Elden Ring Review: Is Elden Ring Worth It?

As a maiden-less new player, it took me 150 hours to complete Elden Ring on PC, and I almost loved every minute of it.

I dabbled with Dark Souls games when I was younger but never took the time to complete one because of the difficulty and terrible controls. But after watching quite a few trailers for Elden Ring, I was determined to get and beat Elden Ring no matter what.

Here is a quick summary of my Elden Ring review.

Why Trust My Review?

I bought Elden Ring for PC with my own money at the full release price on STEAM.

According to STEAM, I completed the game in 150.8 hours and have 28 of 42 achievements earned.

And I streamed my entire playthrough on YouTube. You can find my 37-Part Elden Ring Prisoner Playlist here.

What Is Elden Ring?

Elden Ring is an open-world single-player Soulsborne game at heart and includes online PvP and Co-op. The game doesn’t have any fundamental differences between all the platforms that it’s available on.

THE NEW FANTASY ACTION RPG. Rise, Tarnished, and be guided by grace to brandish the power of the Elden Ring and become an Elden Lord in the Lands Between. – STEAM Store

• Release Date: February 25, 2022
• Platform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows (PC), Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S
• Publisher: FromSoftware Inc., Bandai Namco Entertainment
• Developer: FromSoftware Inc.

Elden Ring has an overwhelming amount of positive reviews, won multiple awards, and has the title as the Ultimate Game of the Year from the Golden Joystick Awards and Game of The Year at the 2022 Game Awards. But does it deserve all of its praise, and is Elden Ring good?

Character Creation

I’ve never been one for spending much time on character creation, but Elden Ring offers a lot of customization if you want it.

Since I completed the game, I’ve watched others play with characters that resemble Mike Tyson and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles once they’ve found a bit of extra gear to complete the look. Amazing.

But it’s not just about looks. Before that, there are 10 starting classes to choose from.

Because I haven’t played any Dark Souls games in-depth or similar action RPG titles, I struggled with which character class to choose and which bonus option to start the game with. What would be the best option for me as a first-time player?

I just wanted to get into the game and start slaying, so I ended up choosing the Prisoner Class and the Golden Seed. No real reasons for selecting them.

And it turns out, because of the leveling system and assortment of options as you progress in the game, it didn’t have a big impact overall.

Settings And Controls

One of the things I figured out quickly was that the default control settings were geared toward consoles or controllers. It’s expected as this is a port to PC, but still a bit annoying that I had to figure out the best way to set it up for PC.

The graphics settings were another letdown and needed to be tweaked.

The game didn’t run all that smoothly at first, and the worst part was 60 FPS max.

Of course, the game is playable at 60fps, but nowhere near the smooth 120+ that I’m used to with other games on PC.

There were other players that reported having issues, and a patch was released pretty quickly to help address the performance issues.

To be fair, the frame rate cap didn’t bother me the more I played, and I got used to the controls. But for those two reasons, I couldn’t give the game a perfect 10. So close, though.

Immersive Open-World Environment

The artistic graphics and details in the environment are on another level. The world blended together perfectly, and I felt like I was in a land in between lands.

Going from one area to another actually felt like you were going somewhere new. It was exciting, and I couldn’t wait to see what I would find next. One of the most important things I wanted to find was a lost grace to save my game.

In most cases, you know when a boss fight was near because you have to pass through a wall of mist. But sometimes, you’d enter a room, and suddenly the wall appeared behind you, locking you in with no escape. That’s usually about the time I started to panic about losing my runes (the currency in the game).

While there are many secrets and areas that are difficult to get to, I didn’t try to discover everything the first time. Otherwise, I think my playtime would be many hundreds of hours more than the 150 it took to beat it.

One thing that stands out in my memory is when I finally figured out where to get more pieces of the map. Once I did, it helped me plan my journey a little better. Of course, just because you see something on the map, it doesn’t mean that it’s easy to get to.

The music in the game matches the world that you exist in. Even at the main menu, the music is epic and prepares you for the challenges ahead.

The boss battles have similar levels of powerful music that will be impossible to forget. Some of them have become ingrained in my head because I spent many hours trying to defeat the same boss over and over.

I can’t say enough about how immersive the game is and how well done it is. I’ll compare any future games from any publisher against Elden Ring as the gold standard. It’s going to be hard to top this game.

Weapons, Armor, And Magic

Depending on which character class you chose, you may not like the weapon you started out with. But don’t worry, you can change that fairly quickly depending on what you’re after.

You can find or purchase many useful things from a random trader, but not everything. Some of the best items that I came across could only be acquired from boss drops or as the result of a defeated boss.

I started out not really knowing what I wanted, so it was exciting to find something new in a chest or from an enemy that I fought many times to suddenly drop something new. My journey started with a bit of magic and a pointy sword.

Speaking of magic, that is worth a whole review on its own. There are many types of magic and spells that you can cast. But, you’ll have to figure out where to acquire them, which can be quite involved. Most of the time, I think finding these things is just random luck unless you look up where to get them.

I think the most difficult part about weapons is leveling them up while maximizing your character’s stats to match. Again, that’s worth a deep dive on its own, and I still struggle to understand the system completely.

Various types of smithing stones are required to upgrade weapons. You need the stones, and you’ll also have to find the right person to do the upgrades for you.

Options are always great, but it can be a bit overwhelming for a new player. My best advice is just to keep going forward with what you’ve got. You don’t have to have the perfect build to beat the game.

Bosses And Enemy Difficulty

In this game, you will be punished if you think you can back away to heal or just endlessly dodge-roll around to avoid getting hit.

It was one of the things I disliked at first because I was getting slaughtered, but it forced me to have patience and to think about my next moves carefully.

I think there is a good mix of enemies scattered around the map with various abilities and vulnerabilities to figure out. Again, some drop equipment can be quite useful.

At the beginning of the game, it has you cross paths with mini-bosses that a new player won’t be able to defeat. It’s possible but highly unlikely. I think it serves as a warning about the challenges ahead and forces you to think about leveling up before taking them on in the future.

You don’t have to fight every enemy in the game or every boss because some are critical to the story and others are not. I know of a few that I either never attempted or failed miserably at (I’m looking at you Malenia, Blade of Miquella).

I think my next playthrough will go much better from the start, and I’ll be able to tackle larger enemies with fewer stats and move about the map quickly with the skills I’ve learned.

Elden Ring Patches And Updates

At the time of writing this review, the game has received several updates. Some were to fix performance issues, and others contained boosts and nerfs of certain weapons and enemies.

However, during my playthrough, I didn’t run into any game-breaking bugs or serious issues. It actually went pretty smoothly, especially when compared to most AAA game titles in recent years.

Verdict: Would I Recommend Elden Ring?

Heck yes! I think Elden Ring is worth buying if you can cope with excessive dying and frustrating challenges.

I got many hours of entertainment, and Elden Ring has also made me a better gamer. It forced me to exercise patience, and I feel that my reactions in games are much more calculated.

While I’m not convinced that they’ll make an Elden Ring 2, I hope they release an epic DLC that will take many hours to complete.