Elden Ring
About the game
Elden Ring is FromSoftware's open-world action RPG, directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with world-building help from George R. R. Martin. You play a Tarnished who journeys across the Lands Between to restore the Elden Ring and become Elden Lord. What used to be a twisting corridor in Dark Souls is here an entire continent — open and non-linear.
What sets it apart
It takes the formula that made the studio famous —combat that punishes every mistake, death as your teacher, fragmentary lore pieced together from item descriptions— and pours it into a vast world full of optional dungeons, unforgettable bosses, and secrets that reward exploration. There are no on-screen arrows or a map telling you where to go: the game trusts your curiosity and your patience. When you finally take down a boss that stopped you for hours, the win feels like yours, not the game's.
It's built mainly for solo play, but supports co-op —summon other players to take down a tough boss— and PvP invasions for anyone looking for a fight. The community is still very active in all three modes years after launch.
What you pay for
Elden Ring is buy-to-play: you pay once, with no subscription, microtransactions, or season pass. The standard edition runs about $59.99 on Steam and consoles, and drops often in sales; a Deluxe Edition adds an artbook and digital soundtrack. The major expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, is sold separately (~$39.99) or bundled into the Deluxe. On Switch 2, the Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition arrives (August 28, 2026) at $79.99, packaging the base game plus the expansion with two new classes and extra customization options. Pay once and all the content is yours.
Current status
The game has been Live and fully playable since 2022. Its biggest content milestone was Shadow of the Erdtree (June 2024), the best-reviewed expansion in history (95 on Metacritic) with over 10 million copies sold; the base game passed 30 million in 2025. FromSoftware keeps it updated with regular balance and quality patches, and the universe has already branched out with the co-op spin-off Elden Ring Nightreign (2025). The next release is the Tarnished Edition for Switch 2, in August 2026, after the performance issues that had delayed it were sorted out.
Who it's for (and who it isn't)
It's for anyone who enjoys a real challenge and figuring things out on their own. If you loved Dark Souls, Bloodborne, or Sekiro, this is the biggest and also the most approachable of them all: the open world gives you room to walk away from a hard stretch, level up, and come back stronger. It also works as a doorway into the genre, as long as you accept that it will be tough.
It isn't a game for everyone. The difficulty and the lack of hand-holding frustrate anyone after comfort, the open world feels a bit empty in its final stretch, and the PC version dragged performance issues for a good while. But for those who take the deal —push, die, learn, and keep going— Elden Ring is one of the peaks of the modern action RPG.