PS Now is looking like it will almost certainly be phased out in favour of a rebooted PS Plus subscription, but Sony’s going through the motions for existing members. And this month’s PS Now lineup is actually unprecedented: members are getting a brand new, previously unreleased title in the form of Shadow Warrior 3. That’ll be available to download and play through 4th July, 2022.
It’s joined by a trio of other titles: Crysis Remastered, Relicta, and Chicken Police: Paint It Red. We’re going to be brutally honest with you, readers: we’ve never heard of the latter so can’t add any additional insight beyond the blurb provided on the PS Blog. Relicta appears to be some kind of Portal-esque first-person puzzle game, while Chicken Police is a noir-inspired adventure experience.
You probably don’t need a detailed description of Crysis Remastered, though: it’s the re-release of Crytek’s seminal shooter, which actually looks and plays great on either the PS5 or PS4. All four games will be available to download and stream from 1st March, 2022, and it’s worth noting that all the games apart from Shadow Warrior 3 will be “permanent additions” – although, as noted recently, that doesn’t count for much these days, as Sony has been pulling PS Now releases without much notice of late.
Oppo has announced a new 150W SuperVOOC fast-charging standard today which it claims will be able to charge a 4,500mAh battery from 1 percent to 50 percent charge in just five minutes, and to 100 percent in just 15. It’s going to appear first in an unnamed smartphone from sub-brand OnePlus in the second quarter of this year. OnePlus has also offered an update on the global launch of the OnePlus 10 Pro, which came to China earlier this year.
OnePlus didn’t offer any more details on the first phone to feature this technology, such as whether it will be a flagship phone or a part of the company’s midrange Nord lineup, but it said the technology will be on display at its booth during this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Realme is also announcing a technology it’s branding as 150W UltraDart. The timing is unlikely to be a coincidence given that Realme is owned by BBK Electronics, which is Oppo’s (and OnePlus’) parent company. Realme is making similar claims about charging speeds, only it actually announced the name of the first device to use the tech: the GT Neo 3.
150W fast charging is almost double the amount of power as the 80W fast charging OnePlus and Oppo have been using in their recent flagships. Oppo did announce a 125W SuperVOOC fast charging standard in 2020, but it’s yet to appear on a widely released device. Meanwhile Xiaomi’s recent 11T Pro shipped with 120W fast charging, which Xiaomi said could fully charge its 5,000mAh battery in 17 minutes.
SuperVOOC has historically been Oppo’s branding for its fast-charging tech, while OnePlus has used Warp charge. But following the merger between the two companies, in which OnePlus has effectively become an Oppo sub-brand, it’s stopped using the Warp branding for its fast chargers in favor of SuperVOOC.
Preempting concerns about the effect of such high wattage charging on a device’s battery, OnePlus says that a battery should still maintain as much as 80 percent of its rated capacity after 1,600 charge cycles with 150W SuperVOOC thanks to its “Battery Health Engine” (BHE) technology. It’s also cross compatible with other fast-charging protocols such as Programmable Power Supply (PPS), Power Delivery (PD), and Quick Charge (QC), to allow SuperVOOC to fast-charge non-OnePlus devices, though without the guaranteed 150W charging speed.
Interestingly, Oppo specifically claims that its charging speeds are from 1 percent rather than a completely drained battery at 0 percent. That’s presumably because it doesn’t want to include the amount of time it takes to get from 0 to 1.
As well as its 150W charging tech, which should be coming to devices from OnePlus and Realme soon, Oppo is also showing off a proof of concept for 240W fast-charging solution. This 240W SuperVOOC charging tech is able to charge a 4,500mAh battery to 100 percent in just nine minutes, the company says, although it did not announce any immediate plans to commercialize the technology.
The announcements come as OnePlus is preparing to launch its latest flagship device, the OnePlus 10 Pro, internationally, following its release in China earlier this year. OnePlus now says it hopes to release the phone worldwide by the end of March. An exact global launch date is yet to be announced.
In a roundtable interview with The Verge, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau explains that the reason OnePlus has chosen to prioritize a China-only launch for the OnePlus 10 Pro is to try and better compete in the country’s crowded smartphone market. But he also added that it’s easier to release phones more quickly in the country because there are less approval processes its software needs to go through with partners like network carriers.
