There is one new game option in Elden Ring, which is a New Game Plus mode that lets you restart with your character and progress.
So, you’re wondering how many new games in Elden Ring there actually are? It’s a fair question for anyone delving into the Lands Between. Players often expect multiple separate campaigns to explore. However, Elden Ring takes a slightly different approach to its post-game content.
Instead of several distinct new playthroughs, the game features a singular New Game Plus. This mode allows you to replay the story with your existing character and gear.
Therefore, you can expect only one method to restart a fresh journey while retaining your progress and character. This provides a new challenge on the previous map.
How Many New Games in Elden Ring? Unraveling the NG+ Experience
Elden Ring, the massive action RPG from FromSoftware, offers a vast world full of secrets, challenges, and, of course, many ways to play. After you finish the main story for the first time, a brand-new journey begins: New Game Plus, often called NG+. But how many times can you actually play through Elden Ring in this way? It’s not just about replaying the same story. NG+ changes things up, making each playthrough feel a bit different. Let’s dig into what makes each NG+ run special and just how many you can experience.
Understanding New Game Plus in Elden Ring
Before we talk about the specific number of NG+ cycles, it’s helpful to understand what it actually means. In Elden Ring, when you finish the game, you don’t just get a “The End” screen and that’s it. You have the choice to begin a new adventure with your current character. This is the essence of New Game Plus. Starting a NG+ cycle allows you to keep your levels, most of your items, and your learned spells or skills. Think of it as hitting the reset button on the world, but you get to keep all the cool stuff you worked so hard to get. This opens up new ways to experience challenges and try different builds for your Tarnished.
What Carries Over into NG+?
Here’s a quick look at what you get to bring with you into a fresh NG+:
- Character Level and Stats: Your hard-earned levels and the stats they provided stay intact. All that strength, dexterity, intelligence, and arcane remains.
- Equipment: Most of your weapons, armor, talismans, and crafting items transfer over. You won’t lose those amazing swords or cool looking armor sets you collected.
- Spells and Incantations: All the sorceries and incantations that you learned are available from the beginning of your new journey. No need to hunt them down again… at first.
- Key Items: Most, but not all, key items are kept. This means things like the flask upgrades you discovered will be there, but you’ll have to find the key items for major quests again.
What Gets Reset?
Not everything is carried over. Here’s what gets reset when you jump into NG+:
- Story Progression: All the progress you made in the main story is reset. You’ll start at the very beginning of the game, just like your first playthrough.
- Map Discoveries: The fog of war will cover the Lands Between again. You will need to re-explore the map and activate sites of grace.
- Boss Encounters: All the bosses you previously defeated will be there waiting for a rematch. Get ready for those challenging fights again.
- Great Runes: While you keep them, they have to be activated again by using them in the divine towers, but the activation won’t be reset by going to new game plus.
- Sites of Grace: While they are on the map, you’ll have to reactivate them individually.
The Number of New Game Plus Cycles in Elden Ring
Now, for the big question: how many times can you play through Elden Ring in NG+? The answer is that Elden Ring lets you play through the game up to seven times in total. That’s the initial playthrough (NG) and then six additional NG+ cycles, reaching NG+6, and after this you are unable to continue to NG+7. After you complete the main story for the seventh time, you are given an option to start again at NG+1. It’s essential to know each of these runs will make the game progressively more difficult.
Why Keep Playing NG+?
You might be wondering why you would want to play through the game multiple times like this. There are many reasons! For some, it’s about experiencing the story with a powerful character. You can breeze through the early parts of the game and focus on finding secrets you might have missed the first time. For others, it’s about challenging themselves with increasingly harder enemies and bosses. Each NG+ cycle adds to the difficulty, testing your skills and build. NG+ also lets you explore different choices and endings. Elden Ring has multiple endings, and each one needs a dedicated run to see how the story and world are affected.
