Elden Ring
"Elden Ring" is presented through a third-person perspective, with players freely roaming its interactive open world. Gameplay elements include combat, featuring several types of weapons and magic spells, horseback riding, summons, and crafting. "Elden Ring" received critical acclaim, with praise for its open world gameplay, fantasy setting, and evolution of the "Souls" formula. The game sold copies worldwide within three weeks of its release. Gameplay. "Elden Ring" is an action role-playing game played in a third-person perspective with gameplay focusing on combat and exploration; it features elements similar to those found in other games developed  by FromSoftware, such as the "Souls" series, "Bloodborne," and "". Director Hidetaka Miyazaki explained that players start with a linear opening but eventually progress to freely explore the Lands Between, including its six main areas, as well as castles, fortresses, and catacombs scattered throughout the open world map. These main areas are explorable using the character's mount as the main mode of transport, although a fast travel system is an available option. Throughout the game, players encounter non-player characters (NPCs) and enemies alike, including the demigods who rule each main area and serve as the game's main bosses . Combat in "Elden Ring" relies heavily on character-building elements found in previous "Souls" games and related intellectual properties, such as calculated and close-ranged melee-based combat with the use of skills, magic abilities, as well as blocking and dodging mechanics. "Elden Ring" introduces mounted combat and a stealth system, the latter being a core gameplay element from "Sekiro"; these features are expected to encourage players in strategizing their combat approach with each unique enemy they encounter. The game makes use of a player character stamina bar after being absent from "Sekiro", although its overall influence over combat was  reduced compared to previous FromSoftware games that utilized it. Unlike in "Sekiro", resurrection mechanics after in-game death are not available; however, some elements were added to ensure players' progression within the game. Miyazaki stated that the customization in "Elden Ring" would be richer, as players are able to discover different skills through their exploration of the map instead of unlocking skill trees as in "Sekiro" and differing from the pre-fixed weapon skills of FromSoftware's previous games. These skills are interchangeable with a large variety of weapons which, alongside equipment, magic abilities, and items players can craft using  materials found within the world, can be used to customize the player character. The game also features summoning mechanics, where players can summon a large variety of collectible spirits hidden throughout the game's world map, including previously defeated enemies, as allies to assist them in battle. Similar to the "Souls" series, the game's multiplayer allows other players to be summoned for cooperative play. PvP and emergent gameplay. Like previous "Souls" games, "Elden Ring"'s gameplay, particularly the multiplayer mode, allows for several emergent elements of gameplay, organized by players themselves, most notably a competitive PvP (player versus player ) scene. Synopsis. Premise. "Elden Ring" takes place in the Lands Between, sometime after the destruction of the titular Elden Ring and the scattering of its shards, the Great Runes. The Ring was provided to Queen Marika the Eternal by a being known only as the Greater Will, and while initially used to ensure the Lands Between as a perfect land, Marika eventually removed the rune of Destined Death leading to many becoming exiled and now named Tarnished. Once graced by the Ring and the Erdtree which symbolizes its presence, the realm is now ruled over by the demigod offspring of  Marika, each possessing a shard of the Ring that corrupts and taints them with power. As Tarnished now being called back The Lands Between, players must traverse the realm to ultimately find all the Great Runes, restore the Elden Ring, and become the Elden Lord. Plot. The Tarnished is one of many exiles called back to the Lands Between in hopes of repairing the Elden Ring and becoming the next Elden Lord. Early on in their journey, the Tarnished encounters a Maiden named Melina. As the Tarnished is Maidenless, Melina offers to act as their Maiden, granting them the ability  to turn runes into strength, under the condition that the Tarnished bring her to the base of the Erdtree where she can fulfill her purpose. She also takes the Tarnished to the Roundtable Hold, a gathering place for other Tarnished seeking to repair the Elden Ring. There, the Tarnished learns from their divine benefactor, the Two Fingers, and Sir Gideon Ofnir the All-knowing, that in the wake of the Shattering and Queen Marika's disappearance, her demigod children had taken the Great Runes, pieces of the Elden Ring, for themselves, and now war against each other to try and  obtain the other Great Runes. The last known Great Rune holders are Godrick the Grafted, General Radahn, Praetor Rykard the Blasphemous, Morgott the Grace-Given, Malenia the Blade of Miquella, Rennala of the Full Moon, and Mohg the Lord