Finally, OnePlus says its interest in producing affordable handsets isn’t changing, and that it plans to release “its most affordable 5G smartphone in India and Europe yet” this year.
Update February 28th, 10:28AM ET: Updated to mention Oppo’s 240W fast charging demo.
Trainers hoping to see the entire Pokédex featured in the upcoming games Pokémon Scarlet and Violet might want to read on.
As highlighted by Serebii.net, it looks like players will only be able to add "specific" pocket monsters to these games via the Pokémon HOME app. This suggests "not all" Pokémon may be coded into the next Nintendo Switch entries.
While this news isn't particularly surprising, it may upset some trainers who were hoping to be able to "catch 'em all" to complete the National Pokédex. This would follow in the footsteps of Pokémon Sword and Shield which excluded the complete National Dex.
There are now around 900 pocket monsters on record as of 2022, which means Game Freak is likely to cherry-pick certain 'Mon more and more from here on out. Producer Junichi Masuda also previously mentioned how more Pokémon in games potentially presented issues when it came to battle balance.
How do you feel about not being able to catch 'em all? Leave a comment down below.
With the cheap phone market dominated by big Chinese names like Redmi, Realme and Pocophone, it can be easy to forget about the stalwart mobile manufacturers – but HMD Global has just given us a reason to pay it some heed.
HMD Global, which makes Nokia phones, debuted three new super-budget mobiles as part of annual tech conference MWC 2022.
These new mobiles are the Nokia C2 2nd Edition (the original came in 2020), Nokia C21, and Nokia C21 Plus – they're all part of the company's C line, which is its lowest-end collection, compared to the slightly-higher-end G and verging-on-mid-range X families.
As we said, these are super affordable handsets. The first and last phones are launching in the UK, and we have their prices as £75 (roughly $100, AU$140) and £100 (around $130, AU$190) respectively.
Here are their specs, so you can see how they compare:
TCL 30 series specs
Phone
Screen
Rear cameras
Front-facing camera
RAM / ROM
Battery
Chipset
Fingerprint scanner
Connectivity
Nokia C2 2nd Edition
5.7-inch HD 60Hz
5MP main
2MP
1,2GB / 32GB (expandable up to 256GB)
2,400mAh
Unspecified
None
4G
Nokia C21
6.5-inch HD+ 60Hz
8MP main
5MP
2,3GB / 32, 64GB (expandable up to 256GB)
3,000mAh
Unspecified
Rear
Nokia C21 Plus
6.5-inch HD+ 60Hz
13MP main, 2MP depth
5MP
2,3,4GB / 32,64GB (expandable up to 256GB)
4,000mAh, 5,050mAh
Unspecified
Rear-mounted
4G
If you're confused about the C21 Plus' battery situation, it seems that you can opt between two sizes, just like how many mobiles offer you a choice in RAM and storage.
In an age where every budget phone maker is trying to put out a super-flashy, specs-heavy monster, it's slightly refreshing to see genuine true budget phones. Seriously, how many phones do you see nowadays with just 1GB RAM, or with a single rear camera?
Obviously, these devices aren't going to run like your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy device, but they're designed for people who don't need a best-in-class smartphone. They're cheap and cheery, perhaps for seniors or technophobes who can't totally put off the tech-ification of the world.
Alongside the new smartphones, HMD Global unveiled a few headphones and earbuds, and they're all affordable devices just like their mobile counterparts.
The Nokia phones are coming to the UK starting in April, but we don't know if they'll be arriving elsewhere, so we'll have to wait and see.
These aren't the only cheap phones we've seen at MWC, either. TCL unveiled its own selection with impressive rear cameras and big batteries, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. We're expecting more to launch all the time, so stay tuned in the coming days for more.
MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world's largest showcase for the mobile industry, stuffed full of the newest phones, tablets, wearables and more. TechRadar is reporting on the show all week. Follow our MWC 2022 live blog for the very latest news as it happens and visit our dedicated MWC 2022 hub for a round-up of the biggest announcements.
Samsung has announced two updates to its premium Galaxy Book line: the Galaxy Book 2 Pro and Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360. The devices will start at $1,049.99 and $1,249.99 respectively; they hit shelves on April 1st with preorders beginning on March 18th. A budget-oriented Galaxy Book 2 360, a convertible version of the regular Galaxy Book, will also ship April 1st with a starting price of $899.99.
