Because its a great game, with a good marketing campaing and a lot of persuasive subjects (bosses, story, so on).

Im playing HFW now and ow lord, how I miss ER

Its one of the best games ever.

I think it's because it is open and not just a set path. Newer people or people that aren't good would get stuck in a normal souls game and that's it. Maybe give up and never come back. Elden Ring you can just go off somewhere else and evolve or explore. To me, the exploration is the best part of this game, but I'm not a hard-core souls gamer. Either way, the game is good. For them to be surprised at the response to it is a bit weird tho.

It's the open world. I always got frustrated in the other souls/Bourne game. With elden ring I was able to just go somewhere else when I got stuck on Margit. Allowed me to learn more of the systems. Get some practice on mini bosses. Just generally learn more about how everything worked. The open nature help fight off frustration. I'm looking forward to playing the older games now that I have elden ring under my belt. Hoping it really taught me to be more ok with failure and keep trying. Maybe, just maybe, im finally gitting gud.

Unlock framerate on PC, an official update. Devs need to make all PC games with an unlocked framerate they are not consoles stop developing games on PC with a console mindset.

- Open World
- Their most accessible game yet
- Game of Thrones guy is involved

I would say a few factors contributed.
1: great story and lore
2: tight controls and fluid gameplay
3: beautiful world filled with secrets
4: the company has become well known and established itself as a top tier game developer
5: lots and lots of marketing done well
6: the game struck a perfect balance of difficulty and accessibility.
Elden is 2nd on my list of best souls games.
1: bloodborne
2: elden ring
3: dark souls 3
4: demon souls remake

I like eden ring but In my opinion I like dark souls and bloodborn more

Well Elden ring has 16 times the detail....I mean content more than other RPG games in recent years. Also making the choices of builds so vast and lively open world is something that other games should strife for. Usually even now the open worlds usually feel like empty voids.

Souls games are level oriented where it really locks you down from areas unless you beat a boss first to move on. Elden Ring still has that boss battle scenario but is more open and the option to bypass many bosses and play a large portion of the game without even fighting a boss until you want to is possible.

Dark Souls games really do more compartmentalize the game areas versus Elden Ring more open world play. A huge difference in play for many.

The open world for this style of game makes it easier to get into in my opinion. Also I would like to think the HEAVY nods to Berserk and passing of Miura played a role as well. Also as a result of all that I think the aesthetics and lore of the world blended in a way that drew people in.

I know why it's more popular, it's more accessible. If you get stuck on something, you can just go somewhere else rather than dying repeatedly and smashing your head against the wall. Level grinding is more of an option for those who want to get a little OP and reduce the difficulty. Furthermore, the game is absolutely stunningly beautiful. Everything looks like a painting. I never imagined I'd get into an open world game that does the opposite of hold your hand, but there is just so much to explore and discover, so many gameplay options and approaches. Despite making something completely new, and pretty original, it ends up being less niche.

To sum it up, it's a game. Today, very few games are actually released. We play monetization schemes mostly. So, people go crazy when an actual game is released.