This game had my friends and I go, “Did you find this item?” “How did you beat this boss?” Like we were back in the 80’s. Something I thought we would never get back in a post internet age.

Eldin Ring is one of the very few games I've purchased for $60 where I thought "this was worth every single cent, and I would have paid more."

As a lifelong Zelda fan - Elden Ring is the game I've been waiting for my entire life. Easily one of the greatest games ever made.

The variety in areas were jaw dropping. I thought Limgrave was the entire map at first. Boy I was wrong.

Props to this guy for taking 2 months to properly put out a review for this game. He actually played/streamed it, got his thoughts together and put out a review. Unlike every other channel that has to rush out a review to get them clicks. My respect for you continues to grow.

The greatest thing I can say about this game is the fact that so many people can play the same game.. and have such a large difference in experiences.. in terms of exploration.. dungeon finding.. item finding.. playstyle.. and love it. This game is truly From Software's masterpiece in terms of story.. level design.. and player experience.

This game made me feel like it was the 90s again, when RPGs were king. It's been my absolute favorite gaming experience in the past 10 years hands down. It's like sitting down to a big pizza with your best friends, but your best friends insist that you eat the whole pizza yourself

First time Souls club: I'm obsessed with this game. The vibe of the Souls series I was always attracted to, but the difficulty was a huge turn off. I'm 45, and not nearly as good as I used to be. I appreciate the design so much, because it rewards you at almost every turn. Too hard? Come back later. You explore a lot? Secrets abound. Getting frustrated? Co-op! I went from very hesitantly pressing a button for New Game, to "I can't wait to get to Malenia to test myself."

Favorite parts of the game: The CLEARLY planned vista locations where you get a good view of the area that is like walking into a painting. All the early-game teleports and the way the map zooms out over time. Everything about the underground areas. Every build feeling viable (most of the time). The late game caves/tombs still having interesting twists in design (teleporting chests, duplicate stacked areas, multiple bosses, etc.). Every dungeon having unique guaranteed rewards rather than just random drops, where even if it isn't useful to you, you know where it drops now and can plan for that on future runs. Ranni. Alexander. Millicent. Jar Bairn. Rya. Blaidd. Radahn's horse.

I can’t stop playing Elden Ring; so many adventures, the visuals, the music, bosses, weapons, the lore, etc. a gaming spectacle. Easily in my top 3 games of all-time.

Max is exactly the type of creator we need more of on this platform. He’s experienced, intelligent and well spoken. Thanks for the years of great content

I played this game for 140 hours during my first playthrough at launch. A year and some later, I still can't stop thinking about it, watching people play it, and feeling the urge to play it

I just defeated Rhadaan and the feeling was unlike any other. I still got tons of other bosses to beat, but I’m happy with what I accomplished so far.

You’re not alone Max, this game was nuts. The experience blew my expectations.

Great review. I'm on the same boat, where I think Bloodborne has things I personally find more appealing (the setting, the atmosphere, the overall horror/Lovecraftian overtones), Elden Ring is the better game, and one I enjoyed way more than I thought I did (and I was already anticipated this so much). It's now my favorite game of all time.

250 hours first playthrough. Took it slow, explored the shit out of the game and just enjoyed the ride. Now doing a strength build and already looking forward to doing other builds and challenge runs. It's insane. How the fuck did they put so much awesome stuff into this game. From Software must have the most talented people working for them, especially when it comes to music, world design, level design, enemy and character design and just game design in general. They just know how to make long lasting fun games and all that without micro transactions, predatory monetization systems or the usual bloat in many modern games that suck the soul out of what gaming is supposed to be. So glad we have devs like From Software and hope they create many more bangers like this in the future.

I remember watching max play soulcalibur when I was a teenager, and my dad getting upset max was swearing lol. Now I’m 29 and have a wife and 2 kids. And max has grey hairs In his beard and a kid. Life is crazy

The windmill village really caught my attention. Seeing the insane dancing lady’s and getting the godskin peeler weapon was truly amazing. I wasn’t expecting it to be that way. I love this game

This is my fist souls game and I'm absolutely blown away. The open world feels like a dungeon... by far the best level design I have played.

