DYING TO UNEARTH THE TRUTH
Playing Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s most ambitious work to date, is one of those rare experiences where I repeatedly had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. It presents sights unlike anything I’ve encountered in a fictional landscape. Set in The Lands Between, a vast realm suspended between worlds, it effortlessly drifts between dream and reality, between solid ground and cosmic abstraction. This world may have borders, but it has no limits.
That said, it is also a world laid utterly to ruin. Its former rulers were undone by ambition, madness, divine meddling, war, disease and decay. You awaken as The Tarnished, a nameless figure with no understanding of what came before, only the weight of its aftermath.
Exploration unfolds in third person, guided loosely by beams of light and cryptic NPCs who speak in riddles rather than instructions. The story is not told—it is inferred. Crumbling architecture, poisoned skies and warped ecosystems silently communicate that something has gone catastrophically wrong. Elden Ring depicts a broken world stuck in stasis, waiting for someone to conclude its history and become Elden Lord. The past is written; the future is yours to decide.
In classic FromSoftware fashion, the remnants of this world resist you with ferocity. Former lords and monsters fight not out of purpose, but instinct. Bringing them down feels less like heroism and more like performing last rites. Some encounters border on the impossible, though mercifully many can be avoided. Persistence is rewarded—but so is retreat.
Mechanically, Elden Ring builds upon the Souls formula: exploration, combat, death, repetition. You fight, die, respawn at Sites of Grace, and try again. Combat is deliberate and punishing. Every swing costs stamina, every mistake invites retaliation. Shields, dodges and spacing are not optional—they are survival.
What sets Elden Ring apart is its open-world structure. This single change makes the experience more forgiving and approachable than earlier Souls titles. When an area proves overwhelming, you can simply leave, explore elsewhere, grow stronger, and return. The world is teeming with enemies of astonishing variety, from trivial wildlife to monstrosities capable of crushing even late-game bosses. (I once saw a runebear obliterate the game’s toughest boss in a simulated fight on YouTube. It wasn’t close.)
You learn new combat styles from wandering masters, uncover weapons and armor in ruins and dungeons, and enhance your character through familiar RPG systems. Veterans will recognize the loop immediately—and it remains as compelling as ever.
Due to its scale, Elden Ring also contains an enormous number of boss encounters. While impressive on paper, this is one of the game’s weaker points. Many bosses are reused or lightly altered, and the overall quality is uneven—especially when compared to the meticulously crafted encounters of Dark Souls III or Bloodborne.
That said, build variety is unmatched. I committed early to a strength/faith build centered around the Golden Halberd, which carried me far—until it didn’t. Late-game bosses exposed the build’s limitations brutally. Heavy-hitting strength builds are punishingly slow, and eventually I was forced to respec and adopt a more flexible playstyle. Few games have humbled me quite like this one.
The difficulty is relentless, and the game is long. My playthrough lasted 138 hours. Story progression is opaque, often requiring knowledge you cannot reasonably infer without external help. Entire areas remain inaccessible until obscure conditions are met. Understanding the lore requires obsessive attention to item descriptions and NPC dialogue—and even then, you’ll never see the full picture.
Ultimately, it’s not the characters or even the story that define Elden Ring—it’s the world itself. The Lands Between is a post-apocalyptic fantasy infused with cosmic horror, architectural wonder and ancient myth. Conceived by Hidetaka Miyazaki with foundational lore by George R.R. Martin, it feels timeless, alien and deeply unsettling.
Few moments in gaming compare to discovering a massive underground civilization beneath the surface world, complete with its own star-filled sky. Everywhere, the game whispers: You are not welcome here. Naturally, that only compels deeper exploration.
Finishing Elden Ring offers no closure. Questions linger. Secrets remain. Every weapon suggests another build, another playthrough. Side quests go unresolved. The world refuses to be exhausted.
Is it endless? Will it ever leave my mind?
I doubt it.
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