95%PC

Pros:
+ Satisfying feeling of beating a boss that gave you trouble. Learning and overcoming adversity
+ Much to do in a vast world, lots to explore
+ Open world makes it so if you’re struggling against a certain boss you can leave and come back barring they aren’t a story progression boss
+ Ability to bond in struggles with other friends who played the game. Empathizing struggles

Cons:
- Occasional frame stuttering
- There is no quest page, and it is hard to track side quests and main quests
- The story is confusing; doesn't make sense and is not immersive

100%PC

This games is best of the best. No explaination required.

90%PlayStation 5

Gameplay 10/10
Storia e Personaggi 8/10
Audio Design e Musiche 8/10
Direzione artistica e Level Design 10/10

Complessivo: 9

100%PC

There's a million reviews saying why it's good; you don't need my opinion 😋 If you're a fan of Dark Souls—or not—buy this LOL

Pro tip: Dual-wield hammers strength build is the way to go, trust me.

100%PlayStation 5

As someone who is not a fan of the genre Soulsborne, I found myself very enthralled in this game as the world is just so rich to explore. I felt adequately eased into the combat that once caused me hesitation and found myself relatively enjoying it for the most part. Still the genre is not my favorite but I absolutely commend the makers of this game for the triumph that is Elden Ring.

70%PC

Base game is really fun but I havent beaten it yet because I was watching live streams at the same time when this came out and got too burnt out to finish. I did watch someone beat the whole game though.
- The combat is okay but having the option to explore elsewhere when you are struggling with a certain boss is nice. The game is massive. The exploration is probably the best part as there is so much to look around for and find. The story is very minimal and you pretty much have to look up guides for any of the side quests since they are not direct in any fashion or easy to follow along.
- My biggest issues are malenia's waterfowl attack, the amount of bosses that have incredibly delayed attacks followed by extremely fast attacks that you have to reflexively react to, the lack of weapon moveset variety considering how many weapons there are, the severe lack of armors/ clothes for fashion in the early and mid game compared to previous games, and that the co-op in the unmodded game is garbage and only playable with the seamless co-op mod.

95%PlayStation 5

Margit - 4 attempts w/ true weapon
Godrick - 30+ attempts
Red Wolf - 5 attempts
Rennala - 2 attempts
Spirit Loretta - 10 attempts
Radahn - 30+ attempts
Ancestor Spirit - 1 attempt
Mimic Tear - 1 attempt
Draconic Tree Sentinel - 7 attempts
Elemer of the Briar - 17 attempts
Gold Godfrey - 8 attempts
Morgott - 9 attempts
Astel - 7 attempts
Adula - 2 attempts
Fire Giant - 4 attempts
Niall - 7 attempts
Borealis - 4 attempts
Valiant Gargoyles - 1 attempt
Deeproot Crucible - 4 attempts
Fia’s Champions - 1 attempt
Fortissax - 1 attempt
Godskin Duo - 2 attempts
Mohg - 8 attempts w/ good level
Rykard - 4 attempts
Maliketh - 9 attempts
Placidusax - 4 attempts
Gideon - 1 attempt
Human Loretta - 1 attempt
Godfrey - 30+ attempts
Malenia - 40+ attempts
Nokstella Dragonkin - 1 attempt
Radagon/Elden Beast - 15 - 20 attempts

65%PlayStation 5

Do not go into this game expecting a Dark Souls experience.

This is basically open world Dark Souls but that isn't good in my opinion. Upgrading equipment is now annoying because you need to get the appropriate level stone to upgrade. Good luck finding them. The bosses are repurposed (some over 10 times!) and don't really feel like they "fit" in that location.

Historically, Dark Souls has allowed you to go in a somewhat non-linear fashion and complete some areas before others. You can miss entire sections in a game if you don't do certain things. I find this to be part of the charm. Elden Ring is nothing of the sort. If you want to skip the entire game, go for it but you'll have to grind levels for an eternity or be a god among men to take on the final area.

I went into this with very little expectation other than that I heard it was "fantastic". This reminds me of Bioshock Infinite and how I felt it never lived up to it's predecessors. Time will only tell if people continue to look back fondly on this game. Personally, it's a miss for me.

90%PC

9/10

90%PC

One of the best Action RPGs ever made with fun gameplay and dense world and lots of lore, the only problem is the huge amount of recycled content and the way the game loses its steam after the Captial, it only picks up again in Farum Azula, everything in between was recycled and uninspired.
Other than that, amazing game!

