Elden Ring is a 2022 action role-playing game directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki. The game’s story was helped by American fantasy writer George R. R. Martin. FromSoftware developed the game, and Bandai Namco Entertainment published it. It was first released on February 25, 2022, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game takes place in a world called the Lands Between. Players control a character they can customize on a mission to fix the Elden Ring and become the new Elden Lord.
The game is played from a third-person view, allowing players to move freely through its open world. Six main areas can be explored using a horse named Torrent. Players can find useful items in hidden dungeons. They fight enemies with weapons and magic spells, or avoid direct fights using stealth. Checkpoints in the game let players travel quickly and improve their character’s abilities using a currency called runes. Elden Ring includes an online multiplayer mode where players can team up to fight bosses or compete against each other.
FromSoftware wanted to make an open-world game inspired by Dark Souls. Miyazaki admired Martin’s previous work and hoped Martin’s help would make the story easier to understand than earlier games. Martin had freedom to create the backstory, while Miyazaki wrote the in-game story. Developers focused on large environments, character stats, and the story. The game’s size required building many structures in its world.
Elden Ring won many Game of the Year awards and is considered one of the greatest games ever made. It received praise for its open world, gameplay, and setting. The game sold over 30 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games of all time. A downloadable content (DLC) called Shadow of the Erdtree was released in June 2024. It follows the player’s character in a new area called the Land of Shadow. The DLC was also very popular and sold over 10 million copies. A multiplayer-focused game called Elden Ring Nightreign was released in 2025. A movie based on the game is being made and is planned for release in 2028.
Gameplay
Elden Ring is an action role-playing game viewed from a character's point of view. It shares features with other games made by FromSoftware, such as the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The game takes place in an open world, allowing players to freely explore the Lands Between and its six main areas. These areas include Limgrave, a region with grassy plains and ancient ruins, and Caelid, a wasteland filled with undead monsters. Players use a horse named Torrent as their main way to travel across the world, though they can also use fast travel outside of battles. Throughout the game, players meet non-player characters (NPCs) and enemies, including powerful demigods who control each main area and act as the game's main bosses. In addition to the main areas, the game includes hidden locations like dungeons, catacombs, tunnels, and caves where players can fight bosses and collect useful items.
At the start of the game, players choose a character class, which determines their starting spells, equipment, and abilities. Combat can happen up close with enemies or from a distance using ranged weapons. Enemy attacks can be dodged or blocked with shields. Spells help players strengthen their weapons, attack enemies from afar, and restore health. Players can memorize a limited number of spells, which are cast using a staff or a sacred seal item. Weapons can be improved with Ashes of War, which are special enhancements that give weapons new abilities. Ashes of War can be added to or removed from weapons, and each Ash provides a unique combat ability. In addition to fighting, players can use stealth to avoid enemies or land critical hits while hiding. Blocking enemy attacks with a weapon can also create chances to strike with critical hits.
Throughout the game, players can visit checkpoints called sites of grace. At these locations, characters can increase their abilities, change memorized spells, swap Ashes of War, or use fast travel. If a player dies, they respawn at the last site of grace they visited. Alternatively, they can respawn at specific locations marked by "stakes of Marika" if they died nearby. To improve abilities at sites of grace, players must spend runes, a type of in-game currency earned by defeating enemies. Runes are also used to buy items and upgrade weapons and armor. If a player dies, they lose all runes collected at the location of their death. If they die again before retrieving the runes, they will be permanently lost.
Elden Ring includes crafting mechanics, where items are made using materials. Recipes needed for crafting are found in collectible books called cookbooks scattered throughout the world. Materials can be gathered by defeating enemies, exploring the game world, or trading with merchant NPCs. Crafted items include poison darts, exploding pots, and temporary boosts that increase combat strength. Like the Dark Souls games, players can summon friendly NPCs called spirits to help fight enemies. Each type of spirit requires a matching Spirit Ash, which can be found during exploration. Spirits can only be summoned near structures called Rebirth Monuments, which are usually found in large areas and boss fight arenas.
Elden Ring has a multiplayer system that allows players to join others for cooperative or player-versus-player (PvP) play online. For cooperative play, players place a summon sign on the ground, which becomes visible to others who have a matching item. If another player interacts with the sign, the host is invited into their world. Cooperative players stay in the same world until the area's boss is defeated, the host dies, or the summoned player is sent back to their home world. In PvP combat, a summon sign is used to challenge another player to a duel, or players can use special items to invade others' worlds. World hosts can use a "taunter's tongue" item to increase the chance their world is invaded, reduce the time between invasions, and allow more players to join an invasion.
Synopsis
Elden Ring is set in the Lands Between, a fictional land ruled by several demigods. Before this, the immortal Queen Marika governed the region and protected the Elden Ring, a powerful object that represented the idea of order in the world. When Marika broke the Elden Ring and disappeared, her demigod children fought over the pieces of the Ring in an event called the Shattering. Each demigod received a shard of the Ring, called a Great Rune, which gave them great power but also caused them to become corrupted. In the game, the player controls a Tarnished, one of many exiles from the Lands Between who return after the Shattering. As a Tarnished, the player must travel across the realm to repair the Elden Ring and become the Elden Lord.
