Back in June of 2019, during Microsoft’s E3 press conference, we received a teaser trailer for their next title, The Elden Ring. It didn’t come as much of a surprise as you would expect, having been leaked a few weeks prior, but when From Software announces a new game, we listen. From Soft has released nothing but excellent games for more than a decade, and they have become one of the most popular video game developers during that time. They are of course best known for the Souls series, as well as Bloodborne. With these franchises, comes their notoriety for punishing difficulty and metroidvania style worlds. But just a few months after their release of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, fans were skeptical that they would be announcing a new game so quickly. Little did we know From Software has been hard at work to deliver us their next blockbuster game, here are the key things we know so far.
George R. R. Martin Consulted with From Software on the Story of Elden Ring
Yes, the legendary Game of Thrones creator did some consulting with the creator of Dark Souls, Hidetaka Miyazaki, on what the world of The Elden Ring would be. There were rumors of this leading up to E3, but a lot of fans (including myself) thought this would be too good to be true. Nevertheless, one of the opening scenes of the teaser trailer is an animation clearly stating “A new world created by” these two exceptional storytellers. Funnily enough, Miyazaki was the one who reached out to George, expecting to get turned down, or just ignored. Miyazaki has been on record saying how much he is a fan of George’s work, and now he has gotten the opportunity to pick George’s brain on what interesting things they could implement into The Elden Ring.
Gameplay will Hearken Back to the Early Days of Dark Souls
In an interview with Sam Wilkinson of Bandai Namco, game director Hidetaka Miyazaki was asked about what genre The Elden Ring will fall under. Miyazaki acknowledges that Sekiro was catered more towards the action side of things, whereas The Elden Ring will have a “heavy focus” on RPG traits. These are the traits that were a contributing factor in the success of the Souls franchise. It is likely that Sekiro veered off that path because it was published by Activision, who are known to push games that are catered towards the more average gamer. Something else that is worth noting, Miyazaki confirmed that The Elden Ring will include their signature intense boss fight that fans have fallen in love with in past titles. This is a feature that From Software fans always look forward to.
The Extreme Difficulty will Make a Comeback
I’m sorry to the casuals, but The Elden Ring won’t be a cakewalk, just like most of From Software’s titles. In the same interview with Bandai, Miyazaki says that the challenging elements will return. He explains how important it is for the player’s experience to be centered on “overcoming challenges”. This is of course, what most of Miyazaki’s games are known for, and while some people question why players put themselves in those extremely difficult scenarios, most will tell you that it is the joy of beating the boss that killed you 100 times that keeps you coming back for more.
Promises to be Much More Open World
When describing past From Soft titles, it would be hard to label them as a completely open world. They would be more open-ended, than anything else. But The Elden Ring is set to be a much more open world than past titles, it is almost definitely going to be their biggest game yet. Like most of Miyazaki’s games, this one will be excellent to explore, but with the help of George R. R. Martin, it is likely to have a much more fleshed out world to experience than even the best of Miyazaki’s work.
The Elden Ring and What it Means
Like most of Miyazaki’s work, The Elden Ring will include a rich story. But like the Soulsborne games, you will have to dig to find it. In the Interview with Bandai, he goes on to explain what the Elden Ring actually is. Miyazaki explains that the ring is a “concept that defines the world itself.” If you watched the trailer, you noticed that a large ponytailed man was hammering away at a ring, and the more he broke off the ring, the more he seemingly withered away. It reminds me of the Bonfire in Dark Souls, where a flame that essentially represents life in the world, is extinguished, and your goal is to relight it. Maybe in the Elden Ring, you are tasked with putting the ring back together, either way, the stakes feel higher this time around.
Possible Release Date
Unfortunately, we can only speculate on the release of The Elden Ring. If you check various video game retailers, you will find that a release date for The Elden Ring is 12/31/2020, which is the standard release date you give when you don’t know when your game will be out. We do have some clue as to when the game may come out though. In the same interview with Bandai, Miyazaki states that they started development during the time The Ringed City DLC was released for Dark Souls 3, making the game under development for a little under 2 years. Keep in mind it took From Soft around 3 years to develop Sekiro. So with that being known, and The Elden Ring being their biggest game yet, I believe we can look for a late 2020 or early 2021 release. That being just an educated guess, and not something I read or heard anywhere.
There will be a lot of buzz around The Elden Ring in the next year to come. With the minds of Martin and Miyazaki used as one of the game’s main selling points, it is bound to gather as much media attention as possible. The onlooker will be really curious to see how Martin’s ideas can be implemented into a video game world. While some fans were eager for a Bloodborne 2 announcement, it is tough to not look forward to what The Elden Ring will offer. From Software continues to showcase their talent in video game development, and while not for everyone, they continue to prove that they can carve out their own space in the video game food chain.
