety of built-in gameplay systems.

In Elden Ring, players assume the role of a lonely warrior with the rare ability to return from death upon defeat in combat. Players are tasked with becoming an Elden Lord – the ruler of the fantasy medieval “Lands Between” realm and wielder of the ancient magic that has corrupted the minds of not only people who lived there but also their leaders who have been transformed into aggressive monsters.

Building on top of the knowledge and gameplay systems evolved in their previous titles (such as Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice), the From Software developers have managed to craft a more intuitive and accessible narrative style that empowers both new players and seasoned gaming veterans to find their own ways into solving in-game quest and combat challenges. Like in many other similar RPG titles, players are encouraged to experiment with their loadout (both weapons and armor), upgrade their gear, learn to take advantage of ranged weapons or magic spells, craft items, summon help, and devise any viable way to explore large open world environments and several large boss characters that guard important landmarks.

The Elden Ring gameplay of the game closely resembles those of the Dark Souls franchise of games, with many gameplay systems that empower players to find their own preferred combat style. Players can traverse the land quickly with their spectral steed, summon friends for cooperative play sessions, and engage in combat with a wide array of opponents in open fields, small-scale catacombs, and impressively large and detailed “Legacy Dungeons”.

The only negative point of the game is technical in nature, with frequent slowdowns plaguing PC players' enjoyment of the game even after several performance-themed software patches.

PROS

Highly popular and award-winning action RPG with a difficult-to-play but satisfying-to-master gameplay style, large open-world environments, and a wide variety of built-in gameplay systems. Empowers both new players and seasoned gaming veterans.

CONS

Technical issues such as frequent slowdowns for PC players even after performance patches.

Recommended System Requirements:

• OS: Windows 10/Windows 11
• Processor: Intel Core I7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB or AMD Radeon RX VEGA 56 8 GB    
• Storage: 60 GB available space