# Elden Ring

25 Hacker News commenters recommended Elden Ring and 8 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Praised for tight, guidance-free design and strong Linux performance, though critics find it dense, hard on bosses, and stuttery on PC.

## Why people recommend it

- Runs well on Linux (3 comments): "On Linux, I play THE FINALS, Elden Ring, and a couple of other EAC-"protected" games without any troubles." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46798540)) "Elden Ring on launch day worked flawlessly, anti-cheat and all, on Linux" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48019952)) "had better performance in its first week on Linux than on Windows" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46465680))
- Persistent jank that defines its style (3 comments): "I do actually appreciate some of the persistent jankiness like this that hasn't changed since their original games." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48647951)) "But it works for them, and that's what creates their flavored games" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48656500)) "I'll take the jank over what the western industry is filled with" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48656267))
- Little hand-holding and no waypoints (2 comments): "the best gaming experiences I've had were the ones with the least hand-holding" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50031965)) "No quest ledger, no waypoints." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46826736))
- Cited as a top example of its style (3 comments): "Skyrim and Elden Ring are better examples because you can do a couple boss fights and get straight to the end" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50116258)) "Best example is Dark Souls 1 and Elden Ring." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48670049)) "I can only think of Elden Ring." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49148210))

## What people warn about

- Little quest guidance, hard to follow (3 comments): "IMO the density was too low in Elden Ring, their system showed a bit of weakness in the less-guided context" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48160805)) "Oh I have to reload the area and exhaust it again to advance your quest." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48647212)) "the game is incredibly dense and has little to no quest tracking" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49469244))
- Stuttering and poor PC port (3 comments): "Some games (Elden Ring comes to mind) have bad enough PC ports when they come out" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48550898)) "have unfixed stuttering issues on Windows that were fixed on-release in Proton" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47719992)) "The PC (mouse+keyboard) experience was terrible." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45944343))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Dark Souls](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dark-souls.md): 23 recommend
- [Diablo II: Resurrected](https://hackerapproved.com/p/diablo-2.md): 19 recommend
- [Mass Effect](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mass-effect.md): 19 recommend
- [Path of Exile](https://hackerapproved.com/p/path-of-exile.md): 15 recommend
- [Diablo 4](https://hackerapproved.com/p/diablo-4.md): 10 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Elden+Ring+FromSoftware+video+game&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Elden Ring", https://hackerapproved.com/p/elden-ring/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).