Elden Ring had a gigantic opening day on PC

By Otto Kratky February 25, 2022

FromSoftware’s latest game, Elden Ring, was obviously going to be popular at launch, but the numbers from its first day on PC are staggering. According to Steam, the game has been flooded with players, and at times has topped the concurrent players chart with over 700,000 active users.

At the time of writing, Elden Ring‘s concurrent player count is second only to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. However, even taking that second-place spot is no small task. Elden Ring currently has more players than a number of well-established games on the platform, including Player Unknown’s: Battlegrounds, Dota 2, and even Lost Ark. Beating out that last title is especially impressive, considering how quickly Lost Ark itself dominated Steam.

While Elden Ring is sure to be popular on Steam for some time, don’t expect the game to retain its massive player base. Other games that make up the platform’s top 10 concurrent player list are either live-service games or MMOs, all with repeatable content or frequent content updates. Players always have a reason to go back to these games and sink more time into them. Elden Ring on the other hand may have a ton of content for players to explore, but won’t be updated the same way as, say, Grand Theft Auto V.

Elden Ring may also be getting more players in the coming days now that the Steam Deck has officially launched. Valve recently announced that the game, along with a few of FromSoftware’s Dark Souls games, is verified for Steam Deck, meaning players can hop right into The Lands Between without a single problem on the mobile console.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…

Gaming

How to beat Balteus in Armored Core 6

Two mechs facing off about to fight.

The first chapter of Armored Core 6 will teach you all the basics you need to know when jumping into your AC mech on a mission. You might face a tough mission or two here and there, and even a challenging boss, but you likely won't hit a real roadblock until the final boss of chapter 1, Balteus. This boss acts much differently from any enemy you faced before, and won't go easy on you. If you're struggling to survive in this hectic encounter, here's how to beat Balteus in Armored Core 6.
Balteus boss guide

Why will Balteus give you so much trouble? This is the first boss with a shield, and it can unleash what feels like an impossible amount of missiles upon you. When entering this fight, it is important that you have something that can quickly deal with its shields, such as a pulse gun or strong assault rifle, plus something on your shoulders like missile launchers for when it's time to deal direct damage.

Gaming

The best OS Tuning upgrades in Armored Core 6

A mech carrying things overlooks a destroyed world in Armored Core 6's reveal trailer.

As much as you're a pilot in Armored Core 6, you're just as much a mechanic. Almost every mission will have you back in the garage swapping out parts, buying new ones, replacing weapons, and customizing your mech for the task at hand. This is quite different from typical FromSoftware games due to the fact that you can't actually improve any weapon or mech part, but that doesn't mean the only way to get better is to buy new parts. OS Tuning upgrades play a major part in your build by giving you a wide range of advantages at the cost of OS Tuning chips you earn from the Arena. These come in passive and active types, and you can unlock and keep all the passives active at once, but will need to pick and choose between active ones. Here are the most powerful OS upgrades you should spend your chips on in Armored Core 6.
Best OS upgrades

Quick Turn
Do yourself a massive favor and significantly improve your quality of life in Armored Core 6 by unlocking Quick Turn. This maneuver lets you snap your mech to either side, or completely flip around, without having to manually rotate around slowly. The only slight trouble is that it is awkward to pull off since the input is using your left analog stick to point in whichever direction you want to turn and you need to press the boost button, which can occasionally send you blasting off when you didn't intend to.
Repair Kits
If you're a FromSoft fan, Repair Kits are your Estus Flasks in Armored Core 6. Unlike the Estus, however, you can never get more than three of them at a time. The only upgrade you can apply to them is with this OS one that buffs how many Armored Points (AP) each one restores by 500 for each level you upgrade it. Once you get tankier mechs, upgrading your kits to max will be almost mandatory to make them at all useful, unless you're so good you just never need to heal.
Assault Armor
Do you find yourself getting swarmed and annoyed at how hard it is to get those little pests off of you? Assault Armor is your "get off me" move that creates a small blast surrounding your mech that deals damage and stagger on anything that's too close for comfort. You don't hurt yourself using it, and each upgrade you invest in lets you use it more times per mission.
Explosive Weapons
Missiles, grenades, and anything that goes boom is probably a key part of your arsenal already. These are already the weapons with the highest damage potential in the game, so why not make them even more powerful? The Explosive Weapons upgrade isn't going to make your weapons too overpowered, with each upgrade only giving you a 3% damage increase, but that can add up fast once you get to the max rank.
Direct Hit Modifier
Similar to Sekiro, staggering enemies in Armored Core 6 is a major mechanic for the flow of combat that lets you get in a lot of damage quickly and without danger. You need to make the most of these opportunities whenever you create them, especially on bosses, so Direct Hit Modifier is an easy upgrade to recommend as it will increase the damage you do to a staggered enemy by 5% per upgrade.

Gaming

The best weapons in Armored Core 6

A boss fight in Armored Core 6.

Time to load up for your next mission, merc. Your mech is your real character in Armored Core 6, and the different components you attach to it can completely change how it functions. There are different legs, cores, and all types of ways to change up your mech, but the most immediate and important has to be your weapon loadout. These can range from melee weapons and shotguns to massive missile launchers and Gatling guns. Since your mech can hold weapons in both hands and on each shoulder, there's a lot of room to experiment and give yourself options. Still, weapons aren't cheap and credits aren't always easy to come by as a gun for hire, so here are the best weapons in Armored Core 6 to invest in first.
Best Armored Core 6 weapons

Vvvc-774LS Laser Slicer
Let's begin with a melee weapon, which is far more useful in a game with rifles and lasers than you might expect. This is great for cleaving through mobs of smaller enemies thanks to its wide attack range and the fact that each swing counts as two hits. With an attack power of 1,615, that's a lot of damage coming out very fast -- and that's not even considering the ability to charge it up while advancing. It is on the heavier side for its class, and takes a while to "reload," but is a perfect way to get some breathing room if you get swarmed.
VP-60LCS Laser Cannon
If you need an early shoulder-mounted laser weapon, the VP-60LCS is a great one you can pick up in Chapter 1. They do decent damage, but the real usefulness comes in their staggering ability. Their rate of fire is essentially as fast as you can pull the trigger, and without a need to reload, you can rely on them whenever you need to so long as you don't overheat.
DF-GA-08-HU-BEN Gatling Gun
Sometimes we just want to hold down the trigger and make our problems go away. That's what Gatling guns are for, and this one ranks among the best. Each round will obviously do little damage, but with 1,300 rounds to chew through, not much can hold out against its sustained fire. Having one or two of these in your hands to follow up after stunning enemies with a laser weapon results in the perfect combo.
Songbirds Grenade Cannon
You won't have access to heavy explosives like the Songbirds until around midway into the game, but it is a must-buy as soon as you can. As you would expect, these explosives deal a ton of impact damage that has a decent area of effect if you're firing near a group. As a cherry on top, the grenades also inflict a high amount of stagger, so they're quite useful against bosses as well.
BML-G1/P07VTC-12 Vertical Missile Launcher
We couldn't close out a list of best weapons without a missile launcher, could we? For your money, this model is king. This shoulder-mounted weapon of mass destruction houses 12 missiles in its case that are ready to track your targets down, even behind cover and around obstacles. Just lock on to up to a dozen targets and let the missiles do the work from there.