Both Pro models come in 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch sizes, while the regular Book 2 360 is only a 13.3. As you can probably guess from the names, the Galaxy Book 2 Pro is a clamshell while the Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is a 2-in-1 convertible with a touchscreen and S Pen support.
These devices look and feel pretty similar to the Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360 models we reviewed last year. Like its predecessor, the smallest Galaxy Book 2 Pro is just 1.92 pounds and 0.44 inches thick. It’s still one of the absolute lightest clamshell laptops you can buy, and picking it up really messes with your mind. But it also makes remarkably few compromises for that portability. In particular, the 15-incher manages to squeeze an HDMI port into that tiny chassis. Many laptops of this size are now exclusively USB-C. (The 360 model is, as you’d anticipate, a bit heavier.)
The primary chassis update is that all the new models feature 1080p webcams. There are also some new software features meant to enhance the video-call experience, including some new background and face-effect features, as well as an Auto Framing tool that keeps you centered as you move around. This is a fairly predictable investment as more workers continue to embrace remote and hybrid setups.
The displays (all FHD AMOLED) are also brighter than they were on last year’s models. I wasn’t floored by the brightness on either of the 2021 Galaxy Book Pros, so I’m happy to see this change. I did catch some glare from the bright lights in Samsung’s demo area, though I didn’t have trouble seeing anything on the screens. Unfortunately, all of these devices still have the cursed 16:9 aspect ratio, which many other premium lines have moved away from this year.
The Pro convertible is also available in a new burgundy color, in addition to graphite and silver. It’s very pretty in person and feels smooth, though the graphite offering is still my favorite.
These devices can be configured with up to a 12th-Gen Core i7, 32GB of RAM (the Book 2 360 maxes out at 16GB), and 1TB of storage (the Book 2 360 goes up to 512GB). Samsung says they’ll be certified through Intel’s Evo program (which means that Intel vouches that a device’s performance, battery life, and other important features are up to snuff).
The Pro models meet Microsoft’s “secured-core PC” requirements, which means that they include various hardware-based security components like TPM 2.0 and virtualization-based security, as well as features consumers might care more, about like biometric authentication. (Both of these devices have fingerprint sensors in their power buttons.)
And both Pro models support a few Samsung-specific connectivity features, which has always been a major draw for Galaxy Books among Samsung enthusiasts. These include Single Sign-on, Smart Switch (which makes it easier to transfer data, photos, settings, etc. between PCs), and support for the SmartThings smart home dashboard.
An interesting addition is Multi Control, which allows you to use a Galaxy Tab S8 as a secondary screen alongside a Galaxy Book 2 Pro. I got to try this out with a 15-inch Book 2 Pro 360, and it was functional; I could successfully move the cursor back and forth between the two Galaxy devices, dragging windows and such. I did experience some significant lag when navigating on the Tab S8 — the cursor seemed like it was having trouble keeping up with my gestures, though it did eventually follow them. This is something I hope Samsung irons out as the release date approaches.
Stay tuned for our full reviews of these devices, where we’ll have more impressions of the new webcams and software features.
During the reveal of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, trainers got a look at the new starter pocket monsters. Once again, they're grass, fire and water type. Here's a breakdown of each one, courtesy of the game website:
Sprigatito
Image: Pokémon
Type: Grass
Category: Grass Cat PKMN
Height: 1'4", Weight: 9 lbs.
Ability: Overgrow
"The capricious, attention-seeking Grass Cat Pokémon"
Fuecoco
Image: Pokémon
Type: Fire
Category: Fire Croc PKMN
Height: 1'4", Weight 21.6 lbs
Ability: Blaze
"The laid-back Fire Croc Pokémon that does things at its own pace."
Quaxly
Image: Pokémon
Type: Water
Category: Duckling PKMN
Height: 1'8", Weight: 13.4 lbs
Ability: Torrent
"The earnest and tidy Duckling Pokémon."
Which one will you be starting out with? Vote in our poll and tell us down below.
Elden Ring is the latest RPG developed by FromSoftware for PlayStation 5, PS4, and other platforms. Following on from popular titles like Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, it builds on the formula with a fully open world setting. These sorts of games are known for their hard difficulty, and Elden Ring is no different.
