Summary
- Elden Ring, like most soulslike games, is a fairly punitive game that makes players lose a precious resource upon death.
- There is one way of circumventing this loss, but players should be cautious ing the item that saves their resources.
- The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC may have just changed how players approach their characters' deaths.
Players in Elden Ring retains many classic Souls game elements.
Elden Ring is set in The Lands Between, in which the player must take on a myriad of enemies and bosses to gather the shards of the titular Elden Ring. The game features a wide array of weaponry, magic, equipment, and consumables to aid the player in their journey, as well as a newly implemented crafting system to allow players to make additional equipment like arrows and bombs. This has been small comfort to a lot of players though, who still find the game a real challenge, leading Miyazaki himself to apologize for Elden Ring being too hard.
Elden Ring: How Many Times You Can Upgrade Your Flasks
Players in Elden Ring can upgrade their flask to increase the Health or FP recovery, as well as the number of charges at a Site of Grace.
You Lose Runes When You Die In Elden Ring
Players Can See A Planned Level Held Back Upon Dying
When players die in Elden Ring, they lose all the runes that they had in their possession at the time of their death. They do, however, get one chance to recover what they lost by heading over to the place where they fell and interacting with the fallen runes. This, however, is very limited since they will permanently lose those fallen runes if they die before recovering the runes. For reference, runes are the currency used to level up stats in the game, like Strength and Intelligence. There is, however, a way to completely circumvent the rune loss upon death.
Elden Ring Players Can Save Their Runes With Sacrificial Twigs
The Special Item Is Rare And Should Be Used Carefully
The 
Sacrificial Twig can be purchased from various merchants, provided the player can afford them. These useful items cost around 3,000 runes a piece. They are well worth the price though, as equipping one will mean that the player will not drop their runes upon death. However, the twig itself will be consumed in their place. It would appear that there is a finite number of these twigs in the game, so players shouldn't lean too heavily on these rare items.
Instead, it would make sense to keep some back in reserve in the storage chest, especially given that there isn't a shortage of difficult mandatory and optional bosses in Elden Ring. It is also worth noting that Sacrificial Twigneed to be equipped in a Talisman slot, which means players will have one less stat-changing Talisman equipped when exploring the world or facing the boss they readied themselves to lose to. It is quite possible that taking this cautionary measure is exactly what impedes players from beating their opponents.
Fear Of Rune Loss Plays Right Into The Soulslike Mechanic Of Elden Ring
Players Afraid Of Losing Runes Often See Themselves Stuck In Certain Parts Of The Game
Like the fear of losing souls in Dark Souls, the fear of losing runes is a classic gameplay mechanic that is in action across most soulslike games. When players are more afraid of losing what they acquired rather than progressing in the campaign, they can see themselves stuck in parts of the game. This can either occur by completely avoiding a boss fight and spending hours farming lesser enemies that do not pose much of a threat, or by being exceedingly cautious when facing opponents. While caution is important in games like Elden Ring, players are incentivized to take action.
When players face opponents with the fear of losing runes, it is common for them to take a step away from how offensive they would usually be, and this is a mistake. A common piece of advice from veteran soulslike players is to not care too much about how many runes players have and to try to ignore the fear of losing them. When doing so, players can often set aside some anguish that may have been holding them back and allow them to face foes as they would if they had nothing to lose.
This means players can face bosses at face value rather than being the only ones with something to lose.
What is easily forgotten is that advancing through a legacy dungeon or beating a boss in Elden Ring often compensates for the eventual loss of runes along the way. The loss of runes is not exactly permanent, because players can always get more, usually by advancing through the challenges posed by the game. By risking themselves and exploring fearlessly, players can also find 
Golden Rune [1] and 
Shadow Realm Rune [1] (exclusive to the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC), which grant an instant amount of runes. This is perfect to top off the amount needed before leveling up, for instance.
In fact, there is a new level system in Shadow of the Erdtree. Regular levels are still present and important, but players now rely on the Scadutree Blessing, which can be leveled up with Scadutree Fragments in the Elden Ring DLC. Each level-up in this system increases the player’s damage output and damage negation. In turn, this allows players to take off some pressure from the prospect of dying and losing runes, as 
Scadutree Fragment is not lost upon death. The Scadutree Blessing system only works inside the DLC’s map, but it is a great way of mitigating rune loss.
Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree Ending Explained (In Detail)
Elden Ring’s DLC ending features a fight with a familiar foe, but things are very different this time around. Here’s how Shadow of the Erdtree ends.
Death will be a regular occurrence for the vast majority of Elden Ring players, and so many will be relieved to hear that some of the Dark Souls series' punishments for player death have not returned. Dark Souls 2 featured a mechanic that reduced the player's maximum health with each death, while Dark Souls 3 featured a similar but more forgiving system whereby players would have a smaller maximum HP if they were not enkindled. Elden Ring opted instead for a more straightforward system, which means players will only have to worry about their runes.
Elden Ring
- Released
- February 25, 2022
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment, From Software
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
- Platform(s)
- Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
- How Long To Beat
- 58 Hours
- Metascore
- 96
- Platforms That Crossplay
- PS4 & PS5 and Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
