Bandai Namco Elden Ring

Elden Ring is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware. It was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding provided by American fantasy writer George R. R. Martin. It was published for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on February 25 in Japan by FromSoftware and internationally by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Players control a customizable player character on a quest to repair the Elden Ring and become the new Elden Lord.

Elden Ring is presented through a third-person perspective with players freely roaming its open world. The six main areas are traversed using the player character's steed Torrent as the primary mode of travel. Linear, hidden dungeons can be explored to find useful items. Players can use several types of weapons and magic spells, including non-direct engagement enabled by stealth mechanics. Throughout the game's world, checkpoints enable fast travel and allow players to improve their attributes using an in-game currency called runes. Elden Ring features an online multiplayer mode in which players join through cooperative play to fight bosses or engage in player versus player combat.

FromSoftware wanted to create an open-world game based on Dark Souls. Miyazaki admired Martin's previous work and hoped that his contributions would produce a more accessible narrative than those of the company's earlier games. Martin was given unrestricted freedom to design the backstory, while Miyazaki was lead writer for the in-game narrative. The developers concentrated on environmental scale, role-playing, and the story; the scale required the construction of several structures inside the open world.

Elden Ring has been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time, with praise directed towards its open world, gameplay systems, and setting, despite some criticism for its technical performance. It won several Game of the Year awards and sold 25 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games of all time. The downloadable content, "Shadow of the Erdtree", was released in June 2024.