I personally felt a mix of joy and sadness when I was approaching the end of this game. I have rarely been so into any game, any adventure. I spent more than a 100 hours in my first playthrough, and the sheer discovery of everything made me so happy, getting to find new stuff, just wandering around and getting murdered by some random monster. Everything felt so fresh and exciting. Truly one of the best games I have ever played

There was a very special moment in this game.. a certain boss fight & the jaw dropping cutscene which followed after his death, that made me fall in love & become obsessed with not only him & his entire lore.... but with every single Elden boss, main boss, mini boss, regular enemies, main story characters, side characters, even the freaking spirit summons and their lore... the lore for all of the armour sets, weapons, talismans, ashes of war, incantations, spells.... I became infatuated... Possessed, with learning everything about everything that Elden Ring had to offer... All because FromSoft decided to be the brilliant passionate A-holes they are and make one of the most breathtaking boss fights I've ever experienced....... and that was Radahn... Everything from the entrance to his arena, the summoning of others for their assistance, charging towards him as he casts shadows with his arrows, his infamous 2nd phase disappearance and insane re-entrance, his wonderful horse Leonard... to finally, the realization of how unbelievably freaking powerful he came to be after seeing that he was holding back, even while being destroyed by the scarlet rot, the literal Stars.. Radahn easily became my favorite Soulborne boss of all time and one of my favorite characters in any game, ever 250+ hours in and still on my first playthrough.. I can't explain enough how much I love this game.. GOTY / GOTD

Never played a Souls game before, but after nearly 200 hrs finally finished my first playthrough. Still don't want to stop playing it and am continuing to explore - Not exaggerating, but this is probably my favourite game ever, and have been gaming since the Amiga 500+ era. I have Bloodbourne lined up to try next (free on PS + collection). Great review BTW!

I'm 41. Got into Souls with ds3. This game is absolutely amazing. Reminds me of older games. That didn't hold your hand. Plus I get sidetracked like a cat chasing a laser pointer.

Out of all of the games I've played, Elden Ring was the only one that made me regret finishing it. Everytime I jumped on, I literally did not want it to end. It got to that point that I just didn't want to reach the end, until I eventually did.

Elden Ring really is incredible! It blew me away at almost every step. The last time I ever had my jaw just hit the floor with awe and wonder while playing a game was with Nier: Automata and BioShock. I've put more time into Elden Ring then any other single player focused game and it's probably one of the top 3 games I've put the most amount of time into. I've got over 250+ hours into Elden Ring and I'm STILL discovering new stuff even on my third playthrough with thorough exploration. I think Elden Ring will be this generation's Ocarina Of Time. This is a generation-defining game that I think most other games in this console generation (or at least most other open world games of this gen) are going to be compared to.

I'm 200+ hours in my 1st playthrough and i still find things that surprise me. Every gamer should experience this phenomenon!

For me it is top 5 ever. Masterpiece. The world design alone deserves a whole award show.

This game goes BEYOND what i thought a game could provide, beyond what i thought a game could achieve , beyond what i thought about the limits of a game. This is a MASTERPIECE.

Took me 20 hours to finally get into it. So much shit to process. Having beat Godrick, I'm looking forward to the rest of it. First souls game btw

You know you have something special when you play a game till late night and still wake up in the morning early at an hour where you should feel exhausted or even hungry but you are full of energy and h no apatite because you are motivated to play the game.

this is probably one the games in your lifetime that you can say "I'm glad to be alive to play this game". this maybe exaggerated but you can never tell in this pandemic period.

I've never played any Souls game before. But I have got to say this, Elden Ring makes me feel like an excited child playing my first video game again. I mean c'mon, the free exploration of such MASSIVE map without it being spoonfeeding like most games does these days is a massive treat. Finding hidden stuff yourself, making mistakes and falling to death because you are trying to see if you are able to jump to a certain secret corner, is just pure magic. As tempting as it may sound to look at online guides these days, especially when accessing of information is SOOO easy nowadays with video tutorial on youtube, trust me, just play the damn game and explore the world and figure it out yourself. It is just too damn rewarding.

