3.5/5 ★ – danedxb's review of Elden Ring.

As much as other people loved Elden Ring, it falls short of what I had expected of a FromSoftware game. For starters, the open world is not bad whatsoever, it just isn't as engaging as I thought it would be. Some parts of the game do feel very empty with not much to do as the other areas. Some examples of this are Liurnia, Consecrated Snow Field, and Caelid. Even Limgrave sometimes feels like this, which makes it very boring to play. Most of the main storyline bosses are also very forgettable, with the exceptions being Godrick, Radahn, and Maliketh. All the dungeon bosses found throughout the map get reused everywhere, which feels lazy and unneeded. Putting that aside, the amount of customization for your character is amazing, ensuring every character you make is unique in their looks and kit. There's a ridiculous amount of weapons, spells, armor, and talismans in the game, allowing for an insane number of builds. This makes Elden Ring very replayable compared to the other Souls games. Elden Ring also includes easier summoning, which in my opinion, makes the game a breeze when done in this way. I put around 135 hours into Elden Ring, obtaining the Platinum trophy for it on my Playstation, which wasn't too challenging either. It requires three playthroughs and all of the demigod bosses to be slain. The legendary talismans, weapons, spells, and ashen remains also need to be collected around the map before the trophy is given to you. Throughout the time I played the game, I had very mixed feelings about it, but overall it is not as bad as I originally thought it was. I do stand by that it is the second worst Souls game in the series, right ahead of Demon's Souls.