After 800 hours, the most thorough Elden Ring player I’ve ever seen is preparing to start their “perfect playthrough” after trying “every build I can think of” while barely leaving the starting area

Elden Ring is the sort of game you could easily spend 100 hours in without seeing everything, but you’d expect that after 800, you’d have beaten the Soulslike at least a few times. That’s not the case for one player, though, who’s shared their enormous 807-hour playtime on Reddit with the proclamation that they’ve “done absolutely nothing” for the whole duration.

While that’s a slight exaggeration, it’s clear to see from Reddit user Mushroom_hero’s game progress percentage and PlayStation trophy stats that they’ve barely scratched the surface of the action RPG’s main objectives. With an estimated 33% of the main story completed and 12 out of the 42 possible trophies obtained, you might be wondering where all of those hours went, and the answer is simple – into many, many new playthroughs.

“I’ve done like every build I can think of, usually I’ll screw up a quest line, get pissed I wasted my smithing stones, or just decide I want to do it all over again but this time a little different,” Mushroom_hero explains. 

With so many different builds to choose from, you can’t blame them for wanting to give everything a go – they think they’ve “probably cleared Limgrave with every weapon.” Although it’s possible to respec your Tarnished after you’ve beaten Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon, the player says “it’s like an immersion thing” for them to start anew. “I want to go in from the start like ’this is who this character is’ if that makes any sense,” they add.

Over 800hours and done absolutely nothing. AMA from r/Eldenring

As for what they’ve achieved, Mushroom_hero says they’ve obtained trophies for defeating Godrick the Grafted, Rennala, Margit the Fell Omen, Starscourge Radahn, Red Wolf of Radagon, Royal Knight Loretta, Leonine Misbegotten, Regal Ancestor Spirit, Elemer of the Briar, and Magma Wyrm Makar. In terms of exploration, “the farthest I’ve gone is the capital sewers”, but they reckon they’ve completed all of Limgrave, 90% of Liurnia of the Lakes, and around half of Caelid. 

After all this time though, it sounds like Elden Beast might want to watch out, because the player says “I’m ready to start my perfect playthrough now.” They continue: “I know what path to take, weapon to use, what order to do it, this [ask me anything] was like my last step. Baptized in Reddit insults, ready to claim the Elden Ring.” There’s no doubt that their victory is going to feel sweet when they finally claim it. 

If you’re playing through Elden Ring’s DLC, be sure to check out our guide to all Shadow of the Erdtree Remembrance bosses so you don’t miss any cool fights.