Let's be real, we all know Elden Ring kicks our butts with its brutal bosses and open-world shenanigans, but can we take a moment to just stand still and gawk? In 2026, this game's visual splendor still manages to make my jaw hit the floor, even after a thousand deaths. FromSoftware finally decided to match graphical fidelity with their legendary world-building, and the result is a masterpiece of sights and sounds that can be both breathtakingly beautiful and, well, a bit of a slog. I've spent more time in the Lands Between than I care to admit, so let me, your humble Tarnished guide, take you on a personal, slightly snarky tour of its regions, ranking them purely by how much they made me stop and say 'wow' instead of 'oh no, not another giant crab.'

9. Weeping Peninsula: The Underwhelming Younger Sibling

Look, I'm not here to start fights, but the Weeping Peninsula is easily the most 'meh' area in the game. It's like Limgrave's less interesting cousin who showed up to the family reunion and just stood in the corner. It's not ugly—don't get me wrong—but when the bar is set by the rest of the game, this optional early zone feels like a soggy, grey afterthought. It's essentially a training ground with one semi-notable landmark: Castle Morne. And even that fortress struggles to stand out in a game packed with incredible legacy dungeons. A great place to get your bearings, but don't expect your retinas to be dazzled.

8. Mountaintops of the Giants: A Frosty Slog

Ah, the Mountaintops. I remember scouring the lands for those Haligtree Secret Medallion halves, dreaming of the majestic vistas awaiting me at the peak. The reality? A whole lot of blinding snow and pea-soup fog. It's visually monotonous. Sure, there are cool landmarks like the Fire Giant's Forge and the intriguing Castle Sol, but they're so spread out across this barren, white canvas that exploring feels like a chore. The Consecrated Snowfield map is practically useless with zero visibility. This area is a prime example of the game's late-game pacing issues, where spectacle is sacrificed for scale, leaving it feeling empty and, frankly, a bit of an eyesore compared to the vibrant regions below.

7. Limgrave: The Charming but Familiar Starting Line

My first love. There's nothing quite like pushing open those doors and seeing the Erdtree for the first time—a moment forever etched in my memory. Limgrave is packed to the brim with life: Stormveil Castle looms menacingly, catacombs beckon, and NPCs await their fates. Its problem is one of necessity: it's the opening act. It has to keep the spectacle dialed back so the game has somewhere to go. It's a masterclass in environmental design and introduction, but purely aesthetically, it's a bit... plain. Beautiful, yes, but it plays it safe with rolling green hills and familiar ruins, knowing the real weirdness is yet to come.

6. The Haligtree: Gorgeous, If You Can See Past the Pain

This is for the overachievers, the completionists who sought out the optional path to what might be gaming's hardest boss, Malenia, Blade of Miquella. The Haligtree is a visual stunner. Navigating the gothic, branch-choked corridors and precarious rope bridges of Miquella's Haligtree is awe-inspiring. The treetop setting gives a classic Souls castle a unique, vertigo-inducing charm. Here's the catch: the enemy health bars are so inflated, and the ganks are so brutal, that you're often sprinting for your life, missing all the intricate details that make the place special. FromSoftware's late-game balancing issues sadly undermine the area's breathtaking beauty.

5. Caelid: A Beautiful Nightmare

Caelid is the region that proves horror can be hauntingly beautiful. It's grotesque, inhospitable, and painted in a relentless scarlet hue from the Scarlet Rot. It looks and feels horrific, and that's the point! The constant tension, the monstrous wildlife, the feeling of being in a living plague—it's a masterclass in atmospheric dread. While its monochromatic red palette prevents it from being 'pretty' in a traditional sense, the stark, bleak beauty of Redmane Castle and the epic, star-scorched spectacle of battling Starscourge Radahn are unforgettable. It's a limited, linear area, but its pseudo-survival-horror presentation is utterly brilliant.

4. Crumbling Farum Azula: A Storm-Torn Masterpiece

This place is just... wow. A city suspended in a perpetual storm, frozen outside of time, literally crumbling into the abyss. It's a concept that defies logic and creates some of the most dynamic, jaw-dropping vistas in the entire game. It houses the majestic Dragonlord Placidusax and the ferocious Maliketh, the Black Blade. My fondness might be tinged by its Dark Souls 3 ash-world vibes, but even objectively, it's stunning. Its downfall? It's relatively small, linear, and can feel a bit one-note in design. Plus, navigating the crumbling architecture is a headache. It's a place of spectacular moments but lacks the explorative variety to climb higher.

3. Altus Plateau: The Plateau with a Peak

Ironically, the area named 'Plateau' is where Elden Ring's visual design started to plateau for me initially. Much of it feels like a more autumnal, less exciting extension of Limgrave. Exploration rewards began to wane here. However, it earns this high ranking for one reason, and one reason alone: Leyndell, Royal Capital. This legacy dungeon is an absolute masterclass in interconnected, hyper-detailed level design. Traversing its gothic streets, with a massive dragon corpse looming overhead, is unforgettable. Beneath it lies the creepy Subterranean Shunning-Grounds, and the ability to later reduce the whole city to ash offers a shocking visual twist. Altus Plateau itself is uneven, but Leyndell carries it to glory.

2. Liurnia of the Lakes: The Enchanting Silver Medalist

The silver medal goes to this expansive, water-logged wonderland. Liurnia is chock-full of bizarre and charming locations: the creepy Frenzied Flame Village, the magical Caria Manor, the peaceful Jarburg. But its crown jewels are the celestial Ancestor Moon and the iconic Raya Lucaria Academy. The academy is Elden Ring's Hogwarts, if Hogwarts was full of sorcerers in glintstone crowns (my 'Burger King mask' theory stands) who want you dead. Whether you're marveling at the glittering blue crystals or trudging through swampy marshes, Liurnia offers staggering visual variety and a truly enchanting, otherworldly atmosphere.

1. The Underground Realms (Siofra/Ainsel/Deeproot Depths): The Crown Jewel

And the gold medal, the absolute top of the barrel for visual splendor, isn't even on the main map. It's below it. Grouping the underground areas is the only fair way to do this, as they are collectively the most stunning part of Elden Ring. The initial 'wow' factor of descending an endless elevator into a vast, star-filled cavern is unmatched. Each zone is a marvel:

• Ainsel River & Nokstella: Cascading waterfalls and enigmatic, forgotten cities.

• Lake of Rot: Caelid's nightmare, amplified to eleven.

• Deeproot Depths: A bleak, haunting settlement nestled in the roots of the Erdtree.

But for me, the Siofra River Well takes the cake. It's like stepping into a serene, star-drenched dream. Gazing out from the elevator at Nokron, the distant Mohgwyn Palace (your gateway to the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC), and the endless celestial tapestry is a moment of pure gaming magic. If you want to see the very best visual artistry Elden Ring has to offer, you must go underground. All the good stuff, my fellow Tarnished, is truly buried below. 🏆