Elder Ring

Premise

Elden Ring takes place in the realm of the Lands Between, sometime after the destruction of the titular Elden Ring and the scattering of its shards, the Great Runes. Once graced by the Ring and the Erdtree which symbolizes its presence, the realm is now ruled over by the demigod offspring of Queen Marika the Eternal, each possessing a shard of the Ring that corrupts and taints them with power. As a Tarnished—exiles from the Lands Between who lost the Ring's grace—summoned back after the Shattering, players must traverse the realm to ultimately find all the Great Runes, restore the Elden Ring, and become the Elden Lord.

Gameplay

Elden Ring is an action role-playing game played in a third-person perspective and features elements similar to those found in its predecessors, the Souls series as well as Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, with gameplay focusing on combat and exploration. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki explained that players start with a linear opening but will eventually progress to freely explore the Lands Between, including its six main areas, as well as castles, fortresses, and catacombs scattered throughout the vast open-world map. These main areas are interconnected through a central hub that players can access later in the game's progression—similar to Firelink Shrine from Dark Souls—and will be explorable using the character's mount as the main mode of transport, although a fast travel system will be an available option. Throughout the game, players will encounter non-player characters (NPCs) and enemies alike, including the demigods who rule each main area and will serve as the game's main bosses.

Combat in Elden Ring relies heavily on character-building elements found in previous Souls games and related intellectual properties, such as calculated & close-ranged melee-based combat with the use of skills, magic abilities, as well as blocking and dodging mechanics. Elden Ring will introduce mounted combat and a stealth system, the latter being a core gameplay element from Sekiro; these features are expected to encourage players in strategizing their combat approach with each unique enemy they encounter. The game will make use of a player character stamina bar after being absent from Sekiro, although its overall influence over combat was reduced compared to previous titles that utilized it. Unlike in Sekiro, resurrection mechanics after in-game death won't be available, however some elements were added to ensure players' progression within the game.

Miyazaki stated that the customization in Elden Ring would be richer, as players will be able to discover different skills through their exploration of the map instead of unlocking skill trees as in Sekiro and differing from the pre-fixed weapon skills of FromSoftware's previous games. These skills are interchangeable with a large variety of weapons which, alongside equipment, magic abilities, and items players can craft using materials found within the world, can be used to customize the player character. The game will also feature summoning mechanics, where players can summon a large variety of collectible spirits hidden throughout the game's world map, including previously defeated enemies, as allies to assist them in battle. Similar to the Souls series, the game's multiplayer will allow other players to be summoned for cooperative play.

Development and release

Elden Ring is being developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It was announced at E3 2019 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. No further information was revealed until a June 2021 trailer announced a release date of January 21, 2022, with additional releases on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. In October 2021, it was announced that the game would be delayed to February 25, 2022.

Elden Ring is being directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding by fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin, best known for his A Song of Ice and Fire novel series. A fan of Martin's work, Miyazaki contacted him with an offer to work together on a project, giving him the creative freedom to write the overarching backstory of the game's universe. Miyazaki used his contributions as the foundation of the game's narrative, comparing the process to that of using a "dungeon master's handbook in a tabletop RPG". Some staff from the Game of Thrones television series adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire also assisted with the game's development. As with many of Miyazaki's previous games, the story will not be clearly explained to players as FromSoftware intend for them to interpret it for themselves via flavor text and optional discussions with non-player characters (NPCs). Miyazaki hoped Martin's contributions would produce a more accessible narrative than the studio's previous games.

Work began on the game in early 2017 following the release of The Ringed City, a piece of downloadable content for Dark Souls III, and was developed alongside Sekiro. As with games in the Souls series, players will have the ability to create their own custom character instead of using a fixed protagonist. Miyazaki also considered Elden Ring to be a more "natural evolution" to the Souls series, featuring an open world with new gameplay mechanics such as horseback riding. Unlike many other open-world games, Elden Ring will not feature populated towns with NPCs, with the world having numerous dungeon-like ruins in their place. The score is being written by Yuka Kitamura, who has composed for many of Miyazaki's previous games.

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, 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.