Elden Ring is the newest game from prolific developer From Software, and is the next step in evolution for the Souls series. The game is set in the world of the Lands Between where a legendary artifact called the Elden Ring is shattered and split amongst several Gods and Demi-Gods. You play a nameless Tarnished, a person who has been exiled from the Lands Between, who goes on a journey to collect all the shards of the Elden Ring and assume the Throne of Elden Lord. Along the way you will encounter various NPCs and locations that will help shape and weave your journey to one of many different endings. The gameplay is fundamentally the same as standard Souls-Like fair with parries, blocking, backstabbing, and stamina management but with added elements such as jumping, and horseback riding/combat. These two minor adjustments add a lot more depth to the Souls formula than what you may initially anticipate as jumping allows for a new style of dodging and platforming, and the horse allows for quick traversal and quicker combat. The platforming and quick traversal go hand in hand with this game's approach to the world you explore. Unlike Souls games prior which were either linear worlds, or interconnected levels, this game takes on the challenge of tackling a large open world, and is mostly successful with it. Unlike other open world games like Breath of the Wild or any of Ubisoft's recent offerings, the open world is densely packed, and if you're never more than a stone toss away from a point of interest or item; that is at least for the first region and all of it's encompassing areas. As you get further and further into Elden Ring, the less open it really gets, and by the end of it, you just end up playing a regular souls game with little interconnected areas, and very little wilderness to explore. Perhaps this is due to From Software's tried and true excuse since day one, "Time Constraints", but i'm not sure I buy into that anymore as From Software are big enough to be their own bosses, and could take as long as they needed to complete their vision. If the second half of the game was as solid as the first, i'd say this game is damn near flawless. But unfortunately it couldn't keep the momentum up. Now that is not to say the second half is bad, in fact it is way far from it. As a more standard Souls Experience the second half of the game provides, i'd say it's better than some of the worst areas of Dark Souls III and for that I am willing to forgive and forget. If we ever get an Elden Ring 2 I truly hope From Software doesn't give into pressure and make the game they want to make from start to finish. Because what's here in Elden Ring is truly something magical, and if it could have a more consistent world I think it would be one of the best games ever made.