100%PC

I still can't believe it's real. FromSoftware's best work to date.

100%PlayStation 5

Gorgeous at all

100%PlayStation 5

Fantastic game. I beat it the first time and immediately wanted to play again. This is the only game I have replayed and got the platinum for. I enjoyed every minute of this game and will most likely replay it in the future.

Edit: I have played this game 6 total times (once all at level 1), including the DLC. Not sure it gets better than this. I also have replayed the other souls games (Sekiro and Dark Souls 3) multiple times now as well.

80%PC

To start thing with what I love the most about this game is its world design and its exploration. Each area has its own distinct identity, whether it's the gold divine lands of Atlus Plateau, the red decaying rot of Caelid, or even Lirniua's blue mystical sense of magic, you could probably tell where you are without a map. The exploration within their main legacy dungeons is great, as its open-world design allows it to feel more expansive and huge. Dungeons like Leyndall, which is perhaps my favorite of them as it is huge, the scenery is breathtaking and rich with items to go around and search for, even an underground area as well. There are also lots of great ones like Volcano Manor, Haligtree, Farum Azula, and many more. It's got the usual stuff of exploration like doors leading to other areas or shortcuts, sites of graces, hidden paths, or the new stonesword keys that lead to special items, but it feels much greater than other Souls games. The underground areas give you a sense of how huge the world is like Deeproot Depths or Nokron. Lots of small dungeons like caves or hero graves can feel repetitive based on visual design, but they do try to spice things up like finding where levers are, but can also get tiring with navigation. When you think you've discovered them all, there's always something new to surprise you.

Bosses at first play were rough and I relied way too much on a summon or mimic tear because of how fast and heavy use of AOE they were. I'm still not good at this game, and I did use summons for some bosses like Morgott, Radahn, Godrick, and Mohg, but I'm glad I went through the game without mimic tears, as it felt like a satisfying experience in the end, My favorites to fight against would-be Malekith, Godfrey, Malenia, Niall, and Mohg. Malenia was someone I hated initially for her waterfowl and life steal but appreciated more when I understood more about her moveset and applied my own strategy that paid off in the end. Bosses in this game without summons are probably the most difficult as they feel faster, more aggressive, and use a lot of AOE attacks, but have windows of opportunity they offer for punishment as long as you aren't greedy, as some bosses are designed with the intent that you'll be overly aggressive. Bosses like these are what make you change up your strategy more often, as the game has a SHIT-TON of items all across for you to experiment with, and decide what's more fitting, like using Mohg's & Margit shackle or using a freezing pot to stop Malenia's waterfowl. To add to the exploration, the game does encourage a lot of it as you may find items you'll need or level up along the way. I can't say much for Radagon, Placidusax, and Elden Beast, because thanks to the DLC, I felt way over-leveled and OP for my build which I shredded them in 5 seconds, but Elden Beast having you use torrent for the fight makes the experience much better! Not only that, I'd say they're much MORE forgiving than previous Souls games, simply for having lots of respawn points next to them if you died.

Plenty of weapons to enjoy and experiment with for the build you want, as certain weapons allow you to customize with an ash of war and the type of upgrade whether it is strength, quality, bleed, etc. If you want to go pure strength to hit hard? Upgrade that hammer or greatsword to strength type for maximum damage. Lots of sorcery and incantations to go from with various types. Carian Sorcery, Golden Order, Blackflame, Frenzy, Dragon, etc, there are plenty of cool ones to play around with.

I find this game to have the most memorable NPCs such as Ranni, Milicent, Blaidd, Alexander, Sellen, and many others, with their questline experiences and listening to their dialogue. I recommend doing Ranni's first as there's a lot to do in that quest for her ending.

Onto some problems of mine, one of them would have to be jumping fall damage and how it is WAY off. You jump off a fairly high point with torrent, double jump to soften the landing, and yet it takes off half health when it didn't fall that high. Not only that, but Torrent in platforming areas is a pain in the ass to move. I find him way too slippery as he moves a couple of inches when slowing down or even trying to turn and I eventually fall to my death. Next, I do give praises to the bosses and some were personal skill issues of mine. However, bosses like Gargoyle duos for their hit-stun poison mist, Godskin-duo for constant attacks while trying to keep an eye on one of them, or the dragon fights except for Placidusax and Fortisax that have the same moveset with different powers, were ones I found grating.

Overall, I found this game to be great upon 2nd experience. but may be tough for 1st. DLC enhanced this as well, but I'll talk about it in another review. With the number of items given to you, especially a jump button as another way to dodge, I'd it's a great way to enter into the series, but be aware of boss fights.

