Yes, you can still play Elden Ring after beating the game. The game returns you to the open world with all your progress intact.
So, you’ve finally conquered the Elden Beast and become Elden Lord (or maybe something else entirely!) a huge accomplishment. But the big question lingering is: can you still play Elden Ring after beating the game? Many games simply end, throwing you back to the main menu but not here.
Thankfully, FromSoftware has designed the game so that your journey doesn’t abruptly end with the final boss’s demise. You return to the Lands Between and can freely explore the world. This means you can complete any unfinished quests or explore areas you may have previously missed.
Can You Still Play Elden Ring After Beating the Game?
So, you’ve finally done it. You’ve faced countless foes, explored every nook and cranny of the Lands Between, and stood victorious against the Elden Beast. The credits roll, the music swells, and you’re left with a mix of accomplishment and maybe a little sadness that your epic journey has come to an end. But wait! Is it really over? The question on many Tarnished’s minds is: can you still play Elden Ring after beating the game? The short answer is a resounding YES! But, it’s not quite as simple as you might think. Let’s dive deep into what awaits you in the Lands Between after you claim the title of Elden Lord.
New Game Plus: A Fresh Start with Your Power
The most significant option available to you after finishing Elden Ring is to begin a New Game Plus (NG+). This isn’t just a simple replay; it’s a brand-new adventure where you get to keep most of the hard-earned progress from your previous playthrough. Think of it as starting a new journey with all your favorite toys.
What Carries Over to NG+?
When you start NG+, you won’t be starting completely from scratch. Here’s a breakdown of what you get to keep:
- Your character’s level and stats: All those hard-earned levels and stat points stay with you, letting you continue developing your character in the way you choose.
- Equipment and items: Every weapon, armor, talisman, and consumable that you have collected will carry over to the next playthrough, except for key items that are necessary to progress through the main story. You will have a full arsenal and all your favorite equipment from the very beginning.
- Spells and incantations: Every spell and incantation you have acquired will also be carried over. You’re prepared to cast all those devastating spells from the moment you step back into the Lands Between.
- Flask upgrades and talismans: Flask upgrades and all talismans, ensuring you maintain the level of power you achieved in your previous playthrough.
- Great Runes (After use): While you need to collect Great Runes again to activate their powers, you keep the knowledge that you obtained them before, so you are better informed.
- Crafting recipes: You will keep all of your crafting recipes, letting you to make useful consumables from the start.
What Doesn’t Carry Over to NG+?
While a lot of stuff comes with you into NG+, there are a few things you’ll need to start over:
- Key items: These will be reset, because it is important to find them again for story progress, such as medallions, story-related items, bell bearings, and graces. This ensures that you complete certain sections and areas with similar difficulties as before.
- Site of Grace progress: All graces must be discovered again, and you need to unlock the map again by acquiring the map fragments, this also gives the game a feeling of newness.
Why Play NG+?
So, why would you start all over? Here are a few reasons:
- Try out a different build: With all your previous resources at your disposal, NG+ allows you to experiment with a different character build. If you were a warrior last time, maybe it’s time for a mage.
- Experience a new ending: There are multiple endings to Elden Ring, and NG+ is a great way to explore them. You can use the same character but make different choices that might lead you to a new ending to the game.
- Test yourself at higher difficulties: Each time you begin NG+, the enemies get more powerful, which offers a new challenge for experienced players. You can test your skills against stronger enemies, and see how well you are at the game.
- Acquire anything you have missed: NG+ gives you another chance to explore every region you might have previously missed. This includes collecting any equipment, items, or completing optional side quests that you may not have found before.
- Complete all side quests: You can complete quests you might have missed or didn’t complete in the previous run.
- Enjoy the game again: You can enjoy this fantastic game from the beginning again, with new challenges and new choices for the endings, and a sense of power.
Exploring the Open World After the Final Boss
Even if you don’t want to jump straight into NG+, you can continue to explore the Lands Between in your current game world after beating the final boss. The world doesn’t change much after beating the final boss. This is a great option if you are not yet ready for a new journey, or you want to try other things.
What You Can Still Do
Even though the main story has concluded, you can still engage in many activities:
- Complete unfinished quests: If you missed any side quests or haven’t finished them yet, you can continue those and see them through to their conclusions.
