Elden Ring is nearly here, and while critics have praised the game's open world, art direction, and combat, it still leaves more than a little to be desired on the performance front.

　　As reported by Eurogamer's Digital Foundry, Elden Ring struggles to achieve 60fps, even with the game's day-one patch installed and when running in performance mode on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. Players can expect frame rates to dip between 45-60fps in performance mode, while playing Elden Ring in the higher resolution quality mode dips the frame rate floor even lower to 30fps. Digital Foundry reports that 60fps is "rarely--if ever--achieved on PS5 or Series X."

　　There are, however, some solutions. If you have a variable refresh rate display, playing on the Series X or S will create a smoother experience by matching the screen's refresh rate to the game's frame rate. On PS5, the best way to achieve a more stable experience is to play the PS4 version of the game on current generation hardware. This results in a stable 60fps, but at the cost of a lower resolution and fewer graphical bells and whistles displayed on screen when compared to the PS5 version.

　　Elden Ring's PC version suffers from its own bag of issues. Digital Foundry reports stuttering when new enemies or effects appear on the screen, as well as when moving into new areas. The PC version also doesn't include support for frame rates above 60fps, as well as no support for ultrawide monitors and what Digital Foundry describes as "unintuitive graphical options that lack visible scaling."

　　As it stands right now, some performance-focused fans may want to wait for future patches before exploring From Software's latest RPG. For those who don't mind a few frame rate dips, here's a breakdown of when Elden Ring officially releases around the world and how much hard drive space you'll need. The game is even technically playable early for Xbox users who are willing to change their console's region.

　　Reviews have been nearly universally positive for Elden Ring, with the dark fantasy epic currently sitting at a Metacritic score of 97. GameSpot's Elden Ring review awarded the game a 10/10, calling it "a modern masterpiece of open-world design that places exploration and player agency at the heart of the experience."