100%PC

BEST SOULS EVER

100%PC

Got me back into the single player game craze
Utter perfection of a game

100%PlayStation 4

My Fav Videogame

80%PC

Story - 14/20

Characters / Enemies - 18/20

World - 19/20

Sound Design / Music - 20/20

Gameplay - 16/20

Rating - 87/100 (8.7/10)

95%PC

9/10 <3

100%PC

Já zerei algumas vezes, platinei no xbox, terminei a dlc e fiz quase tudo que o jogo tem pra oferecer. A cada vez que eu rejogo até o final eu acabo gostando cada vez mais do jogo.

90%PC

-93-
Insane game. I didn't know how awesome a From Soft open world game could be, specially for me who has not played many open worlds before: It was great. Sometimes the open world is a bit repetitive but for the first playthrough the exploration outdid the repetitiveness for sure. I mean, I enjoyed chalice dungeons in Bloodborne as well. So yeah. The score is fantastic, the gameplay the best Souls formula of From Soft yet, the main bosses are extremely epic and pretty difficult even for a souls veteran and I love how many weapons or playstyles are super viable (looking at the other souls-games here). Absolutely a must play. The numbers and fans speak for themselves.

95%PC

Hell of a good game. Atmosphere is great, story kind of weird, bossfights are phenomenal. If you know Fromsofts souls games you know what you are in for. Played the whole game as coop and it was real fun to play! Cannot add much to all the things that were already said about this game.

100%PlayStation 5

I am miles from the first and will be far from the last person to say this, but this game is an absolute masterpiece. It's development process must have been something to behold because there is a nigh upon ENDLESS amount of content in this game. Every. Single. Place you look, there is something new to find. I have no doubt I could replay this game 5 times and still discover new things. The gameplay is impeccable obviously, its a Fromsoft game. The story itself was nothing special, but the lore surrounding it is where my attention really was. This game has a lore so deep I don't know if I'll ever know it all. I will certainly try though. It's really got that Fromsoft touch where (to me) no boss EVER feels unfair, only challenging. Every time I died it felt like my fault rather than the game's. My one complaint is that the ending(s?) is very VERY anticlimactic compared to the insane ride that is the rest of the game. They also did that terrible design move where after beating the final boss you just spawn outside their arena, not having fought them. But it's very hard to make a compelling post-game even in the most optimal of mediums, which a Fromsoft game is definitely not. Overall though, just an undeniable masterpiece.

35%PC

One of the worst games I've ever played. An unbalanced piece of crap, terrible UI, absent story, poor loot, toxic community, and gameplay that forces the player to build a certain way. God forbid I try something that seems cool. Tried a paladin build and after 20 hours of playing got NO gear for it! Waste of time.

Want a good game go play Baldur's Gate 3.

80%PC

I've always wanted to get into the Soulsborne series and the highly anticipated release of "Elden Ring" seemed quite proper for doing so. Taking the formula into the open-world, "Elden Ring" is able to gain wider appeal while maintaining the developer's core values. It's quite reminiscent of older RPGs - cryptic, punishing, but also very rewarding and able to capture a genuine feeling of adventure. You start off in a fairly sizable area, slowly but surely revealing what is a vast map with incredibly distinct areas. It's all quite memorable and you might find yourself being able to backtrack everything, no matter how important fast travel is. There's almost no quest markers in Elden Ring, only vague hints that leave you to do one thing - get on your horse and explore.

The atmosphere is potent. Graphically, Elden Ring might not seem to do much as it was developed with the PS4/Xbox One in mind. However, the draw distance, foliage, and particle effects were all mesmerising to me. You can see the entire world from almost any point on the map, it never gets old. And on the artistic end, the use of colours gives everything a painting-like character. All this is enhanced by the wonderful ambience of the soundtrack.

The actual content of the game mostly revolves around finding different bosses and fighting them. There are also many questlines for the player to embark on. The actual progression of them isn't directly explained and it's up to you to figure out how to continue them, or to just stumble upon them as you're waltzing around. It's not as bad as it sounds, and it feels very rewarding to find these tidbits of storytelling among the beauty of the Lands Between. The characters are quite memorable and make the tale engaging, even when I couldn't grasp what was going on. Simple emotional moments feel earned and pack quite a punch.

