A Maidenless Run of Elden Ring
May 11, 2022
From my Youtube channel with a meager 161 subscribers, I created a comedic challenge run series of the game Elden Ring. In just the first two videos of the series, I amassed over a half a million views and nearly 10k subscribers. My channel now sits at over 1 million views on Youtube and a couple hundred thousand additional on TikTok.
This run required my skills in quality assurance through using whatever glitches at my disposal to break Elden Ring and continue forward. The game doesn’t let you complete the game without accepting an NPC’s accord at the beginning of the game but I completed the game using a multitude of glitches despite this. This challenge series was uniquely my own because of how I presented it. I analyzed what other Youtubers were making around Elden Ring’s release and there was a clear formula. I didn’t exactly follow it.
Challenge runs were popular but I didn’t want to just make another challenge run where I explain the boring details of every aspect of my run. My spin on the genre was to roleplay as my player character reacting to the situations that unfolded before him then take a step back to add commentary when something actually needed explanation. As the series went on and public interest grew, I began to put more time into my editing and storytelling. Every video was better than the last. I managed to blend comedy and series roleplay to create a story that many commenters claimed was “unironically beautiful” and even emotional for some. I had never written a comedic video or game before so it was incredible to receive such positive feedback on style.
This series will always hold a special place in my heart. I had a goal with this series to get over 30k views per video and I 100% believed I could. What I didn’t expect was over 100k on each video and garnering a dedicated fanbase, eagerly waiting for each new installment of the series. Someday, I’ll return with Part 4…