An Unending Curse
It’s been a long time coming. Ever since the reveal of Elden Ring all the way back at E3 2019, we’ve heard just about nothing about FromSoftware’s next title. It’s been the subject of speculation at just about every big gaming event of the last two years – everybody wants to see more of Elden Ring. Now, thanks to Summer Games Fest 2021’s opening event, we’ve finally gotten a glimpse of what Elden Ring has in store for us.
Elden Ring seems to have managed to keep the distinct, low-fantasy aesthetic of its predecessors Dark Souls and Bloodborne, while also injecting a healthy amount of magic into the mix. The world is dim and dark, full of the ruins of kingdoms long fallen, a lone warrior astride a spectral stag journeying across it. Our main character is referred to only as “The Tarnished”, possibly signifying a similar role to Dark Souls’ hollows.
However, there’s an undeniable sense of a more fantastical world to Elden Ring, with elements of a more classic fantasy story like fire-breathing dragons and powerful spells being pushed to the forefront – unsurprising given the fact that George R.R. Martin is credited as a writer.
When it comes to gameplay, we catch a few glimpses of the fast=paced, evasion-heavy combat that the Souls series is famous for, albeit with a slight twist – it seems that there’ll be much more of a focus on the use of magic in Elden Ring than there was in Dark Souls, as we see a wide range of spells and enchantments being used both in and out of combat. Another fun addition is your steed, a spectral stag that can, at least in some areas, fly. Whether or not Elden Ring will be an open-world ggame is yet to be seen, but this versatile method of transportation seems to suggest that you’ll be traversing great distances in your quest to find the Elden Ring itself.
While it’s taken us a while to get this much, luckily we won’t be waiting around to get our hands on the game – Elden Ring will be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC on January 21, 2022.