I never write reviews but this is genuinely one of my most anticipated titles in a number of years and I will readily admit I'm going to geek out over this ♥♥♥♥..

I won't list every pro or con or any of that I just wanted to say that I absolutely adore this game imperfect as it is. I've watched hundreds of hours of gameplay already as well as playing a torrented version before I could afford it on Steam; and I've got to say playing through this is genuinely like rediscovering Dark Souls and the entire Soulsborne franchise. In recent years I can't think of any new title that delivered such a masterfully refined experience (I'm aware the PC launch was a little rocky for the first week but they were constantly patching and updating and it was mainly a resolution compatibility bug that was killing framerate, can't say the same for other new launch titles.) Battlefield 2042, Call of Duty Vanguard, Far Cry 6, Cyberpunk, Watch Dogs III, etc none delivered what they promised on launch, and frankly even after this much time has passed they haven't had much effort put into them. Elden Ring is a proper game and they actually used the time they delayed releases to fine-tune their product.

Obviously nothing is perfect and the game has it's fair share of bugs and cheeses, but Miyazaki has produced a masterpiece in my eyes. (I guess George too but I don't know how much influence he had in the writing or world-building)

The open world aspect works wonderfully for an RPG, there are tons of unique and broken weapons, armors, spells, summons, and of course bosses. There are definitely some palette-swapped bosses and enemies, but it isn't a large portion. As always the lore and story aspects are quite ambiguous and up to the player to research for the most part, but there is a vast expanse of lore available if you're into that.

Ranni is my wife.

If you're a previous fan of Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Kingsfield, or any other FROM titles you should definitely check this out, and even if you've never touched a Soulslike or Soulslite in your life it's still a highly enjoyable experience alone or with friends. (You just have to do a little extra work to play with friends)

I never write reviews but this is genuinely one of my most anticipated titles in a number of years and I will readily admit I'm going to geek out over this shit.. I won't list every pro or con or any of that I just wanted to say that I absolutely adore this game imperfect as it is. I've watched hundreds of hours of gameplay already as well as playing a torrented version before I could afford it on Steam; and I've got to say playing through this is genuinely like rediscovering Dark Souls and the entire Soulsborne franchise. In recent years I can't think of any new title that delivered such a masterfully refined experience (I'm aware the PC launch was a little rocky for the first week but they were constantly patching and updating and it was mainly a resolution compatibility bug that was killing framerate, can't say the same for other new launch titles.) Battlefield 2042, Call of Duty Vanguard, Far Cry 6, Cyberpunk, Watch Dogs III, etc none delivered what they promised on launch, and frankly even after this much time has passed they haven't had much effort put into them. Elden Ring is a proper game and they actually used the time they delayed releases to fine-tune their product. Obviously nothing is perfect and the game has it's fair share of bugs and cheeses, but Miyazaki has produced a masterpiece in my eyes. (I guess George too but I don't know how much influence he had in the writing or world-building) The open world aspect works wonderfully for an RPG, there are tons of unique and broken weapons, armors, spells, summons, and of course bosses. There are definitely some palette-swapped bosses and enemies, but it isn't a large portion. As always the lore and story aspects are quite ambiguous and up to the player to research for the most part, but there is a vast expanse of lore available if you're into that. [spoiler] Ranni is my wife.[/spoiler] If you're a previous fan of Dark Souls, Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Kingsfield, or any other FROM titles you should definitely check this out, and even if you've never touched a Soulslike or Soulslite in your life it's still a highly enjoyable experience alone or with friends. (You just have to do a little extra work to play with friends)