How To Tell What New Game Youre On Elden Ring

How to Tell What New Game You’re On in Elden Ring

So, you’ve beaten the Elden Beast and become Elden Lord (or maybe a different ending!). Now you’re ready to jump back into the Lands Between, maybe for a new challenge or to grab that weapon you missed. But wait – are you on a brand-new adventure, or are you still in the same world with all your progress? It’s easy to get confused, especially when the game throws you right back into the fray after the credits. Let’s figure out how to tell which “New Game” you’re playing in Elden Ring. Knowing which playthrough you’re on is crucial for planning your builds, item hunts, and the overall progression of your character, because this game has the feature called new game plus, and you would not want to mix your characters progress. This guide is here to help you understand the difference between playthroughs.

Understanding Elden Ring’s New Game System

Elden Ring, like other FromSoftware games, has a “New Game Plus” or “NG+” system. This means after finishing the main story, you can start a new journey with your current character, keeping most of your stuff. But this isn’t exactly the same as starting a completely fresh game. Let’s break down the differences.

• New Game (NG): This is your first playthrough, where you start from scratch as a brand new Tarnished. Everything is at its base level.
• New Game Plus (NG+): This is any playthrough after beating the game at least once, where you continue your journey with your current character’s stats, weapons, spells, and items. The enemies are tougher, and some new items are available on each subsequent NG+.

The confusion comes from the fact that both options start you back at the beginning of the game. So, how do we tell them apart?

Key Indicators: The Starting Area

The first few moments after starting a new game are crucial in identifying which playthrough you’re on. Here’s how to analyze your initial environment:

The Chapel of Anticipation

Your adventure in Elden Ring always starts in the Chapel of Anticipation. This is the small church-like area where you first find yourself. Here’s what to look for:

• New Game (NG): When you start a fresh game, you will find yourself in this chapel without any items or levels. You’ll see the corpse of a Tarnished on the ground, and you’ll pick up your first item from there. You will be a level one character, and you don’t have any grace points activated, not even the starting one.
• New Game Plus (NG+): If you’re on any NG+ cycle, you’ll still start in the Chapel of Anticipation, but you will have all of your character’s stats, weapons, spells, and equipment. When you load into the game, you will not have to pick your class from the character creation screen, instead, you will be dropped as you character is at the end of previous gameplay. The grace point in the chapel will be activated. Also, you will have all of your flasks and other items that you had during the last gameplay.

The Inventory Check: Your Starting Gear

Checking your inventory is a simple way to tell if you’re on a new game or a new game plus. Your inventory will tell you immediately where you’re currently at. Here are the things to look for in your inventory.

Weapons, Armor, and Talismans

• New Game (NG): You’ll have nothing except the starting class equipment that you chose from character creation. You’ll have no weapons, armor or talismans except what you pick during the very first start of the game.
• New Game Plus (NG+): Your inventory will be filled with the gear your character had at the end of the previous playthrough. This includes every weapon, piece of armor, and talisman you owned.

Flasks and Key Items

• New Game (NG): You will start with an empty flask inventory, just as the very first time you played this game.
• New Game Plus (NG+): You will have all the flasks that you had at the end of previous game. Your flask amount and flask level will remain the same as it was during last playthrough. Also, you will retain the key items that are related to game progression, such as Stonesword Keys, but you will not retain quest-related key items, like the medallion halves.

Character Stats and Level

Your character’s stats and level are also great indicators for telling apart a new game from a new game plus. This difference can be seen just by seeing your character level. Here’s how to tell using this information:

• New Game (NG): You’ll be at level 1 with the base stats for your starting class, and you will have to choose the class you would like to start with at the first screen.
• New Game Plus (NG+): You’ll start with your character’s level and the stats that you had when you beat the Elden Beast. You’ll be ready to face the challenges of the Lands Between with all the power you’ve accumulated.

In NG+, your character stats will not be reset, they will remain the same as when you finished your last playthrough. If you ended your previous playthrough at level 150, you will still be at level 150 when you start your NG+ run.

The Map: Grace Points and Unlocked Areas

The map is another way to know if you are in a new game, or new game plus. Let’s look at how it can help:

• New Game (NG): Your map will be completely blank, and you’ll have to discover all the Sites of Grace again. All locations will be grayed out.
• New Game Plus (NG+): Your map will have all the Sites of Grace that you’ve already discovered, and all the locations that you’ve already traveled will be on the map. This will be a big help at the start of the game.

The map is a fantastic indicator, because the starting point for both game modes are same, but the map will never be the same.

Game Difficulty and Enemy Scaling

While it’s subtle in the early areas, game difficulty is a key aspect of New Game Plus. Here’s what changes:

• New Game (NG): The enemies are at their base strength, and they are at the intended difficulty for your level one character.
• New Game Plus (NG+): Enemies will have higher health and deal more damage. This increased difficulty is meant to provide a challenge for leveled-up characters, and will slowly be increased for every next game cycle. Some enemy placements might also change.

Additional Indicators in NG+

While the core indicators we discussed are the most reliable, some additional things show that you’re in an NG+:

New Items and Changes

• Some items or resources might be found in different places or be more abundant in NG+, and some of the bosses may drop items that they would not drop in new game.
• Some enemy attack patterns might have slight variations from the new game.

Dialogue Hints

• Some non-player characters might have different or additional lines of dialogue when you meet them in NG+, which may hint that you are in new game plus.

Why Knowing Your Playthrough Matters

It’s very important to know what playthrough you’re currently in. It will help you manage a number of things during the game. Here’s a quick breakdown of why:

• Planning Builds: If you’re trying a specific build, knowing if you’re in NG or NG+ helps you plan your leveling and gear collection efficiently.
• Item Hunting: Knowing you’re in NG+ means you won’t be wasting time looking for items you already have. This will also help you collect new items that are only available in NG+.
• Managing Difficulty: Starting NG+ means you know the game will be harder, and you can prepare for the challenge. You will also be able to challenge yourself more by doing no hit runs, and different kinds of challenge runs.
• New Content: Some unique things might only appear in NG+, like different enemy placement or some small alterations to the gameplay, that are not available in new game.

Quick Checklist: How To Know Your Playthrough

Here’s a simple checklist to quickly figure out what game you’re on:

1. Starting Area: Check if you’re at the Chapel of Anticipation. Is the grace point activated?
2. Inventory: Check your inventory, do you have any items, or do you have a completely empty inventory?
3. Stats: Check your character stats, if they are level one, then you are in a new game, or if they are your previous gameplay level, then you are in new game plus.
4. Map: Check if grace points are activated, or if the map is completely blacked out.

By going through this list, you can easily figure out whether you are in new game or new game plus.

Troubleshooting: If You’re Still Confused

If you’re still not sure after checking all of these, try the following:

• Create a New Character: If you still have doubts, create a new character to confirm what new game looks like.
• Compare with Past Saves: Try to remember what items you had when you beat the game, so when you start the new playthrough, you can tell where you are just by looking at your inventory.
• Watch Gameplay: Watch some gameplay footage of the starting area of a new game and a new game plus, and then compare your gameplay.

Now you will know all the things to look out for, and there will be no confusion. Happy hunting, Tarnished!