General Radahn might be holding back the stars, but the one star in Elden Ring he can't stop from shining is the open world. It's the main attraction of the game. Considering how it's a Souls game's first venture into unknown territory, they did surprisingly well. The Lands Between is overflowing with personality, just as much as its main bosses. With that said, some areas don't exactly feel like home.

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They either chew up the players upon entering and spit out their broken bones, or they're simply not fun compared to the rest. It's understandable for players to have a bit of favoritism when it comes to their region of choice in the Lands Between. So for fresh Elden Lords in the market for some real estate to settle into with their consort, here's how the Lands Between's regions measure up against one another.

Updated on June 2, 2022, by Sid Natividad: It has been a while since Elden Ring was released, but the game is as relevant as ever in the current industry landscape. Much of the game's strengths lie in the Elden Ring regions that make up the bulk of the open-world environment. All regions in Elden Ring seem to have been meticulously handcrafted to pack in as many secrets as possible.

At the same time, some of these Elden Ring regions are by themselves, the secrets. Such game design should be lauded and celebrated for subtlety and generosity. Thus, it's only natural to for this Elden Ring location ranking to receive its well-deserved update. For additional information, instructions on how to get to each area have also been detailed.

9 Consecrated Snowfield

elden ring consecrated snowfield
  • Optional area

It's an optional area that warrants curiosity from players since the characters needed to unlock the directions to this place are elusive. Getting to the place is also tough. So one could expect it to hold some interesting and valuable content, right? The reality is that Consecrated Snowfield is somewhat disappointing.

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It's just a huge frozen expanse with poor visibility due to the relentless snowstorms. The area also has too many Runebears or those pesky elemental wisps that can one-shot the players. It is important, however, as it houses the entry points to a couple of late-game Legacy Dungeons.

How to get here:

The road to Consecrated Snowfield is a long and tedious one. Players will have to follow the steps below. Players will need to acquire two medallions first.

  1. Head to the Village of the Albinaurics. It's the large dark village underneath the rectangular plateau southwest of Liurnia of the Lakes.
  2. From the Village of the Albinaurics grace, follow the village's incline eastward and traverse the cliff face.
  3. Look for a conspicuously isolated jar and strike it. It will transform into an NPC and give one-half of the Haligtree medallion.
  4. For the quest to other half of the Haligtree medallion, look for the Lakeside Crystal Cave.
  5. This cave is located southwest of Laskyar Ruins. Just follow the cliff face.
  6. Talk to Latenna outside of the Lakeside Crystal Cave. She'll point to the location of the other half of the medallion.
  7. The medallion's other half is in Castle Sol in Mountaintops of the Giants. In order to access this area, players will need to defeat Morgott.
  8. To reach Castle Sol, head to the northernmost part of the Mountaintops of the Giants.
  9. Defeat Commander Niall in Castle Sol to get the other half of the Haligtree medallion.
  10. Head back to the Grand Lift of Rold and activate the secret function in the lift.

8 Mountaintops Of The Giants

mountaintops-of-the-giants-bridge-in-elden-ring
  • Mandatory area

The Mountaintops of the Giants consists of nearly half of all the Lands Between but don't be fooled by the size on the map. The actual playable area in this region is rather small. It's not as interesting as it appears. There are lots of empty areas in this region.

Regardless, the whole place is a wondrous frigid mountain trek. The place is also rich in history since it's also possibly the largest graveyard in the Lands Between— full of frozen corpses of giants and trolls as well as the slain minions of Marika and Godfrey when they conquered the place. Too bad it's topped off by one of the cheapest bosses in the game (Fire Giant).

How to get here:

Unlocking the Mountaintops of the Giants is part of the main quest. But in any case, players will have to:

  1. Collect two Great Runes first (defeat Godrick and Rennala or Radahn).
  2. Head to Altus Plateau, and defeat the Draconic Tree Sentinel on the northern entrance to access Leyndell.
  3. Defeat Morgott in Leyndell.
  4. Head to Grand Lift of Rold.

7 Altus Plateau

altus plateau in elden ring
  • Mandatory area

The Altus Plateau is a mid-game area and while it's an interesting region, it's where the quality of the open world and the game start dropping gradually. This huge golden area is filled with repeated bosses and enemies. Tree Sentinel, Gargoyles, even Margit again! They're all here in their recycled glory.

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It's also home to some minor dungeons and Evergaols but even the majority of those are filled with re-used bosses. But thanks to the Lovecraftian enemies in the sunken valley of Altus Plateau as well as the dancing windmill women, the area still manages to offset all the repeated and reskinned bosses and big enemies.

How to get here:

Getting to the Altus Plateau is also part of the main quest. However, there are two methods for unlocking the Altus Plateau. One is through the Grand Lift of Rold by following these instructions:

  1. Head to Fort Haight, south of the Third Church of Marika, and go up the Fort's tower to get the Dectus medallion.
  2. For the other half of the Dectus medallion, go to Fort Faroth in Dragonbarrow, Caelid. There's a chest at the top of the Fort that contains the medallion.
  3. With both medallions, proceed to the Grand Lift of Dectus located northeast of Liurnia of the Lakes, following the main road.

The other method involves going through the Ruin-Strewn Precipice which is an abandoned mine near the Grand Lift of Dectus.

  1. To get to the Ruin-Strewn Precipice's entrance, follow the water in Liurnia of the Lakes to the northeast.
  2. Players will have to defeat a Magma-Wyrm boss near the end of the Ruin-Strewn Precipice to unlock the elevator to the Altus Plateau.