With these previous points come some of my issues. A few questlines were indeed too convoluted to figure out, especially when some can completely change the ending. You will most likely consult an online guide at some point, or perhaps you'll stumble upon a message at the right time. Not that big of a problem to me still. The endings were underwhelming, though I like the vagueness of them. I just wish they were maybe a minute or two longer, the actual cutscenes themselves felt underdeveloped. And the bosses - they were quite mediocre overall. It's very fun for a while, but past a point, let's say near the endgame, the quality dips hard as the game runs out of creative boss battles and instead starts giving the more meaningful fights unfair movesets (AoE, delays, one-hit kills) or repeating the same damn bosses over and over. Most bosses really are just melee fighters with some ranged attacks, it gets old after you fight maybe the 80th one. ER is quite unbalanced and you might find your build either heavily under- or overpowered, the difficulty spikes are inconsistent. Worst of all, the final boss of the game is the worst - incredibly annoying battle. The combat is otherwise great and provides many ways to play, but the bosses don't take enough advantage of this. Quantity over quality unfortunately. As this is most of the game, the repetition sets in eventually. Many dungeons reuse assets and even whole patterns, though they have just enough differences to make them engaging to play through. But a numbness comes on at a point.

I love Elden Ring. It's a very memorable and unique gaming experience, but its issues all come forth in the endgame. A shame that it bothered me so much at the end because it was one of the best games I had played prior to that point. But I spent way too much time on it and I believe it wasted more of it than it should have. It's still an outstanding achievment in the open world RPG genre and I hope Fromsoft can iron out these problems should they continue in this direction.

100%Xbox Series X/S

dlc was great. this is my total playthrough of elden ring + shadow of the erdtree

100%PC

Неповторимое приключение.

UPD: дополнение оказалось на две головы выше оригинальной игры, это просто ахуй.

100%PC

has LOTS of flaws but makes up for it

95%PC

A incredibly detailed, open and vast world. Many varied dungeons that are fun, though they do reuse some bosses and designs. The adventure you set out on is really good from start to finish. Great gameplay with a unique art system with excellent bossfights. I love how many and how in-depth the questlines are.

95%PC

[SPOILER][/SPOILER]

All i can say really is wow, this game made me unbelievably mad and angry, but also had a rewarding aspect once you finally beat the boss. I have never played a FromSoft game before this and now can tell why this game and all their games are incredibly popular. However I am not sure when if ever I will play another. The next one I will play is Sekiro or bloodborne if I ever get a Playstation

Highlight was I beat Maliketh ( 2 hours, I freaking hated him) Godfrey (under 10 tries) Mohg (first try), Malania (under 10 tries), and the Elden Beast (took 2.5 hours) all in one day.

Also I need to watch a Youtube Video on all of the lore because I am still confused on the storyline

95%PlayStation 5

game of the year deseverd. All the bosses are peak and the game play dont get my started

100%PlayStation 5

Fantastic game. Once you finish elden ring, you will find a lot of other open world games that you played pale in comparison. It is that good.

100%PC

It's Elden Ring

95%PC

1st Playthrough - Ranni ( Claymore ) - Lv 174 - 99.56.51

100%PC

Incredible story. Incredible soundtracks.

100%PC

An elden ring review from someone whos never played soulsborne before

I was interested in elden ring for a while and when it Went on sale I bought it almost imediatelly, it's my first ever souls game and I've been loving it, the bosses are good and challenging, graphics are on my top 2 only losing to cyberpunk, the lore is so interesting that watching the first intro made me extremely hyped for the game, my only complain 10 hours in(yes I know that's little) is how the missions and Story are progressed, I was really confused at the start not knowing where to go or what to do, wish it had a Mission log like other games since it would make it 10000x better, but outside of that it's a 9/10 game(outside of the missions being confusing and needing yt guides it's a 10 on every other department) easily one of the best games that I've ever played and one of my favorites lore wise. Also the voice acting is so good, the british accent fits so well on the setting and the VAs did an incredible job at voicing the characters

100%PlayStation 5

Easily the best of miyazki and his studios works, all of fromsoftware's works coming together into this grand game. The best of the lot and one of the best experiences out with a beautifully crafted world with many challenges in different degrees of difficulty. One of the greatest games I have ever played.

90%PC

Fantastic game

95%PlayStation 5

100% deserved the GOTY reward it had received. I loved each and every inch of the game and was an enjoyable immersive experience.

