“Elden Ring” is a video game created by the Japanese studio FromSoftware, directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki,— creator of the “Dark Souls” franchise, a series of games acclaimed for their difficulty and impressive story. “Elden Ring” was also written in part by George R. R. Martin, best known for his work “A Game of Thrones.” “Elden Ring” won various awards and accolades since its release in February of 2022, such as the “Game of the Year” award in 2022, along with “Best Game Direction,” “Best Art Direction,” and “Best Role-Playing Game.”
As a heavily anticipated installation in Miyazaki’s series of games, “Elden Ring” sold over 12 million copies within three weeks of its release. As of September 2026, over 30 million copies have been sold — millions of copies more than the rest of the “Dark Souls” series combined. It received a 10/10 from IGN, Screen Rant, Guardian, over 50 more from other news outlets, and a 98% on OpenCritic. With the release of the DLC, “Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree,” the game sold an additional 10 million copies, with millions of players investing over 100 hours in a single playthrough.
After playing the game, it is easy to see why so many people love it. The first open- world game of the “Souls”-like genre that FromSoftware has put out, the player acts as a warrior called to the mystical “Lands Between,” the setting of the game. Players must fight through many fearsome enemies, dragons, demigods, and a divine protector of that which controls the main plot — the Elden Ring. While much of the story is up to interpretation, players across the world have scoured the games every little detail (of which there are many) to piece together what tragedy caused the great “Shattering.”.
“Elden Ring” is unique in that the player character, an unnamed warrior, is not special. The player finds many NPCs who are incredibly similar to themself, called the Tarnished. Called to the Lands Between by Marika — the protector of the Elden Ring — and guided by the gift of Grace to restore peace to the Lands Between, many tarnished have tried and perished, or lost hope and given up. The only thing that makes our protagonist different is the player’s determination to follow Grace and become Elden Lord, to unify the Lands Between once more.
It’s not just the compelling story and drive to find out more about the world that gave “Elden Ring” its astounding reviews, though. The visuals are nothing to scoff at; the opening landscape wowed players with a beautiful view, and enemies are built with such majesty that it’s easy to believe they really do contain pieces of divinity within them.
The gameplay loop is one diehard “Souls”-like fans adore. As the player fights enemies, finds new weapons, slowly becomes stronger, and slowly becomes better, they begin to feel a rhythm to each fight that many games try so hard to accomplish. Defeating a boss in “Elden Ring” can make players feel like they’ve just completed an intricate dance with their enemy, and the satisfaction of defeating a boss after spending hours on it is like no other.
The majesty of “Elden Ring” and what sets it apart from other “Souls” games is its open world nature. This means that if the player is stuck on a fight and feels as if they cannot progress, they can simply leave. There are so many options for what to do, and hardly any forced route. Players can run away, go around, or retreat and come back stronger. This also allows for a multitude of play styles — one person can charge in with the largest weapon they can find and just keep swinging until they win, while another can go in armed with spells, buffs, and summons to defeat the enemy from afar.
“Elden Ring” is a game with an enthusiastic fanbase and has certainly earned its cult following and raving reviews. It is also available on all major gaming platforms, so anyone can go play today.