6 Weeping Peninsula

Castle-Morne-Elden-Ring
  • Optional area

The Weeping Peninsula is a dead-end— an area where players go to if they need levels before fighting Margit or before proceeding to Liurnia of the Lakes. Despite being a side region, the Weeping Peninsula has plenty of interesting stories to tell.

Castle Morne's tragic decline in process as well as the heartbreaking Irina questline is a classic callback to Souls stories of old. It's also a great place for exploration and is bound to awe players since there's a Walking Mausoleum to the west and a valuable mine containing plenty of Smithing Stones.

How to get here:

To reach the Weeping Peninsula, players just have to follow the road southeast from Agheel Lake North grace. Once they reach the bridge, they'll have to follow the road south and keep going until they reach the Bridge of Sacrifice. Past that large bridge is the Weeping Peninsula.

5 Underground

siofra river in elden ring
  • Optional area

This region consists of Nokron, Siofra River, Deeproot Depths, Nokstella, Lake of Rot, and Moghwyn Palace. Of those areas, Lake of Rot and Moghwyn Palace detract from the overall fun factor as those deathtraps are too troublesome to traverse.

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Even so, the rest of the locations, notably Siofra River are the stuff of dreams. The whole ceiling or skyline of this huge cave network is a fake starry night sky. Meanwhile, Deeproot Depths holds many secrets and also sates those who are curious about the Erdtree as that area is literally the root of the Erdtree.

How to get here:

There are several underground areas in Elden Ring and some of them are not connected to one another. However, two can easily be accessed from the early part of the game. These underground entrances are:

  • Siofra River Well in eastern Limgrave just south of the Third Church of Marika grace.
  • Ainsel River Well on the eastern banks of Liurnia of the Lakes. It's also located directly east of the Church of Vows.

From these early entrances, players can access the other underground regions.

4 Liurnia Of The Lakes

liurnia of the lakes in elden ring
  • Mandatory area

Players can completely skip Stormveil Castle (and Margit) and head to this region if they want. That reason alone is enough to put Liurnia of the Lakes in many players' favorites. It's practically a swamp area that was somehow chosen as a perfect spot for a top magic school. If players get sick of all the water, they can just seek the land around the lake.

Once they get to dry ground, they'll find a battlefield where soldiers of different factions duke it out in a war with no victor. In any case, there's no shortage of areas to explore in this huge area. It's also home to some of the most important quests in the game and many shortcuts.

How to get here:

Liurnia of the Lakes is a mandatory area in the game as it also houses the entrances to the Altus Plateau. In order to get here, there are two methods:

  1. Go to Stormveil Castle and defeat Godrick, the Grafted. His throne room has an exit that leads to Liurnia of the Lakes.
  2. Go around Stormveil Castle (skip the area) and head straight to Liurnia by following the road north from Stormhill Shack and jumping around the castle walls.

3 Caelid

ELDEN-RING-Caelid-Landscape-Red-Sky
  • Semi-mandatory area (can be safely skipped if players already have two Great Runes)

Caelid, also known as "Australia" or "Florida" or "Ohio," is a lovely land of death thanks to Malenia spreading her space rabies known as Scarlet Rot. It's also thanks to that Outer God's influence that Caelid became an eternal battleground. There, General Radahn's men fight a perpetual battle with Malenia's Cleanrot Knights and the Scarlet Rot itself using fire.

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A lot of players tend to get intimidated by this horror hellscape since everything in Caelid is red and angry or creepy; but once they get used to the bird-watching and the T-Rex dog petting zoo, it's actually a good place to explore and earn some Runes.

How to get here:

From Stormhill Shack, keep following the big main road east. Ride past the bridge, past Summonwater Village, and past the Smoldering Church. The sky and the ground will soon turn red and desolate. By then, it's not too late for players to regret their decision and turn back. Otherwise, they should just keep following the road.

2 Mt. Gelmir

Elden-Ring-Mt-Gelmir
  • Optional area

It's easy to miss the entirety of Mt. Gelmir since the only direct (non-teleport) access to it is through a ladder that's hard to see. Those who have risked it all to see this volcano up close will be rewarded not just with cool and overpowered weapons but also some of the most enjoyable questlines in Elden Ring.

There are also tons of new enemies in Mt. Gelmir. The snake people are the most noteworthy among these as they have their own rich lore that's well-connected to the scandalous secrets of the Volcano Manor. Just be careful not to join the Serpent King Famileee and devour the gods togethaaa.

How to get here:

Mt. Gelmir is the mountainous area to the west of the Altus Plateau. Players can easily access this after they have unlocked the Altus Plateau as per the instructions detailed above. After entering through the Ruin-Strewn Precipice or the Grand Lift of Dectus, players can just head west for a hike to Mt. Gelmir.

1 Limgrave

Elden-Ring-Limgrave-walthrough-featuredimage-scaled
  • Mandatory area

All those mid and high-level areas made the game progression better but what really sold the players into progressing this game is none other than Limgrave. The very first area in the game and the way the players are introduced to the open world is nothing short of breathtaking.

The first view out of the tutorial cave into Limgrave is a summary of what the players can achieve and a clear view of their goal. That giant tree is begging to be explored and Varre is begging to be smacked. In any case, Limgrave is the very region that hooks newcomers into the Souls formula and also treats veterans into something new and original. This region is also the strongest argument for Elden Ring deserving Game of the Year awards.

How to get here:

Just exit the tutorial cave.

Elden Ring is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Microsoft Windows.

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