In this Elden Ring guide, which includes an Elden Ring walkthrough, we're going to share our tips and tricks to help you survive The Lands Between. We will also cover boss fight strategies, including Margit, the Fell Omen and Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon. Our Elden Ring walkthrough will guide you through the main areas in the game like Stormveil Castle and the Academy of Raya Lucaria.
Note: This guide is a work in progress, so be sure to check back later for even more information and guidance. Many of the linked pages below are also being worked on continuously to provide even better help.
Elden Ring Guide: Boss Fight Strategies
Elden Ring has a very long list of boss fights, some of which are tied to story progress and others that are optional. For the first part of our Elden Ring guide, we will share tips, tricks, and strategies for overcoming many of these encounters. We've broken them down into regions, so work out where you are on the map and check to see if we have a guide covering the boss fight you're stuck on.
Limgrave: Boss Fight Strategies
Stormveil Castle: Boss Fight Strategies
Liurnia of the Lakes: Boss Fight Strategies
Academy of Raya Lucaria: Boss Fight Strategies
Altus Plateau: Boss Fight Strategies
Volcano Manor: Boss Fight Strategies
Leyndell, Royal Capital: Boss Strategies
Caelid: Boss Fight Strategies
Elden Ring Guide: Walkthrough, Upgrades, Weapons, and Help
In the next section of our Elden Ring guide, we'll provide a walkthrough of the game's main locations and challenges. It will also include details on upgrades and help for other topics.
Walkthrough
Quests
Upgrades
Weapons
Help
Elden Ring Guide: Tips and Tricks for Beginners
Without any difficulty settings and a long-standing reputation as one of the hardest genres in the industry, Elden Ring is not exactly the most welcoming of games for beginners. As such, we have some universal tips and tricks to share that should give you a headstart. Read through them to make sure you're prepared to venture into The Lands Between.
Look Out for Glowing Skulls on the Ground
Elden Ring might have replaced Souls with Runes, but that doesn't mean those bundles of the currency that go in your inventory have been changed. The likes of the Soul of a Lost Soldier and Soul of a Proud Knight are now numbered and attached to collections of Runes you can pop at any point to gain a couple more.
These bundles are found at random on the ground inside the skulls of defeated humans and animals. You'll notice them due to their bright glow, indicating some Runes are inside. Smash the skull either with your weapon or by running over them with Torrent. Then you can pick them up and store the Runes for another time. The higher the number next to the name, the more Runes it'll grant you upon activation.
Try Combat Encounters at Different Times of the Day
One more new feature FromSoftware has implemented is a day/night cycle that has a small impact on enemy routines and positioning. You can simply wait for the sun to go down or change the time of day at a Site of Grace, and you might notice changes to enemy fortresses. For example, there may be fewer guards patrolling, making it easier to get inside or take them out quietly.
This doesn't always happen, but if you're having trouble in a particular area, consider changing the time of day to see how it affects the game. It could just be your saving grace.
Learn What Enemies Should Be Fought on Horseback
With Torrent by your side, you have the option to engage enemies on horseback. You'll deal more damage to enemies when riding Torrent, but you'll need to work out when it's best to dismount. If the combatant is also riding a horse, then common sense would dictate you should also be battling using a horse. The same goes for bigger enemies like the giants. However, sometimes it's best to be on the ground so you can utilise backstabs, combos, and Ashes of War. It'll be something you pick up on the fly, but learning what each situation requires gives you a better chance of survival.
Enter Combat without a Full Healing Flask
This may sound like a strange suggestion, but hear us out. Alongside replenishing your flask in the usual fashion at a Site of Grace, Elden Ring includes a new way of getting heals back. Once you've killed an entire group of enemies, clearing the nearby area, you'll be rewarded with another use of your Flask of Crimson Tears. This is indicated by your character absorbing a sort of red mist along with a sound cue.
The problem is that extra flask use doesn't benefit you if you're already at maximum capacity. It's just gone. Therefore, if you know you're about to get another healing opportunity out of the last enemy in front of you, maybe just heal there and then to make sure you get the benefit. Even if it was just some chip damage, you'll be back to full capacity soon after.