of Blood. The Tarnished then proceeds to journey into the Lands Between, investigating its various locales and defeating the demigods. Eventually, the Tarnished recovers enough Great Runes so that Two Fingers allows them to confront Morgott, the final obstacle to the Erdtree. As he dies, Morgott claims that the Erdtree will not allow anyone to enter it, making the Elden Ring  unobtainable. The Tarnished confirms this when they approach the Erdtree and find their way blocked by a wall of thorns. Melina then arrives and advises that they journey to find the Flame of Ruin, which they can use to set the Erdtree on fire and burn away the thorns. In light of the Tarnished being rebuffed from the Erdtree, the Two Fingers withdraws from the mortal plane to consider its next move, leaving the Tarnished free to proceed with Melina's plan or search for the imprisoned Three Fingers to gain the power of the Frenzied Flame. Upon obtaining the  Flame of Ruin, if the Tarnished did not free the Three Fingers, then Melina will take the flame and sacrifice herself to set the Erdtree on fire. If the Tarnished freed the Three Fingers, then Melina will abandon the Tarnished, forcing them to use their own power to set the Erdtree on fire. Regardless, the Tarnished is transported to the ruined city of Crumbling Farum Azula while the Erdtree burns. After defeating Maliketh, the Black Blade, and harnessing his power, from the rune of Destined Death, to fuel the fire, they are returned to the foot of the Erdtree, which  has now been burnt to ash. As the Tarnished ascends towards the Erdtree, they battle fellow warrior Sir Gideon Ofnir the All-knowing, as well as the First Elden Lord Godfrey to gain access to the interior. Inside, they fight the reanimated remains of Queen Marika's consort and other half of her being, Radagon. Once Radagon is defeated, the Elden Beast, the true form of the Elden Ring, reveals itself. After the beast is vanquished, the Tarnished finally gains access to Queen Marika's shattered corpse, which contains the remains of the Elden Ring. Depending on the Tarnished's  actions throughout the game, six different endings can then be achieved, ranging from the Tarnished becoming the Elden Lord in some form, allowing Marika to be usurped by Ranni the Witch, to using the Frenzied Flame to destroy the Erdtree and the Lands Between. Development and release. "Elden Ring" was developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It was announced at E3 2019 originally for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. No further information was revealed until a June 2021 trailer announced a release date of January 21, 2022, with additional releases on PlayStation 5 and Xbox  Series X/S. In October 2021, it was announced that the game would be delayed to February 25, 2022. "Elden Ring" is directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding by fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin, best known for his "A Song of Ice and Fire" novel series. A fan of Martin's work, Miyazaki contacted him with an offer to work together on a project, giving him the creative freedom to write the overarching backstory of the game's universe. Miyazaki used his contributions as the foundation of the game's narrative, comparing the process to that of using a  dungeon master's handbook in a tabletop RPG. Some staff from the "Game of Thrones" television series adaptation of "A Song of Ice and Fire" also assisted with the game's development. As with many of Miyazaki's previous games, the story was designed to not be clearly explained as FromSoftware intended for players to interpret it for themselves via flavor text and optional discussions with non-player characters (NPCs). Miyazaki hoped Martin's contributions would produce a more accessible narrative than the studio's previous games. Work began on the game in early 2017 following the release of "The  Ringed City", a piece of downloadable content for "Dark Souls III", and was developed alongside "Sekiro". As with games in the "Souls" series, players have the ability to create their own custom character instead of using a fixed protagonist. Miyazaki also considered "Elden Ring" to be a more "natural evolution" to the "Souls" series, featuring an open world with new gameplay mechanics such as horseback riding. Unlike many other open-world games, "Elden Ring" does not feature populated towns with NPCs, with the world having numerous dungeon-like ruins in their place. Miyazaki cited Fumito Ueda's work such as  Shadow of the Colossus (2005) as an influence that "inspired him to create" "Elden Ring", while also drawing influence from "the design and the freedom of play" in "" (2017). Yuka Kitamura, who has composed for many of Miyazaki's previous games, contributed to the game's soundtrack. Reception. Critical reception. "Elden Ring" received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game ranks as the second highest-reviewed game on OpenCritic. On Twitch, it drew nearly 900,000 viewers within 24 hours of release, making it the third-largest debut on the platform after "Lost Ark" and "Cyberpunk 2077". The game 's difficulty has provoked much commentary, receiving both praise and criticism for it and its lack of easier modes. The