Recent reviews by Woffie^^

As a seasoned DS player I've given the game a fair amount of time, and also went into the experience with positive anticipation.

I've played worse games, even in the DS series, but I still can't recommend this game as it is now.

The negative elements I've stumbled upon so far are:

* Inconsistency of perforrmance and graphic issues where models sporadically render or do not render.
Dying because the game needs a breather and cuts your controller, because an invisible enemy struck you from nowhere, or fps drops that lock your controller settings and send you over a cliff is exactly the opposite of what the game should be about. Any fan of the franchise always took pride in surviving or dying by their own skills and shortcomings, and having the game randomly decide if you succeed or fail is just disheartening.

* A big beautiful world without enough content.
Enemies and their models are constantly used over and over again, and seldom are they changed in any other way than their apparent stats, that is, tanking more damage and hitting harder. So, I'll keep fighting the same enemies again, and again, and again. More often than not I find myself just running through areas because the fights are unfulfilling.

* Mini bosses or cave bosses.
A nice flavor touch in the beginning, until the rinse and repeat formula kicks in again after a short while. Enter a cave, pull a lever, fight an insignificant boss. The layouts are repetetive, enemies only annoying instead of challenging, and finally something akin to a boss that you usually beat during your first attempt. If you make a designated area for the player to explore, is it too much to ask to put relevant content inside?

* Artificial difficulty.
Too often is the difficulty level measured from only the amount of enemies you're fighting. This was abysmal in DS2, and can be noted in many places here too. Strategically placed enemies designed to trigger all at once is not challenging, it's only annoying.

* Damage frames.
I cut down a golem with a charge attack, make a critical hit, and then for some reason I can't inflict any damage for several seconds because it's in the process of standing up? Meanwhile, at any time where I have two or more enemies attacking me from anywhere, I'm immediately in the risk zone of getting stun locked and eaten alive. Sometimes I can be hit while on the ground, and sometimes I can't. Scripted enemies can sometimes remain immune to touch for an unreasonably long time. It's clear that the game does not support aggressive players, and maybe that's for Bloodborne, but ignoring what should be hits without consistency is frustrating rather than inspiring you to improve as a player.

* Multiplayer that doesn't exist.
With roughly 100 attempts, several tries to tweak everything that could be even remotely connected using every guide we could stumble upon, and ultimately sitting there with a few hours wasted and no cooperative game in sight I feel confident to call this one of the worst online experiences ever. Also, whenever you get invaded, the same puke worthy model latencies from the previous games persists. Give me a damned filter where I can specify the minimum connection quality to anyone invading my world. As it is now, half of the time I just let go of the controller or jump off a cliff to get it over with, because their models don't represent their actual position.

* Messages from other worlds.
At one point, maybe, this was a positive feature. Now, with shiny markers EVERYWHERE, picking up items, using ladders, recovering runes, closing information or conversation windows becomes clunkier and less precise. The content of these messages are also completely worthless and annoying, and bring me only irritation and a hate for the community that is part of ruining my experience. For the love of God, give me an option to turn these messages off, or I'll never connect to your servers again as it's impossible to play with my friends anyway. "I did it!!!", "Hidden path ahead", "liar ahead", "ladder", etc, etc. Why am I forced to take part of that retarded, uninspiring ♥♥♥♥?

In conclusion:
Elden Ring is not particularly fun. This is both due to the game mechanics and performance itself, but also how I'm forced to participate in a social experiment designed to entertain only those appreciating repetetive non content.
You are rewarded when you use ranged attacks and magic, and when you kite enemies to take them out one by one, while you're severely punished for seeking out action and trying other strategies.
It's also too easy to wander around and clearing areas in a non linear fashion, which could have been very good, but instead this mess up the rythm of fighting bosses in something even similar to a difficulty progression and so far the amount of bosses I've beaten on the first try is higher than those I haven't.

So, annoying and time consuming rather than challenging and skill rewarding.

Do not recommend.