Summon NPCs or Other Players for Boss Fights
The bosses of Elden Ring are by far the most challenging element of Elden Ring, so if you really feel you can't beat a particular one on your own, consider summoning an NPC if they're available or searching for an online player to team up with. If an NPC is offering their help, you'll notice a golden summoning sign on the floor next to the fog gate. To get an online player into your game, press the Options button and scroll down to the Multiplayer tab. From there, you can select whether you want to summon someone into your game or join someone else's. You can find out more information on the following pages: How Multiplayer and Summons Work and How to Summon Spirits and Use Ashes Summons.
And that brings our Elden Ring guide to its conclusion. We hope our extensive coverage has helped you out in your own playthrough. If you have any further tips, strategies, or general information to share, feel free to post it in the comments below.
"It's something that, personally as a gamer, I've wanted for a long time, right? As soon as you start playing PC games, you're like, okay, I want something that gives me the full fidelity of experience with really great inputs that I can use in the mobile space. The first time, I think I wanted something like this was back in the 1990s, you know, when I was first playing PC games."
Gabe Newell is, I think it's fair to say, very excited about the Steam Deck. After a short delay and much, much excitement, the portable PC is finally here and it's quite possibly Valve's most exciting piece of hardware to date. Or the most exciting piece of Valve hardware since the last one, at least - the much-heralded Steam Machines which caused much excitement upon their announcement in 2013 but never really gained a foothold with Valve moved to assure people the platform wasn't entirely dead just three years after the machines came out in 2015.
The amount of interest in Steam Deck is in stark contrast to the shrug that met the Steam Machines back then, but it's not really so different in its approach - indeed, the Deck's simply an extension of the work done with the introduction of Big Picture mode that laid the groundwork for the Machines, and a further, more focussed repositioning of PC gaming away from the desktop.
"I think of everything we try to do as a sort of block," Newell says of how Steam Machines informed the Deck. "You're building the wall and you have to build a bunch of the components as you go along. The Steam Controller has had a big impact on our thinking on input technologies and I think one of the big takeaways from the Steam Machine is we came to the conclusion that if we want to push these kinds of initiatives, we really need to do it in-house where we can solve all the problems that we see as being of greatest significance both to gamers and to software developers."
I've spent a few weeks with the Steam Deck and have been impressed with what Valve's achieved, though the device doesn't come without some caveats. It's a fiddly, sometimes unwieldy thing - the fiddliness part of the territory when it comes to PC gaming, and also when it comes to wrangling as much of Steam's library onto a portable machine. Part of the fun - and frustration - comes from seeing how your back catalogue fairs on the machine, but I wonder how much newcomers to Valve's ecosystem are being catered for, and whether it might broaden the gaming audience in the same way the Switch did when it first launched back in 2017.
Valve's sticking to its commitment to review the entire Steam back catalogue when it comes to working on Steam Deck - though by their own admission it's not exactly realistic, with some games such as VR-focussed ones not making much sense when it comes to the current iteration of the hardware.
"I think if we ignore the fact that it's a gaming device and just look at it in terms of price performance, and for its CPU and GPU, it's a great device there," says Newell. "So I think we're comfortable, ignoring the fact that it's a gaming device, that it's gonna fit in there. But it is a gaming device and that's where it's got its most compelling applications.
"One of the things that's been interesting to us, we're super hard on the entry level price point, and then our customers come back to us and far and away they're ordering the most expensive SKU that they can. It's interesting, these are all early adopters, you know, but they're saying you should have given us, you know, more storage more, you know, performance, more memory, and we would have probably been buying it. That's interesting, and that will probably shift as we start to ramp up and catch up to demand, and we'll see a shift over time to the lower price, sort of more entry level SKUs."
What's really fascinating, though, is where Valve see Steam Deck going next. It's a long-term project - and one with brighter prospects than the likes of the Steam Machines - that could take PC gaming into some interesting places if Newell's musings on where he sees the next five years of the device are anything to go by.
"Some of the conversations we're having with software developers are like, okay, this is great - but let's try to figure out what the next generation of the deck looks like," he says. "What do we want in terms of solutions for mobile gaming, for mobile PC gaming? Does that open the door to new things? We've been a fan of biometrics for a long time in terms of using that, and this is a good way, given where your hand positioning is - that gives you an opportunity to do stuff there.
Prototyping for Steam Deck began around four years ago, but the device's genesis came with the introduction of Big Picture mode back in 2012.
