Elden Ring is a game that has the ability to challenge the player mechanically and mindset wise. This causes the game to feel extremely rewarding when progressing through the game. One important thing about the game to inform players who haven't tried the game before is that the game doesn't try to monetize the player at all, which is a huge issue we have with a lot of modern games.

Back in 2022 when the game came out, I had two playthroughs with two different endings. Overall, I very much enjoyed the game.
After returning to the game two years later after the release of the DLC (Shadow of the Erdtree), I made two objectives for myself:

1. To play through the new content from the DLC

2. To 100% the game in terms of achievements

After doing this I feel like I can give a fair and honest personal opinion about the game itself, and my view on the common misconceptions about Elden Ring and the other Soul games.

Elden Ring starts of with you making you own character. This in itself makes the player more invested and attached to the character they create. Other than that, the game gives the player the opportunity to play the game the way they want, the way that suits the player.
Of course there are some ways that are more effective than others. However, the way it lets you be able to create the build you want and the way you acquire the items you need, is in a challenging way where you often have to explore the world and then defeat difficult bosses, which in itself is a nice approach to handling the progression instead of a tedious grind that other games often have.
After creating your character and having acquired the items that makes you play the game you want, you then have a huge world with an interesting lore and main story. The game doesn't tell you where to go, it is more of a "look there is a huge castle, I might check it out" or using your common sense by following the pathways or going to the unique looking points of interest to find out where to go. It really reminds me of back in the days as a kid, playing the Pokémon games on Game Boy, actually.
This makes you more immersed into the game, since you as the player are required to think about what to do, instead of having a quest marker or icons telling you everything all the time, which results in every player finding the same items and having the overall same way of experiencing the game instead of their own personal approach. By avoiding this, the game allows players to have considerably better discussions about the gameplay, and how to tackle the obstacles on your road to become Elden Lord, which is the games main objective.

A common misconception about the game or games in general is that they are too hard to play.
Personally, I would say that they are challenging, and they are only as hard as you make them. I mentioned making builds earlier in my review, and the build plays a major role in deciding how hard the games is.
If you play the game and feel as if you don't know where to go or you are not strong enough, we live in the age of internet. And thus, you are able to look up guides for everything, which WILL make the game easier.
The decision for the games not to have a difficulty setting is genius, because it means that everyone goes up against the same obstacles, and then tackle them in their own way, instead of different obstacles depending on a setting.
With that said, the games are not made to be so difficult that they are unplayable, but most games today are you just too easy in comparison which just make them more time consuming and not challenging at all.

Play the game. It is as simple as that. In an age full of singleplayer games where it feels like the developers are trying negotiate with the player as of how much they can monetize the player before the player won't buy the game, it feels so refreshing to have a game where you can immerse yourself, get challenged, play the game the way it suits you, and feel rewarded no matter how you play it.
The only bad critique I really have for the game is the motive of the main story. Why does your character want to become Elden Lord? Usually in stories, someone would want to become the leader of a land or people because the people are worth protecting. Elden Ring is a Dark Fantasy where most people have died and a lot of the NPCs you meet are not someone most people would feel like making huge sacrifices for. Since this hasn't been made clear, my theory is that it is up to the player to decide why they want to, or avoid to become the Elden Lord, which would also backup and explain why the game has different endings.

If you made it this far, I thank you for reading my review and being curious about my opinion. Take care, and have a nice day!

[h2] A short explanation about what I think the game provides for the player [/h2] Elden Ring is a game that has the ability to challenge the player mechanically and mindset wise. This causes the game to feel extremely rewarding when progressing through the game. One important thing about the game to inform players who haven't tried the game before is that [b] the game doesn't try to monetize the player at all, [/b] which is a huge issue we have with a lot of modern games. [h2] My story with the game, and personal opinion [/h2] Back in 2022 when the game came out, I had two playthroughs with two different endings. Overall, I very much enjoyed the game. After returning to the game two years later after the release of the DLC (Shadow of the Erdtree), I made two objectives for myself: 1. To play through the new content from the DLC 2. To 100% the game in terms of achievements After doing this I feel like I can give a fair and honest personal opinion about the game itself, and my view on the common misconceptions about Elden Ring and the other Soul games. [h3] Elden Ring [/h3] Elden Ring starts of with you making you own character. This in itself makes the player more invested and attached to the character they create. Other than that, the game gives the player the opportunity to play the game the way they want, the way that suits the player. Of course there are some ways that are more effective than others. However, the way it lets you be able to create the build you want and the way you acquire the items you need, is in a challenging way where you often have to explore the world and then defeat difficult bosses, which in itself is a nice approach to handling the progression instead of a tedious grind that other games often have. After creating your character and having acquired the items that makes you play the game you want, you then have a huge world with an interesting lore and main story. The game doesn't tell you where to go, it is more of a "look there is a huge castle, I might check it out" or using your common sense by following the pathways or going to the unique looking points of interest to find out where to go. It really reminds me of back in the days as a kid, playing the Pokémon games on Game Boy, actually. This makes you more immersed into the game, since you as the player are required to think about what to do, instead of having a quest marker or icons telling you everything all the time, which results in every player finding the same items and having the overall same way of experiencing the game instead of their own personal approach. By avoiding this, the game allows players to have considerably better discussions about the gameplay, and how to tackle the obstacles on your road to become Elden Lord, which is the games main objective. [h3] Misconceptions about Elden RIng and Soul games in general [/h3] A common misconception about the game or games in general is that they are too hard to play. Personally, I would say that they are challenging, and [b] they are only as hard as you make them. [/b] I mentioned making builds earlier in my review, and the build plays a major role in deciding how hard the games is. If you play the game and feel as if you don't know where to go or you are not strong enough, we live in the age of internet. And thus, you are able to look up guides for everything, which [b] WILL [/b] make the game easier. The decision for the games not to have a difficulty setting is genius, because it means that [b] everyone goes up against the same obstacles, and then tackle them in their own way, [/b] instead of different obstacles depending on a setting. With that said, [b] the games are not made to be so difficult that they are unplayable, but most games today are you just too easy in comparison [/b] which just make them more time consuming and not challenging at all. [h2] Conclusion [/h2] Play the game. It is as simple as that. In an age full of singleplayer games where it feels like the developers are trying negotiate with the player as of how much they can monetize the player before the player won't buy the game, it feels so refreshing to have a game where you can immerse yourself, get challenged, play the game the way it suits you, and feel rewarded no matter how you play it. The only bad critique I really have for the game is the motive of the main story. Why does your character want to become Elden Lord? Usually in stories, someone would want to become the leader of a land or people because the people are worth protecting. Elden Ring is a Dark Fantasy where most people have died and a lot of the NPCs you meet are not someone most people would feel like making huge sacrifices for. Since this hasn't been made clear, my theory is that it is up to the player to decide why they want to, or avoid to become the Elden Lord, which would also backup and explain why the game has different endings. If you made it this far, I thank you for reading my review and being curious about my opinion. Take care, and have a nice day!