Being a Soulsborne fan, this is clearly my most expected game of this year. Despite having some technical issues (not really a big problem to me), I enjoyed every second of my first playthrough. Elden Ring is truly a fantastic game, and right now this is easily one of my most favorite games of all time.

Let’s talk about the gameplay, because we all know that this is the most important part of a Soulsborne game. The gameplay mechanics of Elden Ring is most similar to Dark Souls, though it has some elements from Sekiro as well. If you played Dark Souls or Bloodborne before, you’ll know what to expect. Aside from that, Elden Ring has some new mechanics, like mounting combat, which is easy to learn, but it takes time to master (of course); guard counter, ash of war, spirit summon. All of them made the depth of the gameplay. The sorcery/incantation system is a bit different, and I didn’t use them a lot in the first playthrough, but from what I saw, they’re better than ever and worth a try, if you’re not a mage player.

Elden Ring has lots of bosses, and when I say “lots of”, I mean tons of them, maybe 3 or 4 times than the previous games. The interesting thing is, not so many of them are required to finish the game, which means you can choose to find and battle them if you like. I’d recommend it, because some of the hidden and optional bosses are really incredible (yes, and very tough).

As you know, Elden Ring is an open world game, but don’t let that term disappoint you yet. I know there are tons of generic open world games out there, with hundreds of copy-and-paste side quests and huge yet soulless world; but Elden Ring is not one of them. I’d say Elden Ring is one of the best open world games in recent years. The world is huge, but you won’t find it filled with pointless side quests and stuffs. Elden Ring still has the unique NPC questline system from Soulsborne, and they’re still good. The world of Elden Ring is now filled with lots of mini dungeons and forts for you to explore, fight and gather materials for your journey. Some of those mini dungeons are really good, almost as good as chalice dungeons from Bloodborne, but the truth is most of them are quite short and not really memorable. Given the fact that there are dozens of them, I’d say this is acceptable.

Another cons (probably, depends on your point of view), is the huge open world itself. Now if you’re already familiar with other open world games, you may find it frustrated to be unable to know where to go and what to do. But to me, this is the real open world, speaking of the definition of this term. You’re free to explore wherever you want, do whatever you want. The reward is the exploration itself. You’ll find important items, weapons, armors, magics and other stuffs while exploring the vast open world. You’ll also learn more about the world itself - lore, world building and even the gameplay mechanics. The design of Elden Ring’s open world is heavily inspired by Breath of the Wild, and From Software really did a fine job, not as incredible as Zelda BOTW, but still, a fine job.

About the graphics, well you can say that Elden Ring doesn’t have a breathtaking next-gen visual, especially compared to other next-gen games. To me, the graphics is good enough, because what truly magnificent is the art direction of Elden Ring. From Software always know how to make their game incredibly beautiful and thematic. Each region of this game has different art direction, and they worked so well. It’s really hard to describe them by words, all I can say is that you’ll be overwhelmed by the beauty of The Lands Between.

About the story/lore/world building, its still vague and kind of hard to understand like the previous games. But deep down, it’s a world with a huge amount of lore, backstory, and you’ll have to figure it out by reading item’s description, listening to NPC dialouge, etc. After all, this is the unique way of storytelling in Soulsborne, is it not? Besides, the lore and world building are created by George RR Martin - the infamous author of A Song of Ice and Fire, so maybe you’ll find it has some similar details, compared to the fantasy world of Martin.

The music is good enough. Some of the tracks are incredible and emotional, but really, most of them are just fine. I mean they’re not bad, they works well with the world and the fights, but that’s just it, nothing too fancy. Still, the music are fine. They did their job, some of them are better and clearly one of the best in the entire series, and that’s enough to enjoy.

Despite having some minor issues in gameplay mechanics, this is still one of the best games ever made by From Software, and truly a masterpiece. Should you play it? Definitely yes. Highly recommended.