The Difficulty Increase in Each NG+ Cycle
The most noticeable change in each NG+ cycle is the increase in difficulty. Enemies will have more health and will deal more damage. This change is not linear; the difficulty spikes significantly in NG+1 and then gradually increases in subsequent cycles. The first increase is very noticeable, making the beginning areas feel fresh and challenging again. After NG+1 the changes are smaller, but they are definitely present, especially against some of the later game bosses. These changes force players to think strategically about their builds and make use of all the tools at their disposal.
Bosses in NG+
Bosses in Elden Ring become much tougher as you move through each NG+ cycle. Not only do their health pools and damage output increase, but you’ll also notice them using more aggressive tactics. These battles require even more skill, precise timing, and smart use of your abilities. The bosses who gave you trouble on your first run might make you pull your hair out on NG+! But that is a part of the fun for many players.
Exploring New Builds and Strategies
One of the main appeals of NG+ is the opportunity to experiment with new builds. Since you keep your levels and most of your gear, you have the chance to try out different character styles that you might have been curious about. You could go from a heavy strength build to a nimble dexterity build, or explore the world of magic and incantations. NG+ allows you to re-spec your character, allowing you to completely change your character’s playstyle.
Using Different Weapons and Armor
With all of your equipment carried over, you have access to a ton of options. You might want to use weapons that you didn’t have access to in your first playthrough. Maybe you want to explore a sorcery build using those spells you picked up earlier, or you might want to focus on incantations and faith based gameplay. This is a great time to try out all those cool-looking weapons you may have never used and find new favourites.
Experimenting With Spells and Incantations
Spells and incantations also become a major part of your NG+ experience. You could switch your character style completely, trying spells you never really used. You might even try focusing on faith for incantations or building up a mighty intelligence character for massive spells. Many players enjoy experimenting in Elden Ring to discover a new favorite spell or a great new build.
Hunting Down Missed Items and Secrets
Elden Ring is a very large game, it is nearly impossible to find everything on a single playthrough. NG+ gives you the perfect opportunity to explore any areas you missed, pick up weapons, armor, spells, or other key items you didn’t find the first time. There is always something that players will discover no matter how much time they spend in the world.
Finding Optional Bosses and Dungeons
Elden Ring has plenty of optional areas that you might have overlooked the first time. Some optional bosses also reward very powerful gear. The extra difficulty of NG+ adds a sense of challenge to these explorations, making even old dungeons feel fresh again.
Unlocking Different Endings
Elden Ring offers several endings, and seeing them all requires multiple playthroughs. NG+ makes it much easier to reach these different endings, as your strong character is able to breeze through certain sections that once gave you trouble. This gives you a chance to see the impact of different choices you can make in the game.
How to Access New Game Plus
It’s simple to start a new NG+ cycle. After you defeat the final boss of the game and the credits roll, you’ll be given a choice to start a new journey. If you select this option you will be taken to the Roundtable Hold and be ready to embark on a new adventure. If you choose to not start a new adventure right away, you can return to the Roundtable Hold any time you wish to start your new playthrough.
Final Thoughts on NG+ Cycles
Elden Ring’s NG+ system is a really fun way to extend the game’s life. With six additional playthroughs after your first run, you have a ton of time to try different character builds, fight tough bosses, and see parts of the world you might have missed. Every new journey will bring new challenges, and make you learn and adapt. Whether you want to breeze through the game with a very strong character, try a new playstyle, or just explore the world more, NG+ has you covered. The gradual increase in difficulty is challenging, without being too harsh, it’s a great way to keep the game feeling fresh. It makes the game worth playing many times, always giving you something new to enjoy. The New Game Plus system is a major part of what makes Elden Ring such a great game.
Elden Ring – What Happens If You Begin Journey 2?
Final Thoughts
Elden Ring offers a few options for starting over after completion. Players can begin a New Game Plus, carrying over character progression. Alternatively, they can make a fresh character entirely.
There is no set number of distinct, brand new games within Elden Ring. The primary options are New Game Plus or a completely new save. Therefore, focusing on ‘how many new games in elden ring’ is misleading, because the core game experience remains consistent.
