Judging by recent developments, Elden Ring, so far, is the latest game modeled by From Software, and even though it isn’t in line with their dark gaming series, it sure has significant similarities with previous games, and also has more advanced mechanics compared to other From Software games, Sekiro and Dark Souls included. Now, this video game has certainly posed a challenge to other gaming software, as Elden Ring has become widely played by most gamers because of its interesting features.

In this article, I will be leading you through everything you need to know about the Elden Ring game, its awesome features, and how it works. So fasten your seat belts, people.

The Setting

The Elden Ring game is modeled in a different world, unlike Bloodborne or Dark Soul. It is a kingdom on its own, called The Lands Between. The most fascinating thing about The Lands Between is the presence of a huge golden tree known by the name Erdetree, which is visible from almost every area in the game. History has it that The Elden Ring brought about the Erdetree, before its destruction.

Only a selection of people was allowed into The Lands Between. A group called the Golden Order had once banished some people from coming into the lands. These exiled people were called The Tarnished. With the Golden Order disorganized and the destruction of the Elden Ring, The Tarnished (you, the gamer) is now on a return to The Lands Between in search of the Elden. You, as a member of The Tarnished, will gain access to select from 10 starting classes, and each of them comes with different weapons, starting gears, and magic as well.

While the broken Elden Ring remained a mystery, it was discovered that the broken pieces are now protected by the surviving demigods, the Golden Order, who misuse its great power to stir up a war. The mission of the Tarnished is to recover the shards of the Elden Ring from the hands of the Golden Order and sit as Elden Lords.

Since your goal as a character may seem to be to return from exile and sit as Elden Lord, the director of From Software, Hidetaka Miyazaki, designed the game in such a fashion that you get to communicate with different NPCs, and even choose how you want the story to end.

Elden Ring’s Open World

Elden Ring remains the first amongst other From Software games to be modeled with an open and exciting world. Here in The Lands Between, it has its customized day and night, and other weather condition effects. And possibly, new enemies tend to appear at night.

With the help of the map, you can be able to travel faster to different sites of grace, though certain areas like the dungeon prevent fast travel. Players will be given access to a world map that guides them through the vast area of the Lands Between. For a beginner, the map has just the sites of grace and other major points listed on it, but each region has map steeles that reveal the region’s topography.

Because of the vastness of the Lands Between, you’ll find small statues placed beside difficult encounters, and as well, an icon will pop up underneath your life bar when a stake close by is active. This gives you room to select whether to respawn to the closest Stake of Marika when being killed.

Crafting

Elden Ring has included a new mechanism that gives you the ability to collect items and materials while you explore and kill enemies. These materials can be used in crafting materials that will help sustain your survival. You can as well find crafting materials as you explore the Lands Between, finding various stones and plants. Hunting down monsters can as well lead you to the various parts you require.

It is however impossible to craft during combat. So it is necessary to prepare the items on time before plunging into tough areas.

More to this, you can as well buy Elden Ring runes so you can use them to get insufficient crafting resources. Elden Ring rune is a currency and as well an experience point used to purchase items or for leveling up. However, items like explodable pots can no longer be bought, but are crafted using collected cracked pots.

A player can craft offensive tools for dealing magic attacks called Faux Sorceries on enemies. These crafts only need FP to throw while allowing targeted enemies to wobble in the magic stun.

Characters

Similar to other From Software video games, you are likely to meet several NPC characters during your travel. The characters you’ll meet won’t just storm out of nowhere, but have their individual background stories and their willingness to assist or hinder you, the player.

These characters may offer you some side quests, however, these quests won’t reflect on your map, but the location of the NPC will be tracked.

You can also find characters while you explore the conquer path of the Lands Between. The NPC character will reveal to the players some important portions of the Elden Ring story that he might probably be oblivious to. This can as well influence how the game will end, depending on how much interaction you have with your characters. The director of From Software, Miyazaki had said that the traditional Mimics wouldn’t feature in the Elden Ring game, but his statements prove that similar enemies are likely to surface sometime in the game.

Multiplayer

It has been confirmed that Elden Ring can support four players. Players can attack another player’s world only when a co-partner has been summoned. What this means is that players who opt to play alone won’t be troubled about an attack or ambush.

Owing to its vast open world, there are a few designated places where a gamer can summon a co-op partner, making it a lot more obvious to find where players need help.

Players can as well create a group to their advantage, to help themselves in their different worlds without interference from strangers. But consequent to this, it would be impossible to carry out mounted combat while summoning other gamers to combat with. Moreso, it is not possible to summon spirits while in multiplayer mood. These pros & cons make the game even more unique than other From Software video games.

Conclusion: Will it be the game of the year?

FromSoftware’s Elden Ring has stood as a 2022 major contender for the video game of the year. Since the Dark Series dominance in 2016, From Software games have continued to pull massive weight in the gaming world. The Elden Ring gathered even more ground when Miyazaki announced that George R. R. Martins will contribute to the development of the game’s story.

Players of Elden Ring have to scale through the challenge of journeying through the world of Lands Between to conquer demigods and enemies, a total of over 80 bosses. Its greatest innovation is the open-world map, allowing players the liberty from interconnected maps as in the case of previous FromSoftware games. So the odds of them emerging as the game of the year are falling in their favor, and a few more developments on the video game will undoubtedly give them clear any lingering doubts.