I started playing with my friends at launch but we quickly lost interest in the game which weird because all of us are big soulsborne fans.
However I recently found myself bored during quarantine and tried it again and was shocked.
Now I don't get why we dropped the game. I played trough it three times now and got one of my mates to finish it as well.
I believe what turned us off the first time was the open world aspect but now it is one of the strongest points in my opinion.
I particularly enjoyed the bosses in the later half of the game, when **** really starts picking up.
I get that some people are annoyed at the amount of recycled bosses and areas, and I get it. But I also dont mind it, as it makes sense in the context of the world of Elden Ring.
The music is awesome, the amount of variety is great and the combat system is once again top notch.
I gotta admit however that the PvP (Which was the most enjoyable thing in past souls games to me) is really not my cup of tea. The netcode is bad to a point where some weapons are almost unusable in PvP (I played with rogiers rapier for almost the entire game but its not made for PvP)
The open world and the fact that torrent becomes unavailable in PvP means people can hide in almost unreachable places, which makes Invasions incredibly frustrating and a few more minor issues stopped me from PvPing altogether.
However overall it is one of the best games Fromsoft ever made and an absolute recommendation from me. Especially to people who are new to Fromsoft games, as I found it very beginner friendly.
Crafting seemed useless to me at first but proved to come in handy from time to time. Plus the fact that there are crafting materials everywhere made exploring the world feel more rewarding.
Its definitely game of the year contender and one of the best single-player games of all time.