The best moments from the Elden Ring preview stream (2024)

The release of Elden Ring is just around the corner, as the next FromSoftware game releases on February 25. To celebrate the occasion, the first live Red Bull Levels broadcast took place – a special preview event that featured exclusive gameplay, interviews and a whole host of surprises.

Broadcast live on twitch.tv/redbull on February 19, the epic event was a long one, so if you missed parts of the stream don’t worry – we’ve got you covered with clips and highlights of some of the biggest moments, along with relevant details. Anyone wanting to go into Elden Ring truly blind, beware, there may be spoilers ahead.

For those of you wanting to avoid story spoilers, steer clear of this first part, as the entire intro cutscene that plays once you’ve made your character was shown off during the RedBull Levels stream.

It details how the Elden Ring was shattered, with the pieces then taken by the offspring of Queen Marika the Eternal.

As with other games in the 'Souls' format, there are plenty of secrets to discover and hidden areas to explore in Elden Ring. Throughout the game, there are caves that players can go spelunking in, which are filled with items and enemies.

Some of these even lead to mini dungeon-like levels that can also be explored. These areas present themselves more like traditional Souls levels, with tightly interlinked navigation a major key to success.

During the stream, we saw a boss fight with a giant golem which was beaten with the help of a multiplayer summon. Finding the boss in the labyrinthine cave was a challenge unto itself, but Simon and his ally made quick work of it once they did.

Elden Ring, like the other Dark Souls games before it, has multiple ways to engage in player vs player action. As with previous games, you can set a summon sign to play competitively or invade unsuspecting players that are just trying to get through the Lands Between.

Multiple competitive PvP matches were played during the stream, showing off how that aspect of the multiplayer will work in Elden Ring. Traditional 1v1 duels are easy to get into and can take place almost anywhere in the open world.

Plenty of class match-ups were also shown during the stream, with Chuso and Elajjaz even starting their fight in an honourable fashion, with a respectful bow and the agreement not to use healing items.

The first non-optional boss fight, Margit the Fell Omen, was also beaten by Chuso during the stream. Margit was previously only seen in action during the game’s closed network test, but Chuso still made short work of them.

Margit is the first major test in Elden Ring, and one where players need to remember the first rule of Souls games – don't get greedy. Chuso needed to employ strafing, methodical attacks and quickly learn from his mistakes to get anywhere near to defeating this formidable boss.

Margit has a combination of fast and heavy melee attacks, range and the ability to close in on the player very quickly. After a few attempts with the Samurai class, Chuso managed to take them down, all the while calmly walking the chat through his approach.

Towards the end of the stream, we got a brand new trailer for the game. Acting as an explainer ahead of Elden Ring’s imminent release, the trailer showed snippets of gameplay and dived deeper into the key mechanics of the game, which you can see here.

The trailer notes that there are plenty of side characters in the game that you can help, and in doing so, learn more about their backstories and the world itself, along with your shared place within it.

Mention was also made of the Legacy Dungeons, which trade in the new open-world approach in favour of the traditionally intricate level design of previous Souls experiences. These Legacy Dungeons differ greatly from the rest of The Lands Between, which aims to invoke a high level of freedom.

Longtime FromSoftware fans will be in for a familiar treat: Elden Ring will be no stranger to what was affectionately referred to as the 'Miyazaki special' - poisonous swamps – during the stream.

What began for many in the depths of Blighttown a decade ago will continue in Elden Ring, as we see a poison swamp area that looks to be as treacherous as the ones that came before. Elajjaz immediately knew what he was in for as soon as he saw the poison on the ground, but that didn’t stop him from braving it.

Interestingly though, it looks like riding your horse Torrent through these swamps negates the poison effect, so keep that in mind when you start playing.

And finally, Elden Ring fans were treated to a greeting, a thank you, and a well wish from FromSoftware's Kitao Yasuhiro, hoping that you will enjoy the game when it launches later this week.