100%PlayStation 4

After 80+ hours, I finally get to talk about Elden Ring, FromSoftware's first Open World game.
Unexpectedly enough, despite being FromSoftware's first Open World game, the open world in Elden Ring is... quite possibly the best open world I've seen in a videogame, and that's mind-blowing. Seriously though, Elden Ring's open world proves how talented the developers at FromSoftware are; it has an overwhelming amount of optional content and surprises, the map size is absolutely massive, the world design is fascinating and the sense of freedom & exploration is simply unmatched, however, it's not necessarily perfect; the catacombs are repetitive and some bosses are re-used multiple times.
On top of the open world though, Elden Ring features the Legacy Dungeons; big areas that follow the traditional, complex level design of Dark Souls.
The gameplay in Elden Ring is Dark Souls III's gameplay but much better in every way, and it has some additional mechanics to make things more accessible, even though the camera is still awkward at times.
The visuals are beautiful, the environments are breathtaking and the music is incredible.
Also, there's an endless amount of different weapons, spells and items for unique builds.
Lastly, while some bosses feel a bit unbalanced, most of the bosses are some of the most spectacular and challenging bosses I've ever seen in a videogame.

Pros:
+ Huge map filled with content
+ Engaging & rewarding exploration
+ Wonderful level design
+ Fun & diverse gameplay with accessible mechanics
+ Amazing visuals and music
+ Impressive bosses

Cons:
- Re-used content in some instances
- Flawed camera

Gameplay: 9/10
Content: 10/10
Music: 10/10
Graphics/Audio: 8/10

Final Rating: 10/10
- Masterpiece -
Elden Ring is the culmination and evolution of everything FromSoftware has done in the past 13 years, making it the ultimate Souls game yet.
With Elden Ring, the developers at FromSoftware have outdone themselves and managed to deliver their best work to date... and one of the best videogames I've ever played.

Do I recommend it?:
Elden Ring is a must-play, especially if you're a fan of Open World games.

70%PC

Elden Ring is a good game, but it falls short compared to the last Souls games released. It has too many repeated bosses, making it feel overly long and dragging at times. The last areas have almost no dungeons and very little content. The quests are impossible to follow without guides, and the game is very poorly optimized for PC.

100%PlayStation 4

MASSIVE game, constantly high quality, perfect combat, beautiful environments, incredibly in-depth lore, fantastic bosses and voicelines, nice soundtracks, VERY nice exploration and gameplay, etc.

80%PC

It was a good game. Not the best game of all time but I'd play it again in a year or two

100%PC

Imagine a Dark Souls game plus The Witcher 3, what do you get? This masterpiece. Miyazaki has proven once again that he can make a GOTY-worthy title. This is by far From Software's biggest and most ambitious game as of today. They have expanded their previous game mechanics into an open world with vast exploration and endless discovery that will have you losing track of time. Not only that, but it is also comparably easier than their previous titles, making it much more approachable for new players of this genre. Character designs, stories, world building, soundtracks, etc. are all great. There is only one problem that I've experienced while enjoying this masterpiece. It is the frame rate that stutters on specific areas or boss battles, but nonetheless, I've still completed the game and enjoyed it to the fullest. Definitely one of the best action RPGs and experiences I've ever had. Did the game make me rage? No... (f*ck you, Malenia)

85%PC

If you’re reading this, it’s too late; I snagged Elden Ring at a forty percent discount and promptly catapulted it to the forefront of my gaming backlog. While this title had been on my radar for a while, the price point was the only thing holding me back. I believe in supporting great developers who create fantastic games, but let’s face it, I’m also a thrifty gamer. Choosing Elden Ring as my first game to write about or play in 2024 might seem like a cop-out, but having invested a solid sixty-three hours over four days, I argue it’s a valid choice.

Before Elden Ring, the Souls games always intrigued me, and I dabbled here and there. However, the linearity of choice and limited freedom left me yearning for variety. Elden Ring was precisely what I wanted — a marvellous introduction to this captivating world.

First and foremost, I must touch on what has always impressed me: the art style is breathtaking. A blend of Imperial Roman art and hints of Catholic religious imagery adorn a world that could easily have been the setting for a J.R.R. Tolkien novel. Biomes seamlessly merge, sparking my imagination. While Souls games always looked visually pleasing from the outside, the ease of freely traversing the world in Elden Ring made this title instantly enjoyable. Memories from my childhood flooded back, reminiscent of the excitement and curiosity I felt when I first played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I found myself exploring extremely dangerous areas before even entering the first boss zone, a fact that became apparent when I breezed through the initial bosses. The game doesn’t penalize curiosity, but it’s abundantly clear that aggressive creatures, ghouls, and NPCs will.