Early in their journey, the Tarnished meets a Maiden named Melina. Since the Tarnished has no Maiden, Melina agrees to help them by giving them the ability to turn runes into strength and providing her horse, Torrent. She agrees to do this only if the Tarnished takes her to the Erdtree, the place where the Elden Ring is located. Later, Melina brings the Tarnished to the Roundtable Hold, a meeting place for other Tarnished seeking to repair the Elden Ring. The Hold’s leader, the Two Fingers, tells the Tarnished to collect the Great Runes and bring them to the Erdtree, where they can be used to fix the Elden Ring.
The Tarnished travels through the Lands Between, exploring different areas and defeating demigods. After gathering enough Great Runes, the Two Fingers allows the Tarnished to fight Morgott the Grace-Given, the demigod who guards the Erdtree. When Morgott dies, he claims the Erdtree will not let anyone inside, making the Elden Ring impossible to repair. The Tarnished confirms this when they reach the Erdtree and find a wall of thorns blocking the entrance. Melina then suggests finding the Flame of Ruin, which can be used to burn the thorns and open the Erdtree. The Tarnished can choose to seek the Flame of Ruin or find a way to use the equally powerful Frenzied Flame.
If the Tarnished obtains the Flame of Ruin but not the Frenzied Flame, Melina will use the Flame of Ruin to destroy the Erdtree and sacrifice herself. If the Tarnished gains the Frenzied Flame, Melina will leave them, forcing them to use the Frenzied Flame to burn the Erdtree. Either way, the Tarnished is sent to the ruined city of Farum Azula as the Erdtree burns. After defeating Maliketh the Black Blade and using his Rune of Death to fuel the fire, the Tarnished returns to the scorched Erdtree. Inside, they fight Radagon, Marika’s consort who had been living in her body, and the Elden Beast, the tree’s guardian. After defeating both, the Tarnished finds Marika’s shattered body, which holds the remains of the Elden Ring. Depending on the Tarnished’s choices during the game, six different endings are possible, including becoming the Elden Lord, allowing Ranni the Witch to destroy the Elden Ring, or using the Frenzied Flame to destroy the Lands Between.
The Tarnished follows the trail of Miquella, one of Marika’s demigod children, who was taken by Mohg, the brother of Morgott the Grace-Given. After killing Radahn and Mohg, the Tarnished learns that Miquella’s spirit left his body and entered the Land of Shadow. Entering through Miquella’s corpse, the Tarnished continues to find pieces of him scattered across the land. Along the way, they may meet Miquella’s followers, including Leda, a knight; Dane, a monk; Freyja, a soldier; Hornsent, a native of the Land of Shadow; Thiollier, a worshipper of Miquella’s female alter-ego, St. Trina; Sir Ansbach, a former follower of Mohg; and Moore, a merchant infected with the Scarlet Rot.
Miquella’s trail leads the Tarnished to the Gate of Divinity, which is blocked by magical thorns. To remove them, the Tarnished must fight and kill a demigod named Messmer, who can burn the thorns with his power. As the Tarnished approaches the Gate, they face Miquella’s followers, who have turned on each other after Miquella’s charm faded. Their survival depends on the Tarnished’s choices. When confronting Miquella, it is revealed that he planned his own abduction to enter the Land of Shadow and later used Mohg’s body to revive Radahn as his ally and consort. Miquella attempts to become a god through a ritual, but the Tarnished defeats him and Radahn, stopping the rite.
Development and release
FromSoftware's Dark Souls series is known for being very challenging. The game's director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, wanted to create an open world game, and Elden Ring was designed as an improved version of Dark Souls. Elden Ring has a much larger environment than the smaller dungeons in FromSoftware's earlier games. Miyazaki believed the bigger world would let players explore more freely and discover more details. FromSoftware worked with American author George R.R. Martin, who wrote the fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, to help build the game's world. Miyazaki, a fan of Martin's work, hoped Martin's contributions would make the story easier to understand than in previous games.
Miyazaki was still the main writer for Elden Ring's main story, but he let Martin write about events that happened before the main story. Miyazaki compared this process to using a "dungeon master's handbook" in a tabletop role-playing game. Like many of FromSoftware's earlier games, Elden Ring's story is not explained in detail. The developers wanted players to figure out the story themselves by reading short descriptions and talking to non-player characters (NPCs). Miyazaki said he enjoyed creating more detailed NPCs, believing they are more interesting than those in his earlier games. In an interview with IGN, Miyazaki explained that he gave Martin control over the backstory because FromSoftware's storytelling style limits writers. He noted that FromSoftware does not want a game with a clear, linear story, so allowing Martin to design a backstory that players are not directly involved in let him work freely. Some staff from Game of Thrones, a TV show based on A Song of Ice and Fire, helped with the game's development.
