"Challenging but rewarding" seems to be a core design ethos of developers at FromSoftware, which has contributed to the popularity of dark fantasy action-RPGs like Dark Souls , Bloodborne , __ and now Elden Ring . In the Platonic ideal of a FromSoftware RPG, every open-world enemy, dungeon boss, collectible weapon, and collectible spell should be powerful and punishing, but still possible for any player to overcome with the right tactics and mastery of game mechanics. Elden Ring , large open-world game that it is, hasn't entirely perfected the formula established by Hidetaka Miyazaki's genre-defining Demon's Souls , but does seem to draw closer to perfection with each new software pa

The title also harbors a tight-knit community with a penchant for making jokes about anything and everything in The Lands Between, and these are some of the best memes concerning Elden Ring 's many bos

In the hands of Malenia, Blade of Miquella, who can be found in the optional Legacy Dungeon Miquella's Haligtree and is one of Elden Ring 's harder bosses , the Scarlet Aeonia is a terrifying attack capable of killing Tarnished player characters in one shot if they fail to dodge. In previous versions of Elden Ring , though, players only made use of the Scarlet Aeonia Incantation for dedicated Malenia cosplay builds. The start-up animation for the attack granted no bonus Poise, making it easy for attacking enemies to interrupt the spell, while the recovery animation for the spell was too long, leaving players trapped in one place. The 1.07 Patch addressed both these issues by adding Poise to the start-up, reducing recovery time and FP cost, and buffing the Elden Ring 's curable Scarlet Rot -inflicting Incantation's attack power, stamina attack power, Poise damage, and range all around. With these buffs, Elden Ring Maps Ring players gain access to a situational but dangerous late-game spells and a viable alternative to the Ekzykes' Decay/Rotten Breath Dragon Communion Incantations if they want to afflict enemies with the dreaded Scarlet Rot status eff

Instead of a simple wind-up and swing, Elden Ring bosses will wind up, feint, dodge, duck, and only swing at the least opportune time for the player. Margit, the Fell Omen is particularly guilty of this, and, as one of the first bosses new players are likely to encounter, he makes for a great "welcome to Elden Ring " mom

The Artorias of the Abyss DLC for the first Dark Souls brings players face-to-face with Artorias the Abysswalker, a noble knight of Gwyn who fought the dark horrors of the Abyss with his faithful wolf companion Sif. By the time the Dark Souls player character encounters Artorias, he has been corrupted by the Abyss and reduced to a mindless beast, lashing out at his enemies with feral leaps and howls; the various versions of the Artorias Greatsword players can acquire in Dark Souls and Dark Souls 3 let players mimic this once-noble knight's iconic somersault sword att

It's not a stretch to declare that __ Elden Ring brings "Soulslike" games to a culminating point, the Souls games pioneered by game designer Hidetaka Miyazaki in his genre-defining 2009 game Demon's Souls . Indeed, many of Elden Ring 's signature gameplay mechanics are refined versions of idea introduced in previous Souls games; the twin magic systems of Elden Ring - Glintstone Sorceries and Incantations - are directly inspired by the Sorceries and Miracles of Demon's Souls . The Armor Poise system of Elden Ring is a tweaked version of Poise from the first Dark Souls game, while Twinblade weapons and the "Power Stance" dual-wielding combat mechanic was taken directly from Dark Souls 2 . The mundane and magical skills attached to the many coolest weapons in Elden Ring are direct adaptations of the Weapon Arts introduced in Dark Souls 3 , while the Ash of War items Elden Ring players can collect allow them to customize the attack moves of their weapons in ways the original Dark Souls 3 didn't al

Of course, the age difference probably isn't the weirdest thing about this relationship, but To Catch A Predator 's Chris Hansen probably wouldn't agree. Known for the various Dateline stings in which he was involved, Reddit user u/Naksupro imagines that Hansen would have a few questions ready for Elden Ring 's odd o

Elden Ring has a total of 6 known endings. Four of these endings revolve around you becoming the Elden Lord, and the other two have much more significant impacts on the world. Some of the more complex endings to the game heavily rely on you to dive in and understand the lore and follow specific side que

One of the most enduring mysteries in the first Dark Souls game was the identity of Gwyn's First-Born, a god who was exiled by his own father and erased from the annals of history, the only evidence of his existence being the shattered statues found throughout the game world. In the Archdragon Peak area, __ players solve this mystery when they encounter Dark Souls 3 's Nameless King boss , an ancient god of war who once slew dragons for the glory of his father, then switched side to ally with the ancient dragons he once hunted. After defeating the Nameless King, player can acquire his signature Dragonslayer Swordspear weapon, which could call down a bolt of golden lightning from the heavens to smite f