No joke when I say this, a game hasn’t given me such an unforgettable experience ever since bloodborne. Some have almost come close, but fromsoft has knocked it out of not only the park, but the whole orbit. This game was just a masterpiece through and through, holy shit. My GOTY and it isn’t even close

When the game first came out it was cool to give it a perfect score, then about two to three weeks after it was cool to utterly dunk on it. Now we are a couple months after release, these are the reviews that are actually useful and properly informed. Thanks for a great vid and review. Over 200 hours in, finished the main quest now I'm collecting items I missed and I still love this world.

12:06 THIS, exactly his. I was gonna comment the same thing. This game not only is absolutely amazing, it shows you can have a successful hit game without all that industry bullshit that so many companies are going for, no mtx, no live service, no online only, just pure classic gaming fun. It really feels like a 90s game but made with modern standards, it even has the same feeling of finidng secrets and word of mouth stuff like "yo dude, did you find this in your playthrough?". And to top it even more, the physical release is a good one too, the game is fully on disc (PS4,PS5) and you can complete the game without ever going online, that means the game is preserved forever, it essentialy funcitons just as good as any old school physical game. (In fact, all FromSoft physical releases are good ones) Its what makes them so good, they represent the classic videogame philosophy in the modern industry.

From beating Kings Field 2 when it came out, to playing Armor Core when it came out, and playing all the souls series, its amazing to see this progression from Fromsoft and they deserve all the accolades.

This game was one of the best journeys I’ve had in gaming ever. Probably THE best. The amount of jaw dropping moments is unmatched imo.

I have legit platinum / 100% achievements Elden Ring 4 times. And am STILL playing it. Game is an all time great piece of medium, without a doubt.

Finished this game after 150 + hours. Loved it. Finally feeling confident enough to jump into the other From Software games (starting with DSR) and other souls-like games.

The amount of times my jaw dropped while playing this game….. we really have been given something special here.

I’m nowhere near the end of the game but excited to hear what Max has to say about it!

The atmosphere of the Haligtree combined with its lore and environmental storytelling if you're aware of it is striking. You can see how beautiful and grand its structures are and deduce how even more beautiful it was in the past when it wasn't decaying with his sister's plague that Miquella tried so hard to cure.

This is one of those very few games that legitimately got me to lean back in my chair after I beat the final boss and say: “…I just played through one of the greatest games ever made.” And then pick up my controller and play some more. It’s *that* damn good.

I discovered Max through Elden Ring. Watched his entire 140 hours long playthrough and loved every second of it. Especially those 7+ hours he spent on Malenia.

This game truly is the best game I ever played in my life. It was my first FromSoft game and I fell in love with it, completely dropped every other game and BRs I was playing for 2-3 months just to play elden ring. The one thing I truly hate is that I will never get to experience this game for the first time again.

Never played a souls game. I was scared of them.... I'm actually a grandma gamer now lol. So weird to think about. I tried DS1 once or twice but never made it far. Then Elden Ring. I now have over400 hrs on 5 playthroughs and I haven't even finished one of them. Though I will for sure. 2 on seamless co-op and 1 on convergence with seamless. My main in the vanilla, I'm working on collecting everything on that one. I 've watched countless hours of lore videos and many many other ppls playthroughs. I love this game. I love others as well, but there is a special place in my heart for ER. I don't know if FS can duplicate this, make it as good in say an ER2 if they franchised this. I'm not sure I want them to. But I am patiently awaiting the DLC.

I was able to get My dad and my best friend to play this game. Neither have which have played a game like this in their entire lives. My dad even quit trying to do the first boss in DS3 lol But now playing this they’re having the time of their lives, and that’s something I’ll always hold this game in high regard for years to come! GOTY? Nay! Game of the Decade!!

i think the main fact why this game is so freaking amazing is that for its price you get a complete game with no bullshit from the devs. thats what makes it the greatest.

