Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree, Vol. 1

Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree #1

by Nikiichi Tobita (Artist), John Neal (Translator), FromSoftware Inc. (Original Author)

The epic and foreboding world of the award-winning video game Elden Ring gets turned on its head in this absurd comedy adventure! Follow Aseo the Tarnished as he begins his journey through the Lands Between on the long, looong road to becoming the next Elden Lord. What Aseo lacks in strength, speed, intelligence, charisma, skill, experience, intuition, and common sense, he makes up for in...uhhh…

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Comics, Comedy, Graphic Novels, Video Games, Fiction

178 pages, Paperback

Published May 23, 2023

About the author

ニキイチ飛田

Reviews

[Max Gwynne]

My first manga! I’m a big fan of the SoulsBorne games and Elden Ring is undoubtedly a big favourite.

This wasn’t entirely what I had imagined it would be, mostly I had hoped it would be a dive into the rich lore of the world and mythos but instead it is a deeply comedic, ‘Monty Python-esque’, light hearted mirroring of the main story the player is guided through in the game.

I’ll be reading volume II and III as it is some dumb fun. Good palate cleansing stuff.

[Mona Kabbani]

This was so silly. 😂 I love how it calls out all the ways players try to “hack” the game. Can’t wait for the next one!

[Joel]

Dog Sh*t, bought cause I saw Elden ring but definitely a regret purchase

[doowopapocalypse]

The art is really good and ends up being the only reason it got a star at all.

This reads like a well produced but poorly written iseaki. Butt jokes and character flavored soap. What?

[G Flores]

I won't lie, it's hard to look past the disappointment of slowly realizing that this is a gag manga. I frequently while playing my way through the titular game said that I would rather just read the book. The game was - for a noob like me - too intense and time consuming, but I was genuinely incredibly interested in the world and lore. So you could imagine my disappointment when this was not a serious and straightforward telling of the Elden Ring lore.

Ironically, this disappointment led to me initially rating this three stars because I was clearly over-correcting for my disappointment, but for a gag manga, this just isn't very funny. There are a few cute moments, and one could argue that if I'd finished the game, some of the jokes would land better, but given that I played everything that was in this first volume, I doubt it pretty heavily. It doesn't bode well if by the end of the second chapter I'm still wondering if this is a gag manga or if we're just inserting an overly healthy dose of "quirkiness" to an otherwise incredibly dark IP. Elden Ring may be brutal after all, but there is plenty of dark whimsy to be found in the source material. It wasn't until the gag manga told me outright that I was reading a gag manga that I realized what I was reading and that... is just Not Good.

Ultimately, my desire to SEEM unbiased despite my disappointment nearly led me to rating this much higher than it deserves. The fact is, that unless you are an Elden Ring superfan looking for a memebook about your favorite video game, this just is not at all worth your time. And frankly, even if you are such a superfan, this still just isn't very funny or interesting.

[Timur]

The best metal bands are the ones with the heaviest riffs and the funniest musicvideos and Promo shoots, like Mastodon f.ex.

This Manga does the same and gives the grimdark world and setting of elden ring the right amount of dorky funny situations and dialogues.

Every elden ring player will at least once find themselfes in this book and will laugh out loud and be glad that they are not alone with that stupid decision they once made in the game.

The game itself is heavy and dark enough, I am happy they decided to give the manga this funny touch and brighten things up - still settled in the beautiful grim world

[Sara]

I chuckled very often and I enjoyed the humour so much. It helped me see the game under a new perspective.
I would recommend it only if you have played elden ring, otherwise you'll miss the context and information about the characters and I guess it will be hard to understand the humour as well.

[Matthew Galloway]

That was really dumb… but somehow the lore was just as clear as the game?

[Andy]

Monty Python meets Elden Ring 😅

[James]

It’s not what you would think. It’s hilarious !

[Anna Quilter]

Well sure "funny" gag manga was one way to go.....

[Josh Adam]

This was the stupidest thing i've ever read, loved it.

[Logan]

Here for the silliness, but there’s just not enough story for me to latch onto. Also, the backgrounds can be hard to make out due to the overall darkness of the print.

[May]

This is so refreshing to read right after finishing playing the game for the day. Like yeah, of course I want a kind of "fix it" version. I love this characters.

[Chapsmen]

This manga is genuinely pretty bad. I understand that it is a gag manga and it is supposed to be ridiculous and full of jokes but the complete disregard for anything related to the source material is annoying. Not only that but the book must be judged on its own merits and maybe it was just me but the jokes weren’t funny as it relied mostly on this sentiment of, “Oh, that’s not what happens in the game. How ridiculous.” There were a few funny jokes that made me chuckle and it set up the other mangas but I don’t believe it is good.

[Carlos Cash]

Que manera tan peculiar de adentrarte en un mundo de fantasía , con tanta comedia pero con claro peso referido al juego. Bastante genial.

[Amber]

This is stupidly funny. I was not expecting to leave with Elden Ring manga from a Barnes and Noble trip and I was even more surprised to find it’s a parody of the game. I have no regrets.

[Bennett]

This is so dumb but I'm so here for it. Making me want to do a 5th playthrough of Elden Ring.

[Zach Denton]

This was a fun read. It's still ongoing, but I'm going to go ahead and rate this since I've read everything that's out right now. This manga turns a game that takes itself fairly seriously and adds a comedic angle to it. The gags are enjoyable, and definitely enhanced if you've played Elden Ring. The art is really good was well, but again, I wouldn't really recommend this unless you like the game.

[Brandon White]

This was a great start to the series and is such a good concept. Taking such a serious series to turn into a gag manga is a great idea. Some of the jokes were genuinely funny and all the little nods are awesome that only players would understand. It’s cool they can poke fun at some of the things in the game. This series is pretty much a recap of the game but with the different tone it is able to make it its own thing. I’m excited to read another entry.

[A_Paige]

I have the need to play this game from the beginning all over again. A total restart. Yeesh. The humor is this volume is amazing. I couldn’t stop laughing. The art is beautiful. I like how they kept a few of the lines from the game and put them in this volume. I can’t wait to see what adventure awaits in the next volume! Highly recommend to anyone who’s even slightly interested in reading this. You don’t need to have played the game to enjoy this.

[David Codd]

a silly take on the elden ring story

[Richard Carilo]

Critical Score: 3.5
Personal Score: 3.25
Total Score: 6.75

[Dani]

Me he reído 👍

[Beckie]

My son plays this game, so I am a bit familiar with it. Probably funnier to someone who actually knows what is going on in the storyline.

[Christina Areias]

4.5/5. It was very funny, absolutely enjoyed it.

[Zoellerde]

Loved the game, but this doesn't do it justice. Nevertheless it is quite funny.

[Manny Meza]

Very funny

[Jakob Wolfridsson]

It's very silly but it's also Elden Ring and I do love Elden Ring.

[jane ♡]

2.5☆
So silly