Development of Elden Ring began in early 2017 after the release of The Ringed City, a downloadable content (DLC) for Dark Souls III. Elden Ring was created at the same time as Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which Miyazaki also directed. He said the combat in Elden Ring shares some similarities with Sekiro, but neither game directly influenced the other's mechanics. FromSoftware worked on both games using a "co-director" system, where each game had a staff member acting as a director during its early stages. Miyazaki then guided the game's mechanics, art, and music. Yui Tanimura, who previously directed Dark Souls II and co-directed Dark Souls III, was the co-director for Elden Ring. The design team focused on large environments, role-playing, and storytelling as key features. Developers said the game's size helped create a sense of variety, and they wanted role-playing elements to allow many ways for players to interact with the world. To make the game bigger, the team built many explorable structures and connected them in the open world. Miyazaki named Shadow of the Colossus, The Elder Scrolls, The Witcher 3, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as design influences. He also credited the tabletop role-playing game RuneQuest and the novels The Lord of the Rings and The Eternal Champion as inspirations for the story. The game's music was composed by Tsukasa Saitoh, Shoi Miyazawa, Tai Tomisawa, Yuka Kitamura, and Yoshimi Kudo.
Elden Ring was first shown at E3 2019 in June. Some details about the game were leaked online earlier because of a server issue at Bandai Namco Entertainment. Elden Ring was highly expected after its announcement, but no more information was shared until a trailer was shown in June 2021. Bandai Namco helped test the game by offering a closed beta in November 2021, where players could sign up to try it. The full game was planned to release on January 21, 2022, but was delayed until February 25, 2022. At launch, the game had performance issues, such as low frame rates. Bandai Namco fixed some problems with software updates. In February 2023, the downloadable content (DLC) expansion Shadow of the Erdtree was announced and released on June 20, 2024.
Reception
Elden Ring received "universal acclaim" according to Metacritic, a website that collects reviews from many sources. Another review site, OpenCritic, said the game was strongly approved by 98% of critics. It has been called one of the best video games ever made.
The game’s open world setting was praised by reviewers. They liked how players could explore the world and discover new areas. Tamoor Hussain of GameSpot said the game’s world, called the Lands Between, is the largest FromSoftware has ever created. He said exploration and discovery were the main reasons players enjoy the game. Mitchell Saltzman of IGN said the game rewards players for exploring every part of the map. Simon Parkin of The Guardian described the game’s environments as "intriguing and inventive." Some reviewers said the open world gives players many chances to try different challenges. The game’s exploration was compared favorably to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Reviewers also praised the artistic designs of the environments and the creative layouts of the game’s dungeons.
Like many of FromSoftware’s earlier games, Elden Ring’s difficulty was widely discussed. Some reviewers said the game lacked easy modes, which made it harder for some players. Others said it was the most accessible Souls game, as players could avoid difficult enemies and return later with more experience. The combat system was praised for offering many ways to fight enemies while keeping the game challenging. Features like fast travel and the ability to move quickly between locations were seen as improvements that made the game easier to explore. The placement of checkpoints was also praised for helping players progress.
Some reviewers criticized the game’s menu and accessibility features. They noted that the Windows version had performance issues, such as problems with the game’s frame rate. Reviewers also said the story lacked the writing style of George R. R. Martin, who was heavily involved in the game’s marketing. Kyle Orland of Ars Technica said the story was "sparse and cryptic," which did not match the expectations of Martin’s fans. Chris Carter of Destructoid said the story was "low key" but better than previous FromSoftware games. Aoife Wilson of Eurogamer said it was confusing that Martin’s name was used in marketing if his role in the story was unclear. Mitchell Saltzman said he did not mind the lack of Martin’s style, as the game’s side stories kept him interested.
Journalists have written about Elden Ring’s speedrunning community. Shortly after the game was released, players found a glitch called the "zip glitch," which allows players to move quickly across the map. The game has been completed in under five minutes using this glitch.
The expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, received a score of 94/100 on Metacritic. It was generally praised for offering rewarding exploration and a strong atmosphere.
Elden Ring sold 13.4 million copies worldwide by March 2022 and 30 million by April 2025, making it one of the best-selling video games ever. It was the best-selling game in several regions between February and March 2022 and the fastest-selling Bandai Namco game of all time. It was the second-best-selling game in the US in 2022, behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, the third-best-selling in Europe, and the tenth-best-selling in Japan.
Shadow of the Erdtree sold 5 million copies within three days of its release. In July 2025, FromSoftware announced that the DLC had sold over 10 million copies.
Elden Ring won over 300 Game of the Year awards from publications such as Ars Technica, Destructoid, Eurogamer, GameSpot, and IGN.
At The Game Awards 2024, Shadow of the Erdtree received five nominations, including for Game of the Year. This caused controversy because some people believed DLC should not be eligible for such awards.
A live-action film adaptation of Elden Ring was announced in May 2025. It will be produced by A24 and Bandai Namco. Alex Garland will direct and write the screenplay. George R. R. Martin and others will produce the film. It is scheduled to be released on March 3, 2028.