Fromsoftwarian world-building sometimes has centuries explained away in item descriptions for random rusty spoons, which makes hunting down all the lore nuggets just as satisfying as surviving bosses. One YouTuber has done the heavy lifting on Elden Ring for us, thankfully, but it’s also taken them over 35 hours to do so.
YouTuber SmoughTown has a knack for researching and explaining the lore behind several Soulslike hits, from Lords of the Fallen to the grand Dark Souls. Their latest series aims to explain “the entire lore” behind the studio’s magnum opus Elden Ring and its fractured demigod-housing setting The Lands Between.
How long can such an endeavor take? Well, the creator has been releasing smaller lore explanation videos since the open-worlder’s initial launch, but they more recently put out three compilation videos that exceed 35 hours in runtime altogether. The epic trilogy runs through everything, from explaining the backstories behind characters such as Malenia to theorizing about cosmic mysteries and the ideas that were merely scratched at in-game.
Comments were obviously filled with words of encouragement and even appreciation since – let’s face it – producing a document of that scale on Elden Ring is a serious academic achievement. Especially with the research and close reading involved in such a task.
But this is the internet and commenters had jokes aplenty to pull out. “Love these bite-sized uploads, hoping you’ll start uploading long-form content soon,” one comment joked. “Saving this video to watch 30 minutes every day while I do dishes,” another reads. That’s not exactly a joke, but more of a podcast-efficiency tip for you.