"You know, all of these things relate to each other, right? A lot of the technology that we might be using and future versions of that comes, you know, from technology that we have to develop for VR. And then if you flip it around and you look at that as like a highly performant mobile PC gaming device, you sort of say, well, why can't I have that in a tetherless integrated VR solution?
"With headsets, you have a lot more ability to do things like neuromodulation or the direct sensors and stuff on people's heads, or you're looking at information that's easy to convey through sensors close to somebody's hands. All of these things tend to snowball over time, and with each one of them we think what are we going to learn? What are we going to help software developers do? How does that translate into building compelling solutions for gamers?
"Longer term, we may end up finding that there are interesting mobile-specific opportunities. If you start putting cameras on these things you may find that there are classes of game experiences that are really dependent on those.... Pokémon GO is a great example of an application that doesn't make sense in any way for desktop.
"But it's dependent on a set of facilities that today haven't really existed in PC gaming, the opportunity with subsequent versions of Steam Deck is to start to look for those kinds of applications or those kinds of capabilities, and see what sort of applications that enables. So once we start having unique gaming technologies in future versions of Deck that's when it would make a lot more sense to try to come up with custom applications and capitalise on it."
The progress made on the software side has been rapid - making it a hard thing to pin down for poor Digital Foundry, but at least suggesting that there's still much progress to be made on the devices which day one users will be receiving.
Pokémon GO on PC? It's not quite the end-game I'd anticipated when asking Newell about long-term plans for Steam Deck, but it's enlightening all the same to see where he sees the device heading, and a logical step for Steam to head into one of the most lucrative and popular areas of gaming. There's some way to go, as well as a fair few hardware iterations, so it's not as if it's happening anytime soon - and Valve's going to be plenty busy over the next few months just keeping up with demand for its new machine.
"We're certainly going to ramp up production as fast as we can," he says. "In fact, that's a lot of what we've been doing over the last six months, working with our suppliers to figure that out. We also fully expect - and one of the great things about the PC marketplace is - hopefully we're gonna see other people looking at this and saying we can ship products like this as well. So not only are we going to be trying to fill demand, but hopefully other PC manufacturers are going to recognise that the pieces are in place. And the demand for this kind of solution is high enough that they're going to figure out how to ship similar devices as well.
"The good news is demand is high. The bad news is due to the pandemic, the demand for all sorts of electronics has just skyrocketed - if you talk to Intel or AMD or Nvidia or Ford Motor Company, consumer demand has shifted. If you can't go to restaurants and you can't go to movies, you're gonna buy nicer houses, and you're going to buy more expensive electronics. There's just been a huge surge, and it's just taking a while for the capacity to catch up."
Elden Ring is the latest RPG developed by FromSoftware for PlayStation 5, PS4, and other platforms. Following on from popular titles like Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, it builds on the formula with a fully open world setting. These sorts of games are known for their hard difficulty, and Elden Ring is no different.
In this Elden Ring guide, which includes an Elden Ring walkthrough, we're going to share our tips and tricks to help you survive The Lands Between. We will also cover boss fight strategies, including Margit, the Fell Omen and Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon. Our Elden Ring walkthrough will guide you through the main areas in the game like Stormveil Castle and the Academy of Raya Lucaria.
Note: This guide is a work in progress, so be sure to check back later for even more information and guidance. Many of the linked pages below are also being worked on continuously to provide even better help.
Elden Ring Guide: Boss Fight Strategies
Elden Ring has a very long list of boss fights, some of which are tied to story progress and others that are optional. For the first part of our Elden Ring guide, we will share tips, tricks, and strategies for overcoming many of these encounters. We've broken them down into regions, so work out where you are on the map and check to see if we have a guide covering the boss fight you're stuck on.
Limgrave: Boss Fight Strategies
Stormveil Castle: Boss Fight Strategies
Liurnia of the Lakes: Boss Fight Strategies
Academy of Raya Lucaria: Boss Fight Strategies
Altus Plateau: Boss Fight Strategies
Volcano Manor: Boss Fight Strategies
Leyndell, Royal Capital: Boss Strategies
Caelid: Boss Fight Strategies
Elden Ring Guide: Walkthrough, Upgrades, Weapons, and Help
In the next section of our Elden Ring guide, we'll provide a walkthrough of the game's main locations and challenges. It will also include details on upgrades and help for other topics.
