IGN’s Best Game of 2022

After 13 years of iterating on the “Souls” series and decades more in the wider gamut of game development, renowned Japanese studio FromSoftware did something that seemed tougher than even the most brutal Dark Souls boss fight: it created a global smash hit, all while continuing to cater to hardcore fans and expertly evolve the often imitated, never replicated formula it’s best known for. Elden Ring is a monumental achievement in video games, a sprawling, endlessly rewarding masterclass in open-world game design where grand vistas and towering cities feel as paramount to the experience as the intimate conflicts that happen within them. At the heart of it all is you, the player, exploring a gorgeous and intriguing but also arduous, punishing world that pushes back hard. You’ll die a lot – in brutal and seemingly unconquerable ways – to brutes and beasts and environmental perils, but you’ll never feel alone. You’ve got a near endless combination of weapons, spells, armor sets, and even human players to s