While the open-world setting of Elden Ring is massive, players are only actually required to explore a tiny fraction of the Lands Between. FromSoftware’s latest soulslike adventure takes players on a quest to defeat several demigods in order to reforge the Elden Ring and claim the title of Elden Lord. Players can get lost in a big open-world map in Elden Ring, but Tarnished adventurers who know the way only need to visit a very small portion of the game.
After creating their character and fighting through an optional tutorial, Elden Ring players begin their epic quest in the lush region of Limgrave. Tasked with defeating two demigods and journeying to the Royal Capital of Leyndell, players are encouraged to enter Stormveil Castle and take down its ruler Godrick. North of Stormveil lies Liurnia of the Lakes, a mystical flooded region, which contains Raya Lucaria Academy and its demigod master Rennala. However, players can also travel east to the infested region of Caelid or journey to the underground Siofra River area. Players can explore Elden Ring’s map in any order, meaning Godrick and Rennala can be avoided entirely if players would rather hunt other demigods instead.
A minimalist map of Elden Ring, posted to Reddit by Spicy_Slice, shows just how little of the Lands Between players are actually required to explore. Entering Leyndell requires killing two demigods, but Godrick and Rennala are conveniently located on the way to the capital city. Inside Leyndell the game becomes fairly linear, with players then climbing the Mountaintops of the Giants before traversing Crumbling Farum Azula and revisiting the capital. This makes exploring most of Limgrave, Liurnia, Altus Plateau and Mountaintops of the Giants entirely optional. Players never even need to step foot in Caelid, or the underground rivers of Siofra and Ainsel, to complete Elden Ring.
The minimum possible amount of the map that you actually need to explore to beat elden ring from Eldenring
While the map in Elden Ring is useful, FromSoftware’s fantasy epic never forces players to lean on it to find their way. The size and scope of the Lands Between makes the map an important inclusion, since players can set down markers or waypoints to help them locate or remember specific landmarks. However, the game is mostly driven by each player’s own desire to explore, since objectives are never actually laid out on the map like in most open-world games. This means exploration in Elden Ring comes from the player’s curiosity and natural drive for adventure, rather than being fueled by an enticing map icon or story objective.
Most FromSoftware fans will gladly explore every inch of Elden Ring’s open-world map, but in theory gamers only need to visit a very small part of the Lands Between. Carving a path through Limgrave, Liurnia and Altus Plateau will quickly bring the Tarnished to Leyndell, and the path forward narrows substantially after reaching the capital city. However, beelining to the end of Elden Ring is a huge disservice to the scale and detail that FromSoftware fit into its first open-world title.
Elden Ring is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