Walkthrough
Quests
Upgrades
Weapons
Help
Elden Ring Guide: Tips and Tricks for Beginners
Without any difficulty settings and a long-standing reputation as one of the hardest genres in the industry, Elden Ring is not exactly the most welcoming of games for beginners. As such, we have some universal tips and tricks to share that should give you a headstart. Read through them to make sure you're prepared to venture into The Lands Between.
Look Out for Glowing Skulls on the Ground
Elden Ring might have replaced Souls with Runes, but that doesn't mean those bundles of the currency that go in your inventory have been changed. The likes of the Soul of a Lost Soldier and Soul of a Proud Knight are now numbered and attached to collections of Runes you can pop at any point to gain a couple more.
These bundles are found at random on the ground inside the skulls of defeated humans and animals. You'll notice them due to their bright glow, indicating some Runes are inside. Smash the skull either with your weapon or by running over them with Torrent. Then you can pick them up and store the Runes for another time. The higher the number next to the name, the more Runes it'll grant you upon activation.
Try Combat Encounters at Different Times of the Day
One more new feature FromSoftware has implemented is a day/night cycle that has a small impact on enemy routines and positioning. You can simply wait for the sun to go down or change the time of day at a Site of Grace, and you might notice changes to enemy fortresses. For example, there may be fewer guards patrolling, making it easier to get inside or take them out quietly.
This doesn't always happen, but if you're having trouble in a particular area, consider changing the time of day to see how it affects the game. It could just be your saving grace.
Learn What Enemies Should Be Fought on Horseback
With Torrent by your side, you have the option to engage enemies on horseback. You'll deal more damage to enemies when riding Torrent, but you'll need to work out when it's best to dismount. If the combatant is also riding a horse, then common sense would dictate you should also be battling using a horse. The same goes for bigger enemies like the giants. However, sometimes it's best to be on the ground so you can utilise backstabs, combos, and Ashes of War. It'll be something you pick up on the fly, but learning what each situation requires gives you a better chance of survival.
Enter Combat without a Full Healing Flask
This may sound like a strange suggestion, but hear us out. Alongside replenishing your flask in the usual fashion at a Site of Grace, Elden Ring includes a new way of getting heals back. Once you've killed an entire group of enemies, clearing the nearby area, you'll be rewarded with another use of your Flask of Crimson Tears. This is indicated by your character absorbing a sort of red mist along with a sound cue.
The problem is that extra flask use doesn't benefit you if you're already at maximum capacity. It's just gone. Therefore, if you know you're about to get another healing opportunity out of the last enemy in front of you, maybe just heal there and then to make sure you get the benefit. Even if it was just some chip damage, you'll be back to full capacity soon after.
Summon NPCs or Other Players for Boss Fights
The bosses of Elden Ring are by far the most challenging element of Elden Ring, so if you really feel you can't beat a particular one on your own, consider summoning an NPC if they're available or searching for an online player to team up with. If an NPC is offering their help, you'll notice a golden summoning sign on the floor next to the fog gate. To get an online player into your game, press the Options button and scroll down to the Multiplayer tab. From there, you can select whether you want to summon someone into your game or join someone else's. You can find out more information on the following pages: How Multiplayer and Summons Work and How to Summon Spirits and Use Ashes Summons.
And that brings our Elden Ring guide to its conclusion. We hope our extensive coverage has helped you out in your own playthrough. If you have any further tips, strategies, or general information to share, feel free to post it in the comments below.
Elden Ring is the latest RPG developed by FromSoftware for PlayStation 5, PS4, and other platforms. Following on from popular titles like Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, it builds on the formula with a fully open world setting. These sorts of games are known for their hard difficulty, and Elden Ring is no different.
In this Elden Ring guide, which includes an Elden Ring walkthrough, we're going to share our tips and tricks to help you survive The Lands Between. We will also cover boss fight strategies, including Margit, the Fell Omen and Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon. Our Elden Ring walkthrough will guide you through the main areas in the game like Stormveil Castle and the Academy of Raya Lucaria.
Note: This guide is a work in progress, so be sure to check back later for even more information and guidance. Many of the linked pages below are also being worked on continuously to provide even better help.