PC version of the game was criticized at launch for having performance issues. "The Guardian" praised the sense of exploration present in the game. "Destructoid" felt the story was better told than in previous "Souls" games. While criticizing the game's map for not properly conveying height changes, "Ars Technica" enjoyed the game's horse riding mechanics. "Eurogamer" praised the world design, but criticized the lack of accessibility features around mechanics such as combat and menu navigation. "Polygon" liked how  the game gave players more options to fight enemies, but still kept a sense of challenge intact. "IGN" praised the lack of objective markers in "Elden Ring", but felt that the game should have some sort of quest log or journal to note plot threads. While enjoying the open world, "Game Informer" highlighted the level design of the dungeons. "PCGamesN" felt the UI improvements made the game vastly more accessible. Sales. Bandai Namco's stated expectations to investors was to sell 4 million copies 5 weeks after release. "Elden Ring" far surpassed expectations with copies sold worldwide after 17 days  of its release, with one million in Japan alone. This makes it one of the fastest-selling open world games of all time, outpacing "Grand Theft Auto IV", "Skyrim", "The Witcher 3" and "", with a launch sales pace comparable to "Grand Theft Auto V", "Red Dead Redemption 2" and "Cyberpunk 2077". It has also outpaced other previous major launches including "The Division", "Diablo 3", "Borderlands", "God of War", "GTA Trilogy" and "Resident Evil 7". Putting this in context with other games developed by FromSoftware, "Elden Ring"'s 12 million sales figure is nearly half of the collective 27 million sales  from the "Dark Souls" trilogy (as of 2020). "Elden Ring" also outsold the latest game in the series, "Dark Souls 3", which had sold 10 million copies since its release in 2016. The PC version of "Elden Ring" drew 734,000 concurrent players on Steam within minutes of its launch, surpassing "Dark Souls III" and "Sekiro" to become FromSoftware's largest launch on the service. It topped the Steam weekly sales chart upon launch, with various editions of the game occupying four positions in the top five: the top three spots and number five. , it reached a peak of 952,523 concurrent  players on Steam, ranking it among the highest on the platform in its history. It was the best-selling retail game in Japan during its first week of release, with 278,507 physical units sold that week; the PlayStation 4 version ranked first with 188,490 copies sold while the PlayStation 5 version ranked second with 90,017 copies sold. After its first week of release, it was the second best-selling game of the month in February 2022, below "". In the United States, "Elden Ring" debuted as the best-selling game of February 2022. Despite releasing in the last week of February , it had the second largest US launch month sales of any game released in the previous twelve months, second only to "" in November 2021. In March 2022, it was again the best-selling game of the month with even higher sales revenue than its debut month, making it the best-selling game in the first quarter of 2022 (above "" in second place) and the second best-selling game of the previous twelve months (after "Call of Duty: Vanguard"). In Europe, it was the best-selling game of February 2022 and became the largest launch for a new IP since "The  Division" in 2016; the PC version accounted for 44% of sales, followed by the PlayStation versions with 40% and then Xbox with 16% of sales. In the United Kingdom, "Elden Ring" debuted at the top of the physical sales chart, with launch week sales surpassing "Dark Souls III" to make it the largest UK launch for a soulslike game and the third largest physical launch of early 2022 after "Pokémon Legends: Arceus" and "Horizon Forbidden West". With digital sales included, "Elden Ring" had the largest UK launch of early 2022, with launch week sales 2.5 times higher than "Horizon: Forbidden  West" the previous week. "Elden Ring" also had the largest UK launch outside of the "FIFA" and "Call of Duty" franchises since "Red Dead Redemption 2" in 2018. After its first week of release, "Elden Ring" topped the UK monthly chart in February 2022, selling twice as much as the second-place title "Horizon Forbidden West" that month. "Elden Ring" became the fastest-selling new IP in the UK since "The Division" in 2016. "Elden Ring" would be the top-selling game in the UK for a second consecutive month, topping March 2022's monthly chart. In Spain, "Elden Ring  reached 60,500 physical copies during its launch week, making it FromSoftware's strongest game launch in the region. Elden Ring Elden Ring" is presented through a third-person perspective, with players freely roaming its interactive open world. Gameplay elements include combat, featuring several types of weapons and magic spells, horseback riding, summons, and crafting. "Elden Ring" received critical acclaim, with praise for its open world gameplay, fantasy setting, and evolution of the "Souls" formula. The game sold copies worldwide within three weeks of its release. Gameplay. "Elden Ring" is an action role-playing game played in a third-person perspective