Players are blasting through Elden Ring with level 1 characters

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Highly skilled fans are opting out of upgrades

Elden Ring
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Some Elden Ring players are avoiding levelling up, making the Lands Between an even more punishing place.

FromSoftware games are notoriously difficult, and Elden Ring is no exception. Despite its brutal nature, fans are seeking new and interesting ways to make the experience even harder. So far, we've seen a speedrunner conquer the Lands Between in less than 30 minutes and a hard mode mod that buffs enemies up to New Game Plus level. 

Another way that fans are adding an extra challenge to Elden Ring is by playing through the whole game with a starting level character. Normally, you'd expect to finish the game with a character in excess of level 100, but these brave players are choosing to keep their Tarnished squarely at 'soul level one'.

The equally talented LobosJr is also tackling FromSoftware's latest with a level one Tarnished. They're streaming their entire playthrough over on their Twitch channel. No stranger to making Souls games considerably more challenging, they've also played through Dark Souls using an electric guitar.

We're excited to see what weird and wonderful ways fans choose to take on Elden Ring next.

Elden ring is more than just a difficult game, it's also an impressively well-designed one. It's so detailed that its NPCs accurately play their instruments.

With FromSoftware's newest proving phenomenally popular, we wonder whether any other 2022 release will be as dominant as Elden Ring.

Anne-Marie Coyle
Freelance Writer

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and Games Radar. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.