Elden Ring
This world is the opposite of ’armless
FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA 21 JAN / PUB BANDAI NAMCO ENTERTAINMENT / DEV FROMSOFTWARE / PLAYERS 1-4
After all this waiting, it turns out that Horse Souls really is still happening, and due out much sooner than The Winds Of Winter. This collaboration between FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki and Game Of Thrones’ creator George RR Martin has resulted in a dangerous-looking open world ripe for exploration, filled with the kind of nightmarish creatures that feature heavily in both creators’ bodies of work. More than a big step forward for the dev studio, this is a long equine stride that evolves the soulslike.
After all, much of the premise is deeply reminiscent of that of the very first Dark Souls, which captured the imaginations of so many. Playing as a Tarnished (similar to a Hollow from Dark Souls), you set out on a quest to find the titular Elden Ring, and use it to rid the shattered world of a curse. Just like in Dark Souls, you need to do so by setting out to explore a large, interconnected world – here centred on an Yggdrasil-like world tree – facing Big Bads as you go.
What really sets Elden Ring apart is the expansiveness of the world. Where Dark Souls offered a large interconnected space you explored on foot by occasionally choosing different pathways to explore, here it really is an open world, and you get across it by summoning a horned horse spirit to ride. It’s the kind of design philosophy fans loved about the original Dark Souls, a high point that the series never quite reached again.
KNIGHTY KNIGHT
Interacting with your horse companion itself is designed to be as seamless as possible. There will be no edging it up a mountain in a zigzag fashion (sorry Todd Howard). You can whistle to summon it to form underneath you, and it breezily crosses the large environments, able to leap across platforms and gaps. There are even Sonic-like bounce pads you can use to spring your horse up sheer cliffs.
Horseback combat plays an important role, as you can slash at enemies while riding. Some of
the areas feel absolutely enormous in scale, plus some enemies move around throughout the day and night cycle (which also features dynamic weather). After dark, it appears some enemies may huddle beside campfires, and you can do the same – suggesting a playful approach to the idea of FromSoftware’s bonfire checkpoints, and that you might not want to venture too far out of your comfort zone after night falls.
We’ve yet to see quite how that works – whether some areas will always be dangerous, or whether some enemies have paths that they keep looping – but some foes like to travel in packs, such as ones pulling along a structure as part of a convoy. You’ll be glad of your horsey friend in these situations as you can get a drop on enemies by riding headfirst into them. Another section sees the reverse, with you having to ride desperately out of the way of a dragon flinging lightning at you.
SWAMP FEVRE
When you’re not travelling, you’ll spend plenty of time on foot. We’ve already seen multiple discrete areas (a swamp, a crypt, and a castle) where you’ll need to poke around in more traditional Dark Souls fashion. This is where a lot of the large bosses you’ve come to expect from the developer can be fought, though it remains to be seen quite how expansive the areas in which they reside are. It nevertheless means that if you get stuck on a boss, you’ll be able to ride your horse elsewhere to try a different approach while you level up. As these areas are all seamlessly connected, it’s just a matter of deciding where you want to explore next.
The creatures all look very mean, many veering closer to the Bloodborne style of beasts, but with the medieval-fantasy aesthetic of Dark Souls, all steeped in weirdness. We’re talking giants with craggy faces and strange bee stingers coming out of their stomachs, a walking rock mound with a large bell on its underside, and enemies with lots of arms. Lots of arms. From a weird pale human centipede to an axe-wielding lord with a huge arm that’s made up of lots of smaller arms, and even walking jars that sport two little arms coming out of their insides (we call them Jarms).
CALL THE CAVALRY
Cue taking them on with the classic lock-ons and dodge rolls. Careful is still the name of the game with the sword-and-sorcery style combat. Though, weapon-wise, plenty of options are on show. Unlike the limited arsenal in Bloodborne or Sekiro’s devotion to a single sword,
“IF YOU GET STUCK ON A BOSS, YOU CAN RIDE YOUR HORSE ELSEWHERE TO TRY A DIFFERENT APPROACH.”
Elden Ring allows you to customise your playstyle in a way that builds off Dark Souls. We’ve seen big swords, magical staves, scimitars, bows, and even some kind of whip. It’s even up to you whether to wield a weapon with both hands, carry a shield, or go in dual-wielding blades like a Drizzt cosplayer.
We’ve yet to see the full scope of magic, but weapon enchantments look to be one way you can get the edge on some enemies, like extending the length of your sword. Given the bigger world, this is one solution to taking on large groups of enemies at once – as we’ve already mentioned, many of them seem to like to travel en masse.
As considered as the combat may still be, you have more movement-based abilities yourself, able to flip off enemies to create space or leap into the fray from a greater distance. Fusing its trademark dangerous action with greater player expression is FromSoftware’s answer to dealing with the larger space, and it looks like lessons have been learned from Sekiro in terms of agility. Like in that game, you can make use of stealth to avoid some fights altogether.
But if it all gets too hard (and it’s a FromSoftware game, so there’s no shame in admitting things can be tough), then co-op gameplay returns, with players able to summon each other to assist as blue phantoms. Up to four people can quest together, evening the playing field against some of the nightmares that lie in wait. We’ve yet to see if PvP will appear in the form of red phantoms, but jolly co-operation will always be a boon.
It’s been worth the wait to see more of Elden Ring. It’s certainly an ambitious project, and on paper it’s FromSoftware’s biggest game ever. It looks stunning on PS5 (and will be a free upgrade for those who spring for the PS4 version), and truly seems to be a step forward for the soulsborne genre the studio created. Roll on next year.