Mark Serrels is an award-winning Senior Editorial Director focused on all things culture. He covers TV, movies, anime, video games and whatever weird things are happening on the internet. He especially likes to write about the hardships of being a parent in the age of memes, Minecraft and Fortnite. Definitely don't follow him on Twitter.
For the last couple of months, I've been trying to figure out why everyone currently drawing breath in this cursed earthly realm can't stop playing, or talking about, Elden Ring .
Popularity was to be expected: FromSoftware has released a number of hit titles. Dark Souls and Bloodborne have deservedly reached millions of players. But Elden Ring's level of success has put the famed developer into a whole other stratosphere.
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FromSoftware's last game, the highly rated, super popular Sekiro, took a year to shift 5 million copies. Bloodborne, a PlayStation 4 exclusive, sold around 3 million copies over its lifespan. FromSoftware's most successful release, Dark Souls 3, took around four years to sell 10 million copies.
. Elden Ring is matching pace with GTA V, a video game that's sold 160 million copies to date. When you consider what Elden Ring is -- a niche, system-rich RPG so obstinate it literally hides its tutorial from players -- the level of popularity is ludicrous. Elden Ring isn't a watered-down product aimed at the broadest popular audience. It's not Avengers Endgame. It's like a David Lynch movie somehow pulling in a billion dollars at the box office.
Could have seen this coming. Literally no one could have predicted that Elden Ring could hit these giddy heights. It's my job to anticipate trends like these, and with Elden Ring I was a mile off. Without disclosing numbers, no game has come close to generating the interest and traffic Elden Ring has post launch -- at least in my time at . It's unprecedented.
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Is it the pandemic? We've gotten used to attributing COVID-19 as a factor in any and all emerging cultural trends. That said, video game sales
But, no. Plenty of video games have been released during the pandemic -- major titles -- but none besides maybe Animal Crossing has come close to affecting the cultural conversation like Elden Ring. Its level of success is singular. And what makes it stand out is the surprise element. We didn't see this coming.
It feels like a confluence of multiple factors. Elden Ring was blessed with the presence of Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin -- he helped with the lore and universe building early in development. Surely, his name on the poster helped weave the game into the broader consciousness. The reviews, when they came, potentially had a higher impact. From the outset Elden Ring was a universally adored video game with a critical reception comparable to legendary games like Breath of the Wild or Skyrim. Almost instantly, Elden Ring was described as a video game experience you couldn't afford to miss.
A Beginner's Guide To Elden Ring: What It Is And Why You Should Play It
But if I had to ascribe Elden Ring's success to one single metric, I'd say word of mouth. The numbers back me up here. A light survey done by GameIndustry.biz found that 40% of people bought the game after a friend recommended it.
I suspect Elden Ring inspires a different kind of recommendation in its fan base. Elden Ring isn't just a very good video game that's fun to play, it's a game that binds itself to your identity like a parasite. You don't just consume Elden Ring as a passive distraction from the humdrum of everyday life -- you consume Elden Ring because it says something about you as a human being: You like challenges, you don't give up, you like acquiring new skills, you are [gasp] good at video games. To be clear: This is not a good thing. It's gatekeeping, but it's gatekeeping that has inspired a different kind of recommendation from its player base.
With Elden Ring, that cultish devotion has gone viral on a level previously unheard of. The reviews were so strong, the game of such a high quality, that literally everyone in that core FromSoftware cult (including myself) is screaming from the rooftops about it. This isn't just another FromSoftware game, it's the culmination of decades of trust built up in a broadening fan base that has made
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Will those introduced to the Elden Ring cult stick around for the games that come after? My instincts say yes. Partly because, in its own unique way, Elden Ring is more accessible than previous FromSoftware games. The open-world structure makes its roadblocks less painful. If you're stuck at a boss, you can simply go elsewhere and come back stronger, leveled up with better gear.
Elden Ring is also uniquely built to suit multiple different play styles. If your reflexes aren't built for endless dodge-rolling, simply create a magic-focused build and obliterate enemies from a distance. For all the online talk of difficulty and git gud culture, Elden Ring actually caters to a broad spectrum of players.
Somehow Elden Ring has become the most popular video game in the world by compromising in ways that are near invisible to its core audience.
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Thing! The trend in almost all forms of expensively produced entertainment -- be it video games or movies -- is risk management. In cinema, that usually means endless superhero movies and retreads of existing IP. In video games we have the monogame. Big-budget titles have become almost indistinguishable from one another in terms of the systems that make them tick. Open world, crafting, leveling up, combat trees. Button presses do the same things, and big-budget gaming has smelted itself down into a boring, homogenized mess.
Elden Ring is popular, but it has become popular by refining its core promise, by doing something completely different from its competitive set. That's very cool. In fact, it completely rules.TikToks. Since the game launched last week, most of them agree that it’s beautiful, detailed, and absorbing, but intimidating for newcomers. While critics seem to concur that it will stand as one of the best video games of the year, we’d also suggest that
Isn’t for everyone, exactly. People looking to zone out or relax can move right past this one, and so can those who don’t have the patience to deal with repeated failure in a game. Beyond that, deciding if
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Is available on Steam for PC, but based on early reports of poor performance and a good number of bugs, PC players may want to hold off until additional patches are released.
, if you’ve played those, but drawn by Frank Frazetta or Zdzisław Beksiński. This world is filled with strange animals and creatures that want to kill you, goofy non-player characters who drop enigmatic info about the fragments of the Elden Ring, and an abundance of cryptic secrets in the environment. The game leaves the decision to engage with its story up to you.
Is all about finding interesting loot—you’ll encounter a variety of fantasy weapons, including scythes, katanas, maces, whips, bows, crossbows, and more—and coming across strange puzzles and characters. Then, if those puzzles and characters don’t kill you, you have to figure out what the heck their deal is.
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Also introduces a magical horse, which makes exploration far more enjoyable than in other Soulslike games not only because your horse can double-jump but also because you can easily run away from danger.
If you play video games to relax and zone out, or if you don’t have a lot of time to play and you tend to dip in and out of games, we feel pretty comfortable telling you to pass on
The game asks you to remember what you’re doing if you don’t want to die constantly, so it tends to be more enjoyable if you can stay tuned in, recall details or make notes about details, and keep track of your own progress. That said, compared with its predecessors, it’s still a better point of entry for people who’ve been curious about this genre. Consider whether any of the following descriptions sound like you when you play video games:
Elden Ring, The Year's Best Video Game, Will Take You 100s Of Hours
If you’re still unsure but don’t want to spend $60, Dark Souls: Remastered is often less than $20 and is as good a place to start as any.
If the world, gameplay, and challenge all sound good, but you’re still put off by the difficulty, you can find plenty of resources out there, and I think you can find ways to enjoy the game by utilizing them. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of the community forming around the game.
If you’ve never played any of FromSoftware’s games, this beginner video from VaatiVidya walks you through the basics of combat all the way up to what specific items in the early parts of the game are and how to get them. Then, check out Polygon’s guide to the stats and starting-class choice. Once you start playing, GameSpot has a useful video guide (and text, if you prefer) for where to go at the start of the game if you’re feeling overwhelmed.
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Information. One page to bookmark is the game progress route page, which will help
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