- Find any items you may have missed: You can always go back to the areas where you have missed any equipment or collect any items in the game world that you didn’t get the first time.
- Tackle optional bosses: Elden Ring is full of optional bosses that you may have skipped the first time. You can go back to find and defeat them. This can be good for getting more practice and more items.
- Explore areas you did not visit before: You can always go back and explore areas that you didn’t get to visit in your first playthrough. Maybe you missed a hidden cave, or some areas at the edges of the map.
- Help other players as a cooperator: You can assist others players with difficult sections of the game as a co-operator. This is a good way to get more practice and to enjoy the game as well.
- Invade other players: If you enjoy PvP battles, you can continue to invade other player’s worlds, which is a very exciting and challenging way of playing the game.
Benefits of Post-Game Exploration
- Collect All Trophies: If you want to complete all the achievements in the game, it’s helpful to spend time in your game post ending. This will help you to collect trophies and complete all in-game achievements.
- Better Equipment: You can get even better equipment, try new spells, and try new strategies after you finish the game.
- Refine your skills: You can use this time to refine your skills and improve your overall gameplay in the game.
PvP and Co-op in the Post-Game World
The multiplayer aspects of Elden Ring remain active, even after you’ve defeated the Elden Beast. Whether you enjoy cooperative play or player-versus-player combat, the game still offers a lot to keep you entertained.
Cooperative Play
You can still team up with other players in the post-game world. You can help others fight the same bosses you’ve already defeated or assist them in exploring areas they might be struggling with. This is not only helpful for the other players but also a fun way to stay active in the game world.
Player Versus Player
The PvP aspect of the game is also available in the post-game world. You can invade other players’ worlds or engage in duels, testing your skills against other Tarnished. This helps add excitement and new challenges after finishing the main story.
- Duel: You can do a duel and test your skills against other players to show who the best is.
- Invade other player’s world: You can invade other players world and try to kill them to test your skills against them.
Preparing for Future Content
FromSoftware has also confirmed they will release a DLC (downloadable content) expansion for Elden Ring. Playing after beating the game lets you get prepared for this new content, especially if the new content is going to be difficult.
- Level up your character further: You can further level up your character to become even more powerful, and ready for the upcoming DLC.
- Collect important resources: You can collect more materials, items, and equipment. This could be very helpful in the future for crafting or any other new content.
- Experiment with different builds: You can continue testing and trying new builds, that can be helpful in the new content.
Different Play Styles After Beating the Game
After beating the game, you might find it interesting to try different playstyles to make the game feel new again. You can try focusing on using different spells, or different weapons, or try using a different fighting style to make the game feel new.
Experiment with Character Builds
You can try playing the game using different builds that you may not have tried before. This way you get new experience in the game. You could try using a mage build if you played a melee build, or you could try some other interesting build.
Challenge Runs
You can try doing different challenge runs, like a no death run, or a no level run, or other similar type of runs to add extra difficulty to the game. This makes the game more interesting for veteran players, and adds new challenges to the game that you may not have tried yet.
Play With Mods
If you are playing Elden Ring on PC, then you can use mods to enhance your experience with the game. There are many mods for the game that add new content, or alter gameplay mechanics. These types of mods will help you to get a new fresh experience with the game.
In conclusion, beating Elden Ring isn’t the end of your adventure. Whether you decide to dive into the challenging world of NG+, complete any remaining quests, engage in multiplayer action, or try new challenge runs, the Lands Between offers plenty to keep you occupied. So, keep exploring, keep fighting, and keep claiming your rightful place as the Elden Lord. There is still a lot that the game offers even after the main story is over. The world of Elden Ring is waiting.
Elden Ring: 10 Things To Do After You FINISH THE GAME
Final Thoughts
Yes, you can still play Elden Ring after beating the game. The game lets you continue exploring the world, complete side quests you may have missed, and gather items. This means the world remains open for your explorations.
You also have the option to start a New Game Plus, bringing your character’s power over to a fresh playthrough. This allows you to experience the story again, or just challenge yourself at a higher difficulty. The main answer is, can you still play elden ring after beating the game? absolutely.