Combat was straightforward to pick up, similar to past titles by the developers. However, I genuinely felt there were multiple viable ways to approach each fight, fueling my inner theory-crafting nerd. Fights were fair in difficulty and offered a healthy amount of variation, leaving me without any real complaints. Immersed in the world, I became engrossed in small side quests, characters, and the overall lore. While I enjoyed hours of independent content creators’ lore videos, I found myself wishing for easier in-game access to all the lore. Perhaps an in-game narration or an official source outside of the game could fill this gap, though I’m not certain if it already exists.

Overall, I can wholeheartedly recommend this title to anyone considering playing it. The hype that followed its launch was well-deserved. New Game Plus, a long-standing feature in the Souls games, ensures Elden Ring’s limitless replayability due to the myriad play styles and builds possible. Starting the year with this title not only put me in a great mood it also led me to dive into another game instantly.

90%Xbox Series X/S

test reviw

90%PlayStation 5

Long ago I was a high school lad who got into video games. There was one game back then that truly showed me what this media had to offer. Skyrim will always hold a special place in my heart as none other could replace what that game did to me. Except now. Elden Ring, while being a soulslike, feels more like Skyrim to me. A game that encourages exploration, rewards with combat, weapons that are truly fearsome, and enemies that test and elevate your skill as a gamer. Dark Souls III did that to me, but Elden Ring does it far better. I found myself playing the game everyday, paying little mind to progression and more to exploration. Doing all the side quests I could and finding weapons that really called to my playstyle. I was a dex player in DS3 but I used the Abyss Watchers' weapon which was an unique dex weap. I was determined to be a str player this time and I was until I got the Dark Moon Greatsword and role swapped completely to an int build with the Carian Specter and spells like Comet Azur and Meteorite of Astel and Founding Rain of Stars. I admit, the game was easier with these spells but it never felt unearned. Some bosses died quick, others did not. The game's last bosses and Malenia made sure to keep me in check and not just rely on magic and Moonlight Greatsword. And yet, with adrenaline pumping in my veins I type this out. This game could've been longer lol. If you follow just the main route of bosses, it's quite quick. And I give it a 9 due to the soulsborne playstyle as I'm not a fan of challenging games and yet both DS3 and Elden Ring have been extremely rewarding games to complete. I especially liked that there was an actual semblance of a story in this which is why it harks back to Skyrim for me. I'm so glad I beat this game.

100%Xbox Series X/S

First time playing a soulslike game. It was quite overwhelming at first but after a few hours of playing it completely clicked. Stormveil Castle in particular was a great first experience.

The different weapons, items, spirits, summons, enemies and bosses have made it an experience that you can experience 5 times in a completely different way.

Already looking forward to playing the DLC.

100%PC

10

2nd FromSoft game, played DS3 first
Overwhelmingly positive about the game with just a few minor issues

+ indepth RPG elements with vast build diversity, gameplay styles, weapon types, spells/incantations
+ open world traversal done right. fast and relatively responsive mount, not many little time-wasters littered across the map making you fear missing items or secrets, most points of interest are visible due to low foliage and relatively plains surfaces, verticality options available (double jump, air streams), graces well spaced,
+ intense moment to moment gameplay due to fromsoft's tried and true combat system made it really hard to feel bored even after long sessions, something that doesn't happen often for me; my near 70 hour playthrough felt like a 40 hour playthrough.
+ beautifully crafted and immersive world with incredibly deep lore and worldbuilding.
+ sense of scale with the massive erd tree, castles, mountains, structures done beautifully well.
+ large amount of replayability with character builds, ending paths, missed side content, etc.
+ online message system made the world feel less empty and lonely, and made for a lot of funny moments
- insane input delay + buffer, which is characteristic of fromsoft games and intentional design, but can still be frustrating with how extreme it feels at times
- final boss or bosses, were disappointing. felt anticlimactic. maybe a more intense cinematic to cap it all off would've been a more fitting of an end to such an epic journey and hard-fought journey.
- Radagon minor complaint, but this boss had a few moves with too similar of a startup animation, making the fight feel a bit bs at times. ex: he has 2 stomps where variation 1 needs to be dodged immediately and variation 2 needs to be dodged after a little delay; both moves will punish you for dodging for the other variation but it was hard to tell which one he was doing until it was already too late.
- most duo boss fights especially godskin duo feel cheap and poorly designed, slapping 2 bosses that don't feel designed to be fought 1 on 2