Throughout the game's world, checkpoints enable fast travel and allow players to improve their attributes using an in-game currency called runes.

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.

[1] The open world is explored using the character's mount Torrent as the main mode of transportation, though players may use fast travel outside combat.

[2][3] Aside from the main areas, Elden Ring has hidden dungeons, catacombs, tunnels, and caves where players can fight bosses and gather helpful items.

[11][12] Checkpoints called sites of grace are located throughout the game; in these places, characters can increase the power of their attributes, change memorized spells, swap ashes of war, or walk to using fast travel.

Crafted items include poison darts, exploding pots, and consumables that temporarily increase the player's combat strength.

Spirits can only be summoned near structures called Rebirth Monuments, which are primarily found in large areas and inside boss fight arenas.

She then formed a religion called the Golden Order alongside a consort, the Elden Lord; two held this title: Godfrey, a barbarian warlord who was later banished for unknown reasons; and Radagon, Marika's male alter-ego.

Finally, she removed the Rune of Death from the Elden Ring and entrusted it to her bodyguard, Maliketh, causing the deceased not to pass on but to be reborn through the Erdtree instead.

However, the Golden Order also persecuted certain races: the Omens, people born with horns growing all over their bodies, and Tarnished, Godfrey's warriors who were stripped of grace and banished alongside their leader.

These demi-gods are Morgott, an Omen loyal to the Golden Order despite facing discrimination; Mohg, Morgott's twin who wishes to form his own dynasty under a different outer god; Radahn, a warrior general who went feral after being afflicted by the Scarlet Rot disease; Rykard, a former praetor who merged with a giant serpent god; Ranni, a witch seeking to overthrow the Greater Will who orchestrated Godwyn's death; Miquella, a charming mystic cursed with eternal youth; Malenia, Miquella's twin and knightess who is the progenitor of Scarlet Rot; Godrick, a distant relative who grafts his subjects' body parts onto himself; and Rennala, Radagon's ex-wife and queen of the Liurnia region.

Those summoned include Goldmask, a fundamentalist seeking to revitalize the Golden Order; Fia, a deathbed companion who is attempting to revive Godwyn; Dung Eater, a criminal who wants to strip everyone in the Lands Between of grace; Sir Gideon Ofnir, a spymaster researching current events; and the player character, a Tarnished of no renown.

On their way back to the Erdtree, however, they are confronted by Gideon, who has gone mad after learning the truth about the Greater Will, and Godfrey, who seeks to reclaim the Elden Lord title.

Entering the realm through Miquella's corpse, the Tarnished continues tracking him by locating aspects of him throughout the land, which he abandoned to sever his ties to the Erdtree.

Miquella's trail leads the Tarnished to the Gate of Divinity, but they find it locked behind magical thorns, forcing them to confront and kill Messmer to burn them away using his power.

Confronting Miquella, it is revealed that he had orchestrated his own abduction and used Mohg's corpse to revive Radahn as his consort in a divine ascension ritual.

[25][26] Director Hidetaka Miyazaki wanted to create an open world game, intending Elden Ring as a mechanical evolution of Dark Souls.

Elden Ring was designed to have a more-expansive environment than the narrow dungeons of FromSoftware's previous games; Miyazaki hoped the grander scale would add freedom and depth to exploration.

FromSoftware approached American author George R. R. Martin, creator of the fantasy-novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, to provide worldbuilding for Elden Ring.

[29][31] In an interview with IGN, Miyazaki said he chose to give Martin control over the backstory because of the restrictions FromSoftware's method of storytelling placed on writers.

[32] Production of the game began in early 2017 following the release of The Ringed City, a piece of downloadable content (DLC) for Dark Souls III.

Developers credited the scale with responsibility for creating a sense of diversity, and intended the roleplaying elements to allow for a variety of player-environment interactions.

[36] Miyazaki named Shadow of the Colossus, The Elder Scrolls, The Witcher 3, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as design influences for Elden Ring.

[37][38] Tsukasa Saitoh, Shoi Miyazawa, Tai Tomisawa, Yuka Kitamura, and Yoshimi Kudo composed Elden Ring's original score.

[43] Playtesting was facilitated by Bandai Namco, which in November 2021 initially released the game as a closed beta that players could sign up to test.

Tamoor Hussain of GameSpot praised the Lands Between as the most-expansive of FromSoftware's settings, calling exploration and discovery the game's main appeal.

[76][82][83] Similarly to many of FromSoftware's earlier games, Elden Ring's difficulty provoked much commentary; reviewers both praised and criticized its lack of easy modes.

[84][85][86] Other reviewers considered Elden Ring the most-accessible Souls game, saying the player can choose to avoid difficult threats and return with more experience.

[80][82][87] Torrent and fast travel were well-received features, with reviewers citing them as large improvements towards making the game easier to explore.

Kyle Orland of Ars Technica said the game's storytelling is "characteristically sparse and cryptic", and differs from the expectations of Martin's fans.