400 Hours In and Elden Ring Still Holds Up, but Why?

According to GamesRadar, challenge-run creator Bushy estimates he has finished Elden Ring around 400 times in the roughly four years since launch, logging about 4000 hours in total and averaging two clears per week. More than a stunt, it says something useful about the game itself: very few single-player games can keep giving one player fresh angles for that long without collapsing into repetition.

What stands out is not just the number of clears, but how far he pushes the rules of each run. He has taken on runs built around one-shotting bosses, no-death clears, no-hit clears, getting hit the entire run, killing enemies with kicks, and using only white-rarity gear. In some cases, he even commissioned custom mods for the challenge, adding variables like teleportation, scrambled areas and enemies, and randomized items.

More importantly, Elden Ring is not just impressive on a first playthrough; it has enough systemic flexibility to be pulled apart and rebuilt again and again. Different rule sets change how weapons work in practice, how routes are planned, where pressure comes from, and how fights unfold. Bushy is not just grinding through the same run. He is repeatedly stress-testing a system that stays unusually sturdy under pressure.

A lot of open-world games eventually run out of surprises. Their quest structures start to repeat, and the apparent build variety narrows once you push past the surface. Elden Ring works differently. Instead of pushing players toward one obvious way to play, it is sturdy enough to support extreme self-imposed rules. Bushy said his favorite challenges are the ones that meaningfully change the experience and demand more commitment, such as a run where he is teleported to a random location every five minutes. That matters because it shows the game still works even when the rules are bent out of shape.

Not every experiment went well. Bushy also tried an aggressive mod that caused all enemies to constantly track and attack him, and that attempt did not go smoothly. Even so, he said his enthusiasm for Elden Ring has not faded. The release of Elden Ring: Nightreign and the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC gave him new material to work through, but he still ends up returning to Elden Ring itself.

That level of attachment is not something every player needs to aim for. Most people do not need to clear the game 400 times over four years, and they certainly do not need to chase no-hit runs or punishment-style restrictions. For most players, Shadow of the Erdtree plus one serious playthrough is already enough to see what makes the game special. The recommendation is simple: if you can handle high-pressure combat and long stretches of trial and error, it is worth playing. If not, this is probably not the game to force.

Bushy said the longest he has gone without playing Elden Ring since release is only about three weeks, which is more convincing than any generic praise. Even with Elden Ring: Nightreign and Shadow of the Erdtree adding fresh material, he still comes back to the base game. Not many games can pull someone back that consistently. This one clearly can. Bushy has also said he is happy to keep making these kinds of challenge runs and sharing the unique interactions and playstyles of different weapon types with anyone interested.