Following the Elden Ring announcement trailer revealed during E3 over the weekend, director Hidetaka Miyazaki revealed new details about the game in two interviews.
In the interview with IGN yesterday (June 14), Miyazaki revealed new details about the next entry in the Soulsborne series, Elden Ring.
Miyazaki is the CEO of FromSoftware, a studio responsible for the Soulsborne series of video games. Soulsborne is a term used to describe games developed by FromSoftware. The term is most commonly used in reference to Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Originally announced at E3 2019. Elden Ring is an action-adventure game set in a world written by Game Of Thrones author George R.R. Martin.
Miyazaki touched on numerous elements of the game, including multiplayer, character creation, the world map and stealth.
Miyazaki confirmed the game will have multiplayer elements, which allowed players to summon other players for support in previous games. Elden Ring will have a similar system, but will also include a new addition in which players can summon the spirits of dead enemies. These spirits will aid the player in battles.
“They offer a lot of different strategic options, but also the player might find that they just like a certain enemy tagging along with them, a certain summon pleases them aesthetically,” said Miyazaki.
The most recent game in the Soulsborne franchise was Sekiro, a game which limited player customisation in favour of a much more narrative-focused campaign. Similar to the Dark Souls series, Elden Ring will let players start with a blank slate and customise characters to their liking.
Miyazaki also discussed Elden Ring’s world. Previous Soulsborne titles featured large, interconnected worlds all built around one central hub area.
Elden Ring will have six principal areas, all of which feature their own demigod boss. The game will feature a central hub area similar to Firelink Shrine in Dark Souls. The world itself is called ‘The Lands Between’, a name that was penned by George R. R. Martin.
Describing the game world, Miyazaki said: “There’s a lot of elements of exile and return, and The Lands Between is supposed to invoke this feeling of something that’s very mysterious and very ethereal”
Stealth was a core mechanic in Sekiro, and Elden Ring will feature a similar focus on it according to Miyazaki: “You’re able to crouch, you’re able to sneak and be less easily detected in long grass for instance. You’re able to use that to your advantage to sneak up on the enemy, get a backstab, get a stealth attack.”
Speaking with Famitsu yesterday (June 14), Miyazaki confirmed the game would have multiple endings, and that there would be more freedom of progression.
“There are multiple endings, and the path to reach them is quite free. I think this is one of the features of this game, but I think that the degree of freedom in the progress of the game is considerably higher than in the “Dark Souls” series,” said Miyazaki.
Speaking on moment-to-moment lore delivery, Miyazaki confirms Elden Ring will still follow the series’ established environmental storytelling. Soulsborne games typically provide story and lore exposition in item descriptions, character conversations and in the worlds themselves.
“That’s right. The basic policy of storytelling has not changed. Also, I think the story spun by the fragments is bigger and more multi-layered than before,” commented Myazaki.
Across both interviews Miyazaki also confirmed a number of details about Elden Ring, confirming the game will include more ways to heal, less focus on the stamina system and a far deeper character and build customisation system than any of the previous titles.
FromSoftware announced Elden Ring’s release date during E3 2021, and confirmed the game will release on January 21, 2022.
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