Max are you going to do a tier list for all the main bosses including their lore, moves, battle arena, design, visuals and etc.

This Game is truly one of the greatest ever. It brought me back into the wonderment and mystery and magic of playing Videogames as a child.

Your review on the game was immaculate its honestly crazy. You really took your time with it and we appreciate that.

While it's not a perfect game it's easily one of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had. I was blown away at the scope

I just got to Radagon this evening. Despite some of the frame issues, and how some of the endgame bosses act, this is my GOTY and it deserves every official award it could get. An absolute gem of this generation!

Like so many others have expressed, this one gave me that feeling of being awed and in wonder, the excitement of a real adventure where the stakes were high and the world truly open and free.

Great review never heard about this channel before but you have a lot of charisma +1 sub

I just finished the game after 135 hours, I got the platinum and I can't stop thinking about it or playing it. And I agree with you Max, I still liked Bloodborne more, I feel like the music in the Bloodborne bosses was better and the setting and environment spoke more to me. That being said, Elden Ring is my 2nd favorite game of all time, after Bloodborne. These are the only two games I have platinum, in my 28 years of gaming.

I’m a full time dad and husband. Full time job. This game transformed me into a full time gamer for two months straight. It’s the best video game I’ve ever played. It even topped all gears of war halos elder scrolls Metroid primes and even some Zelda’s that I’ve played.

135 hours in and only recently got up to the Mountains. Such an awesome experience. As soon as I'm done with my first (generally) blind playthrough I'm restarting and following Fightin Cowboys huge walk-through.

In retrospect, the fact that I no-life’d the game for literally months after release is a huge tell to the quality of game Fromsoftware created. 10/10, will go down in history as one of the greatest games ever made.

A someone who's a massive Soulsborne fan since the days of demon's souls, while Bloodborne is my favorite due to the nightmarish lore, world, and gameplay, elden ring is simply the culmination of what From Software has been doing. What i love about the series is how much *escalation* the games have been building since demon's souls that elden ring is so good it is quite amazing to discover new and very dangerous territories but you simply don't care, you're in awe of an area you never expected to find and it is an amazing experience. This is a open world that truly *FEELS* like a open world!!!! The humongous world, the gameplay, the bosses, it's beyond amazing!!!! From Software should be commended for their efforts in creating in my opinion, a masterclass game and my game of the year!!!!

For me what mainly makes a game stand out is- gameplay, bosses, exploration, lore, a game that pushes and challenges me. Elden Ring is amazing in all regards it offers a lot of freedom and ways to play, and it's a good, accessible starting point for FromSoft Soulsborne games. The map, environment, enemies, bosses and combat mechanics are top notch. There are some issues ranging from some bad level designs and bad boss designs. I do feel there could have been a better way to approach the story to make it more engaging, especially with the characters and questlines. That Aside, I'm glad Elden Ring is getting all the recognition, I feel like it's FromSoft's best game to date, and I value everyone very highly. It will be hard to dethrone Elden Ring as the most likely contender for GOTY. 12 million in less than a month, the chances are really high.

Well, this is great to hear. As a fan of the Soulsbourne games, I was becoming concerned with the all the comments, videos, and forums about people getting bored once they hit a certain point. Most complaints were around seeing the same enemies and dungeons over and over, too much effort for minimal rewards, the game being too spread out and full of nothing but empty space, no visible story for motivation, and quality going downhill after Limgrave. Curious what people here think, as I've been interested in playing this since first hearing about it way back when.

Part ways through my first play through, I started a new one to play in tandem due to the influx of build ideas flooding my mind. This game even has me note taking similar to how I use to navigate the original Zelda. The highest praise I could give Elden Ring is that I never want this feeling to end.

