I also have to give a nod to the lore, which is dark-fantasy bonkers in the best way. Ahem:

The Golden Order has been broken.

Rise, Tarnished, and be guided by grace to brandish the power of the Elden Ring and become an Elden Lord in the Lands Between.

In the Lands Between ruled by Queen Marika the Eternal, the Elden Ring, the source of the Erdtree POE currency trade, has been shattered.

Marika's offspring, demigods all, claimed the shards of the Elden Ring known as the Great Runes, and the mad taint of their newfound strength triggered a war: The Shattering. A war that meant abandonment by the Greater Will.

And now the guidance of grace will be brought to the Tarnished who were spurned by the grace of gold and exiled from the Lands Between. Ye dead who yet live, your grace long lost, follow the path to the Lands Between beyond the foggy sea to stand before the Elden Ring.

And become the Elden Lord.

Xbox is removing the Live Gold restriction from a bunch of free-to-play multiplayer games today – Destructoid

Truly free to play

Xbox is lifting the restrictions on its free-to-play games. While some online multiplayer games still required an Xbox Live Gold membership to play even if they didn't cost any money to POE buy currency play themselves, Microsoft is unlocking that today.

The company had previously been testing this feature out, and start today, the feature should go live for all players across over 50 free-to-play games. Here's the current lineup: