Easily the best open world game I've ever played. Putting souls gameplay into an open world is genius and works perfectly. The game is massive but the quality of items, bosses, areas, music is excellent and consistent throughout the entire game.
A couple of the areas like some of the dungeons were a bit underwhelming but you go through so many interesting areas throughout the game that a couple bad ones are whatever.
Despite souls games being known as hard and stressful this game is just chill and you can explore and fight at your own pace

Simultaneously the culmination of every game in FromSoftware's modern "Soulsborne" series and a complete resetting of the format into an open world space, Elden Ring is utterly triumphant in its marriage of the standard dungeon procedural with rewarding, motivating, and multi-faceted open world gameplay. Sure, there is inevitably filler content, but it seldom feels boring and there are enough riffs on the format of the game's most copypasted assets (the catacomb and cave mini-dungeons) for them to feel refreshing enough as a break from the frankly overwhelming exploration.

All of this is coupled with practically all of the familiar mechanics from From's beloved trilogy (the level design within the major dungeons is uniformly brilliant, with Leyndell being the most impressive level they have ever crafted in the games I have played, at least). I was particularly struck with the masterful build versatility on display here - the game goes to great pains to make all build options viable, each of its classes uniquely valuable, and all such builds loaded with an incredible diversity of weapons and a complex but somehow still intuitive upgrade system, as well as a dazzling array of unlockable summons to provide assistance for those who struggle with the game's difficulty curve(s).

And on the note of difficulty: as anyone racing into the game's "first" (though entirely skippable) legacy dungeon will quickly realize, the story bosses in this game are no joke, and will absolutely flatten unseasoned or underleveled players, serving as a clever bit of extrinsic motivation to engage with the open world and explore all corners. The game is also littered with personable and idiosyncratic NPCs (another FromSoft staple), and while following many questlines to their conclusion may inadvertantly lock you out of others, they are more forgiving than I anticipated and the rewards are bountiful (the only piece of backseating I will proffer here is to see Ranni's quest through to its conclusion - or don't, as you wish, but hers I found to be the most rewarding for reasons I won't dare spoil).

For all the talk of its incredible length, vast quantities of Elden Ring's content is either entirely missable or freely skippable (or both), so the game is really as long as you are interested in it - or as it takes for you to be sufficiently levelled for its late game bosses, the difficulty of which has become infamous (though I think I was overlevelled as I didn't find them exceptionally unfair).

For the investment required, and for the cost, Elden Ring is more than a bargain, and absolutely worth your time. I played it in five weeks and it felt like it completely consumed my life. As lush and rich as its early areas are, the more dungeon-focused back half was where the game truly blew my mind, as its structure smartly narrows to an intense and visceral climax. As someone who has fallen head over heels for FromSoft in recent months, I think the biggest endorsement of Elden Ring I can give is that it somehow outpaced and exceeded all expectations.

As always, From Software is a super trustable company that always delivers great games, Elden Ring is no exception, and not only that, this time they masterfully crafted their biggest and most polished game ever, one of those we will never forget.

I gotta say that it's not my favourite game within the saga, but even with that, and its flaws, its an unbelievably great game.

The world is beautiful, the setting and hidden story are great, most of the bosses are stunning and tough, the music is as good as it always is and the builds are infinite!

It is rare for a game to meet it's high expectations. It is another thing entirely to be better than anyone imagined possible. Elden Ring proves FromSoftware's mastery over creating the feeling of overcoming challenge. It allows one to express their own creativity in playing the game in so many ways, yet the system mechanics are so strong and refined that everyone in every scenario can succeed. It builds a dark fantasy world of gods and misery, knowing it has provided you, the player, with all the tools to overcome and succeed in this miserable world, whiles simultaneous allowing that success to be dictated and tailored to the way you prefer to express it.

Well then. Shall we?
My dear consort, eternal. - Ranni

૮꒰˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶꒱ა˖⁺‧₊˚Elden Ring isn't just a game; it's an epic saga filled with dark, twisted tales, pulse-pounding boss battles, and the occasional "maidenless shrine," where it seems even the guardians have ghosted. As you explore the enigmatic Lands Between, you'll uncover ancient mysteries and confront terrifying foes that will test your courage and skill. From towering dragons to grotesque monstrosities, each boss fight is a thrilling challenge that will push you to your limits. Just remember, attempting a no-hit run might leave you with more broken controllers than intact pride. ૮꒰ ˶꒦ິ꒳꒦ິ˶꒱ა♡

Que mitada do Miyazaki. A dinâmica já tão famosa dos jogos da from software de mundo desolados e batalhas intensas funciona bem demais no mundo aberto. É fantástico passear pelo real MUNDO onda muita história já aconteceu.

Gameplay é maravilhosa e adorei as possibilidades todas de build que esse jogo tem (mesmo só usando força goes boink, testei algumas outras e me diverti muito). Bosses fantástico (com exceção dos que repetem) e algumas das melhores batalhas da saga souls (Malenia é ápice).

MUITO hypado pra DLC, principalmente tendo em vista que a from software inventa o videogame 2 em toda DLC.

Going to keep this short, Elden Ring is a game that I have very mixed feelings on, I REALLY wanted to love this game, but I just can't. Now I'd be lying if I said there was nothing I liked, I did enjoy some aspects of the game, the music, some bosses, the voice acting, designs, but that's about it. I'd like to start off with my biggest disappointment, the open world. Starting up the game for the first time it feels magical, but halfway through the game it feels very bloated. There's undeniably a lot of content, but it feels very samey, especially in regards to ruins, mines, and catacombs, they felt very copy and paste. It was fun in Limgrave but after that my excitement for exploring really died down.

Onto bosses, there were some I really enjoyed (Morgott, Malenia, uhm, uh), and I'd say for the most part the mandatory and shardbearer bosses were pretty solid (I felt that the complaints revolving around Elden Beast were a bit overboard and complaints for Malenia extremely undeserving, I think everything about her is perfectly fair for a "secret" late game boss), only ones I didn't like were Radahn, Rykard, and the Fire Giant. Thought Radahn was a bit boring, Rykard I just don't like gimmick fights and it's also really hard to see what is happening later in the second phase, and finally the Fire Giant, I really dislike this fight, it's extremely boring swinging as his legs and running around when he rolls away, and sometimes in the second phase I can't see what is happening (when locked on). Not going to list my complaints for the optional non-shardbearer bosses individually, but generalizing it I'd say for the most part they are rather boring and simplistic.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like this game is just unnecessarily big and didn't need all of this content, I feel as if it would have been better on a smaller scale, with focus more on making the dungeon content and their bosses unique over just having the same dungeons/ruins more or less everywhere with generic bosses.