This is my first Souls game, I've been exploring any and everything.. Everytime I get to a new area I'm just looking for all the secrets and killing all the enemies. Almost 200 hours in and still haven't beat the game 😂 I'm not struggling or anything like that, I'm just exploring and doing quests of people I saw earlier in the game... Finished Ranni and others quest but rn I'm doing Milicent, Brother Corryhn and Diallos quests.. Im a level 150 at Flame Peak so I think I have Malenia and Radagon and a couple other bosses left.. Cant wait 10/10

I feel like the lore helps a lot. With the help of an actual writer George R R Martin. Now imagine what we could’ve gotten with Kojima AND Guillermo del Toro.

It was recommended to me that I play this, even though I had my eye on it I was still unsure. Now I have recorded like 200 videos and not sure I have the patience to upload them haha. Too busy playing the game!

Couldn't agree more. This game is a remarkable feat. I managed to put 300 HOURS into my first playthrough of the game, haha.

I’m on a second playthrough on NG+ and I’m still finding things for the first time

I think this game is so incredible that after it came out other devs working on open world games were like oh fuck why are we even trying, I guarantee you games got scrapped because of how insane this game is

This is the first video I watched of you with out muting your voice. This is good work!

I completely agree. I never got into any Fromsoftware games, but got obsessed with Elden Ring and cannot get enough of it. Great review Max.

Late to the party but Elden ring was the best financial decision I’ve made in my gaming career

I couldn't agree more. I too prefer Bloodborne over Elden Ring even if I found ER better on every aspects on a game point of view. But Bloodborne has an intoxicating charm that I can't get enough of... the unsettling ambiance, the gloomy music, the lore

In my opinion, I think companies need to learn from Elden Ring and adopt some of the philosophies that were put into it’s free roam map. Especially gaming companies that have such dull free roam games. Like Ubisoft, for example, has such lackluster free roam these days. The worlds are uninteresting, there isn’t any real reason to explore because all of the items you want are marked on the map, and it all just feels like a giant boring field. Elden Ring gives you a reason to explore because nothin is marked on the map for you. You HAVE to look around every nook and cranny in order to get the most out of the free roam aspect of Elden Ring and there is so much variety contained within the map of Elden Ring. You can go from grassy hills to giant lakes and go from volcanos to icy mountain tops. The game is just extremely polished.

I recommended this to my dad, knowing that he hates the Souls series, and he's now been playing it for over 300 hours and loves it. This game does hit different for a lot of people that otherwise don't care for the previous games in FromSoft's library.

My first playthrough was something like 120 hours, conquering every part of the world, every dungeon, catacomb, cave, boss, and side quest. And I'm eager to do it all over again playing with a completely different character build. Not many games could you say that about.

The story of this one definitely stuck out the most compared to others from fromsoft. Not sure if its because of that GRR Martin factor or if the the lore relating to all the bosses and their insane family tree is just that interesting to where you're addicted to learning more about it.

In the UK in the 80s there was a show called "Nightmare" for kids..this game made me feel like a kid again..the Haligtree..the big meteor boss after an airlift.. volcano Manor.. all stumbled upon..all because of curiosity.. as a 1st time FromSoft game for me I loved it..dlc cannot come soon enough

Love your review on the game. I can tell you really went on a journey and came back to tell us all .

in a world where every western game developers puts a fucking battle pass in their games and fromsoftware just puts this tale of epic proportions out in the open. the story, the music, the atmosphere all work hand in hand together. its a masterpiece

I'm so happy that games are still coming out that are going to be considered the greatest games ever made, even decades from now. I hear some people say that great games are dying out, but I fully disagree. Yeah, some AAA games are just the equivalent of McDonald's in that they serve their function, are good enough, but aren't really fulfilling, and micro-transactions are a problem, but still, it really is the best time to be a gamer because there are SO MANY damn games out there, some of my favorites are very rarely talked about, you just kinda have to dig around. That being said, some of the biggest absolute bangers like Elden Ring still come out and really remind me why I love gaming so much and it's great that games like this become massive because it's so fun to talk about when everyone is into it.

