Elden Ring is a commendable game where you will most certainly get your money’s worth. However, it falls well short of a masterpiece, there are too many flaws of significance for me to consider this one. For this spoiler-free review I will go through the main features that constitute an ER playthrough (and Souls games in general) and break down what ER did well regarding them, and what it did poorly.

1. MAP DESIGN AND EXPLORATION

Pros:
• Huge map, one of the biggest games you will ever play
  
• Well made “Legacy areas”, areas which are similar to the more linear sections of previous Souls games.
  
• Exploration is rewarded, a lot to unlock and discover
  
  Cons:
  
• Open world gets “samey” quick, a lot of obvious reused assets and structures you explore over and over again. 4/5 of the open world areas are the same thing but different color palettes.
  
• The open world never really felt alive and dense, once you’ve encountered the same ruins and soulless mobs for the fifth time in an hour, you realize most of the space is empty. No matter what kind of illusion Fromsoft (FS) tried to make, they could not trick me into believing the open world areas were truly alive. It was only alive in the most abstract of ways, these are creatures/people that are only there for you to mow down on your way to getting more loot. It is kind of tiring to see that these are the only type of dwellings FS is capable of making. Decreptic villages, mindless soldier camps, ruins on a lake, etc., abstract entities for you to visit and then leave, never living. No innovation, same stuff since Dark Souls 1.
  
• The side caves and dungeons get old quickly, they look way too similar despite FS’s decent attempt to diversify and increase complexity of these optional side areas later in the game. The aesthetics and atmosphere felt plastic past day 1 of playing.
  - These optional areas become complete fodder once you’ve been through them once, you know which option open world areas have good loot (most don't) and the magic of exploration is gone. This hurts replayability.

2. COMBAT

Pros:
• Excellent combat, as good or better than any of the Souls games. FS did a good job further evolving from DS3 by incorporating some stuff from Sekiro such as a posture system where you can break most bosses’ and mob’s posture for a critical hit (riposte). The addition of a guard counter makes shield play more interesting as well. Overall the additions make ER’s combat more in-depth and diverse than its predecessors.
  
• A ton of interesting weapons to try out and find, with each weapon class feeling pretty different to play.
  
• Powerstancing (dual wielding) is also reintroduced into the series and offers more options for your builds.
  
• Spells and Ashes of War (customizable weapon abilities) are stronger and cooler than ever. A lot of builds/combinations to try out, that can each play out quite differently.
  
• Solid diversity of mobs to encounter even though quite a few are reused or re-colorized throughout the game. Above average job.
  
• A fun summoning system that offers a wide range of diverse spirit characters to help you in most boss and some mob fights. This system, called Spirit Summons, offers flavor for roleplaying and is another way one can adjust the difficulty of the game to fit their needs since the quality of the summon can make the fights somewhat easier to much easier.
  
  Cons:
  
• Powerstancing isn’t balanced properly. The extra weight and stamina usage is too little of a drawback compared to the massive damage buff.
  
• Weapons, abilities, and spells are not balanced, not too big of an issue concerning PvE.
  
• Elden Ring, on average, has the worst bosses of any FS game I’ve played, there are probably only four great bosses in the game, two being main bosses and two being side content optional bosses. Despite the game touting 125+ bosses there are only 9 truly unique major bosses, the lowest of any FS game. The rest are reused assets with small tweaks and/or gank fights. Not very creative.
  - Many of the bosses felt like they were not playtested and the fairness in the “dance” between the learned player and a boss has been perverted. The poor boss designs often force players with less time, experience, or skill to depend on the Spirit Summons to make a fight less frustrating. I highly recommend this YT video someone else made that I agree 95% with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dlt7THiE08

3. CHARACTERS, ART DIRECTION, AND WORLD BUILDING

Pros:
• Quite a few of the most memorable and lovely moments in my recent gaming have been through the side quests and NPCs of this game.
  
• Some of the best designed characters you will ever meet in gaming are in this game, I still think about them every other day. The fact that these characters are vehemently discussed and memed upon even months after release goes to show you the lasting legacy of this part of the game.
  
• Despite the painfully obvious reused assets and foundation pieces of the game, the art direction did a good job of improving the boring samey world. Each area in the game has its own unique vibes and color palettes.
  - There is one open world area (the only one of the 5 open areas that I didn’t feel was poorly copy and pasted) that is one of the most creative and interesting locations I've played in any game. I was shocked when I discovered it and truly thought I was transported to another world. If one looks at the concept art, which was as thought provoking and splendid as any other FS game, I think FS did a solid job at bringing it to life.
  
• Good lore despite being difficult to piece together. Probably my favorite lore of the FS games I’ve played. Remember to read the descriptions for everything you loot for lore tidbits.
  
  Cons:
  
• Frustrating and archaic quest design. I respect and like Miyazaki’s approach to quests but FS needs to make them easier to follow and more accessible, keep the organic approach but with more clues on where to go next and a journal for tracking.

EXTRA COMMENTS:

• Audio and background music did an apt job in contributing to the atmosphere, typical like any Souls games. I was disappointed in the boss music, too few stood out.
  
• PVP kind of sucks. Worst of any FS game I've played. Too much to say for this review.
  - I think FS made a mistake with Coop only invasions (a feature where you can enter the game of another player and try to kill them) since it will dwindle the activity level and health of the PvP long term, we are already seeing it happen.
  - Lack of solo invasions also means less people will experience PvP and get “hooked” further harming the health of the game long term.
  - Poor weapon, spell, and abilities balance. There are a lot of OP and broken things you can do that still have not been patched.
  
• Concerning technical issues, I have a mid tier setup and was able to get on average 50-60 fps on every setting on max at 1080p. However, the game is still unacceptably poorly optimized.
  - My stuttering issues weren’t bad at all, overall a smooth experience.
  - My CPU runs ER an average of 5 degrees Celsius hotter than other games and the increase in fan noise is noticeable. This high temperature issue is a common one upon further internet research.
  - There is sometimes crashing on the loading screen and when entering multiplayer, this is better than before with patch 1.04 but not completely fixed.