Elden Ring Guide: Boss Fight Strategies
Elden Ring has a very long list of boss fights, some of which are tied to story progress and others that are optional. For the first part of this guide, we will share tips, tricks, and strategies for overcoming many of these encounters. While we don't cover every boss battle in the game, the majority of the mainline fights are included. We've broken them down into regions, so work out where you are on the map and check to see if we have a guide covering the boss fight you're stuck on.
Limgrave: Boss Fight Strategies
Stormveil Castle: Boss Fight Strategies
Liurnia of the Lakes: Boss Fight Strategies
Academy of Raya Lucaria: Boss Fight Strategies
Altus Plateau: Boss Fight Strategies
Volcano Manor: Boss Fight Strategies
Caelid: Boss Fight Strategies
Elden Ring Guide: Walkthrough, Upgrades, Weapons, and Help
In the next section of our Elden Ring guide, we'll provide a walkthrough of the game's main locations and challenges. It will also include details on upgrades and help for other topics.
Walkthrough
Quests
Upgrades
Weapons
Help
Elden Ring Guide: Tips and Tricks for Beginners
Without any difficulty settings and a long-standing reputation as one of the hardest genres in the industry, Elden Ring is not exactly the most welcoming of games for beginners. As such, we have some universal tips and tricks to share that should give you a headstart. Read through them to make sure you're prepared to venture into The Lands Between.
Look Out for Glowing Skulls on the Ground
Elden Ring might have replaced Souls with Runes, but that doesn't mean those bundles of the currency that go in your inventory have been changed. The likes of the Soul of a Lost Soldier and Soul of a Proud Knight are now numbered and attached to collections of Runes you can pop at any point to gain a couple more.
These bundles are found at random on the ground inside the skulls of defeated humans and animals. You'll notice them due to their bright glow, indicating some Runes are inside. Smash the skull either with your weapon or by running over them with Torrent. Then you can pick them up and store the Runes for another time. The higher the number next to the name, the more Runes it'll grant you upon activation.
Try Combat Encounters at Different Times of the Day
One more new feature FromSoftware has implemented is a day/night cycle that has a small impact on enemy routines and positioning. You can simply wait for the sun to go down or change the time of day at a Site of Grace, and you might notice changes to enemy fortresses. For example, there may be fewer guards patrolling, making it easier to get inside or take them out quietly.
This doesn't always happen, but if you're having trouble in a particular area, consider changing the time of day to see how it affects the game. It could just be your saving grace.
Learn What Enemies Should Be Fought on Horseback
With Torrent by your side, you have the option to engage enemies on horseback. You'll deal more damage to enemies when riding Torrent, but you'll need to work out when it's best to actually just attack from the ground. If the combatant is also riding a horse, then common sense would dictate you should also be battling using a horse. The same goes for bigger enemies like the giants. However, sometimes it's best to be on the ground so you can utilise backstabs, combos, and Ashes of War. It'll be something you pick up on the fly, but learning what each situation requires gives you a better chance of survival.
Enter Combat without a Full Healing Flask
This may sound like a strange suggestion, but hear us out. Alongside replenishing your flask in the usual fashion at a Site of Grace, Elden Ring includes a new way of getting heals back. Once you've killed an entire group of enemies, clearing the nearby area, you'll be rewarded with another use of your Flask of Crimson Tears. This is indicated by your character absorbing a sort of red mist along with a sound cue.
The problem is that extra flask use doesn't benefit you if you're already at maximum capacity. It's just gone. Therefore, if you know you're about to get another healing opportunity out of the last enemy in front of you, maybe just heal there and then to make sure you get the benefit. Even if it was just some chip damage, you'll be back to full capacity soon after.
Summon NPCs or Other Players for Boss Fights
The bosses of Elden Ring are by far the most challenging element of Elden Ring, so if you really feel you can't beat a particular one on your own, consider summoning an NPC if they're available or searching for an online player to team up with. If an NPC is offering their help, you'll notice a golden summoning sign on the floor next to the fog gate. To get an online player into your game, press the Options button and scroll down to the Multiplayer tab. From there, you can select whether you want to summon someone into your game or join someone else's.
And that brings our Elden Ring guide to its conclusion. We hope our extensive coverage has helped you out in your own playthrough. If you have any further tips, strategies, or general information to share, feel free to post it in the comments below.
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