I don't own this game. I have watched Max play from his Twitch uploads here on KZfaq, even though I have seen him on Twitch recently. I think his critique of the game is quite accurate when he says that it's hard to believe this product was produced in the current 'state' of the game industry. I'm also glad that this game does exist because, as he says, every now and then a game is created that sets a new standard and really raises the bar. To his other point, in the spirit of raising the bar, Elden Ring is a game, in my opinion, that is worth $80 to $100. This is what a Magnum Opus of fantasy games looks like. I get pissed when companies charge a higher price for a product that is nowhere near what this game offers up in terms of gameplay immersion. This is what 'getting your money's worth' looks like--and it's been a long time since many of us have gotten our money's worth in some of the games we buy. So, let From Software enjoy the accolades to come as well as the financial success from creating this marvelous game because they have definitely earned it.

I hope game developers use this as a template for the future for open world games. The reward for exploration was such a massive surprise for me. Coming across a town afflicted with the frenzy and then finding out what happened by collecting a shield... just so... subtle. And the subtlety and nuance makes it so, so, so cool. No markers, no cutscenes, just storytelling through discovery

Every single second of this game was an incredible experience, when i reached the 100+ hours mark (not even at the haligtree yet) I started to plan my next build

First souls game of my life. One of the best games of my life - 140+ hours in and I'm not done yet. And when I'm eventually done, I'll definetly do a NG+ with a different build. Fantastic experience so far.

Died like 10 times to Radhan during my first playthrough. Now I can kill him easily and block all his massive attacks with the fingerprint stone shield. Such a great feeling.

I agree! I've never been so immersed in a game. The lore digging is super fun, the map is incredibly beautiful and well designed and it keeps you in the challenging zone. I don't think I can go back to a ubi type open world now. I hope there's more content coming!

This game is so big that when it came out it took the Wiki guys and youtubers weeks and months to create a complete guide of this game. This gave us the fans on day one that feeling off discovery instead of looking up every single thing online.

I have never played a Souls game and this was my first. I've since gone back and started playing Dark Souls, this game completely shocked me and I agree this is one of the Greatest achievements in gaming.

This has definitely entered my top 3 games of all time: 1 - Final Fantasy VII (1997) 2 - Breath of The Wild (2017) 3 - Elden Ring

A straight up genuine review and great insight as always. This is why you’re the goat

The level design is absolutely teasing isn't it. You step out into that open world for the first time and you can see the castle where you'd ultimately fight your first main boss in the distance. You can cut out the majority of the game if you wanted, but you don't want to. That exploration and curiosity just grabs you

I’m already preparing myself to play this game. If everything goes well, I’m going to start the journey next week. If Max only gives it just praise to this game, I think I’m going to have a unique adventure…

This game is the reason why I bought my very 1st console! I saw the trailer two years ago, I saw two great writers being involved & I said to myself “time to get back to gaming!” Tbh I cried playing this game cause it an amazing game and I still haven’t finished the game yet!

Never touched or even looked at a souls game before this, I was so lost with so little to direct me anywhere and I just kept going in directions anywhere and slowly crawled my way up groups of enemies until I hit the Margit wall and I couldn’t stop myself from running back into this wall over and over and just became addicted to the fight until it was over and realize just how much more is waiting beyond this first area. I fell in love.

I just love how complex the level design is, many areas feel like a level in linear action games like God of War. It's that detailed, I have never seen anything like that in an open world game,.

Great review! You nailed a lot of my sentiments as well! Elden Ring will go down, like you said, as probably the masterpiece game of the decade. The two areas where Bloodborne outshines Elden Ring, IMO, are the combat and overall art direction. Bloodborne's claustrophobic level designs FORCE you to fight aggressively and study your enemies movements. There are no "easy" options for fights. You either learn and improve or you die. And the cohesiveness and detail of the cosmic horror art direction style is insane. Mind-blowing that one man, Miyazaki, gave us Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring!

I really hope you do the dlc when it comes out, I really enjoy watching your souls playthroughs Max

Looking big mate, good to see the gym paying off

Among all game devs, fromsoft is truly goated for having almost always created quality games