Elden Ring Gameplay Revealed, Launches January 21, 2022 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 July 2021 / 2,638 Views
Publisher Bandai Namco and developer FromSoftware during Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live! announced Elden Ring will launch for the Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on January 21, 2022.
"With Elden Ring, we have applied all our dark fantasy and action RPG expertise cultivated throughout the Dark Souls series, in order to create a bold, classical evolution of the genre," said FromSoftware director Hidetaka Miyazaki. "We’ve crafted a rich world with a staggering sense of scale, based off of legends written for the game by George R. R. Martin. Elden Ring is a world full of mystery and peril, ready to be explored and discovered; a drama in which various characters flaunt their own mystique and ulterior motives. We sincerely hope you enjoy experiencing it for yourself."
Bandai Namco Entertainment president and CEO Yasuo Miyakawa added, "I am very happy and excited to announce the release date of Elden Ring, a new game created by Mr. Miyazaki and Mr. George R.R. Martin, two creators that I truly admire and have a passionate fan base around the world. I am very happy and excited to be able to tell you about it. We will continue to develop Elden Ring not only as a game but also in a variety of other areas in order to deliver the worldview and charm of this title to our fans around the world. We look forward to your continued support."
Also shown off was the gameplay reveal trailer, which can be viewed below:
Here is an overview of the game:
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.
Elden Ring, developed by FromSoftware Inc. and produced by Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc., is a fantasy action-RPG and FromSoftware’s largest game to date, set within a world full of mystery and peril.
Key Features:
- A New Fantasy World – Journey through the Lands Between, a new fantasy world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki, creator of the influential Dark Souls video game series, and George R. R. Martin, author of The New York Times best-selling fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Unravel the mysteries of the Elden Ring’s power. Encounter adversaries with profound backgrounds, characters with their own unique motivations for helping or hindering your progress, and fearsome creatures.
- World Exploration in the Lands Between – Elden Ring features vast fantastical landscapes and shadowy, complex dungeons that are connected seamlessly. Traverse the breathtaking world on foot or on horseback, alone or online with other players, and fully immerse yourself in the grassy plains, suffocating swamps, spiraling mountains, foreboding castles and other sites of grandeur on a scale never seen before in a FromSoftware title.
- Genre-Defining Gameplay – Create your character in FromSoftware’s refined action-RPG and define your playstyle by experimenting with a wide variety of weapons, magical abilities, and skills found throughout the world. Charge into battle, pick off enemies one-by-one using stealth, or even call upon allies for aid. Many options are at your disposal as you decide how to approach exploration and combat.
A free upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version will be available for players who purchase Elden Ring on PlayStation 4, and Smart Delivery will be supported for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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This looks absolutely incredible!
I'll still play it, and I'm sure I'll love it, but I saw nothing here to indicate that this needed to be a new IP. Just looks like Dark Souls 4. And you get a horse.
"Key Features: A New Fantasy World"
Dark Souls lore is convoluted. Miyazaki is a huge fan of Martin's work. It makes sense for him to give George Martin a creative freedom to write a brand new world without being tied to an already established lore. Unless if they rebooted the IP, but I don't see how that would make a difference.
I'm honestly rather skeptical as to how much George actually wrote for this IP, considering he's not even willing to finish his own books, but I suppose we'll see in due time. The vibes from this trailer are all very Dark Souls to me, even if some of the terminology is different. I understand the consideration though. I'm sure it'll be an awesome game regardless.
I don't think completing an actual specific novel is comparable to contributing to outline of world lore. How this affects games directly is one thing, but it also is relevant if they want to do spin offs or film licences.
just a horse? traversal by horse and attacks from a horse is a game changer. Did you not see the weapons/fight style gameplay?
hw exactly did you intend a game to play out ?
I don't really see attacking from horseback as a game changer. I've never played a game where combat from horseback was even remotely viable, or interesting. They're pretty much just there for transportation, even if you can attack while riding them. It would be cool if FromSoft has figured out a way to go beyond that, but I rather doubt it tbh, and it's certainly not evident here.
As for what I expected from the game...I expected the classic FromSoft flavor, but just with a bit more of a deviation from the Souls series. Sekiro is a good example. Not that I expected Elden Ring to be like Sekiro, but I expected it to be similar in the sense that you can clearly tell it's a FromSoft game, but it very much did it's own thing with a lot of the gameplay elements, and the way the narrative was presented. Elden Ring, at least from this first trailer, doesn't give me the impression that it's trying to be very different from Souls at all.
And I'm not even saying that's like necessarily a bad thing. I love Dark Souls, and this just looks like a grander version of that. As I said, I'm sure I'll love this game when I play it. It's just when you market something as a new IP, I go into it expecting something different. I mean let's just be real here...if FromSoft had never teased something called Elden Ring before, and we went into this trailer and swapped every time they said the word "tarnished" for like "hollow" or "unkindled," and then the end of the trailer said Dark Souls 4: Elden Ring, or even just Dark Souls 4....would anybody question it? Even for a second? Of course not. Everyone would say yea, of course, that's Dark Souls. Cool.
This looks like dark souls as much as sekiro does. What i saw looked more open world, and more fantasy driven. This doesnt look like sekiro , nor dark souls, nor bloodborne. It looks like it took elements from all 3, added ontop, and formed its own combat style, with its own unique atmosphere, and story to follow.
I can't wait to explore a world envisioned by George R. R. Martin. Dark Souls lore was exhausted after 3 games. My favorite part of these games was to decipher the mysteries of these masterfully created worlds.
Absolutely beautiful. And a great way to create Dark Souls 4 but without the obligation to tie it to the previous game. Me wants it. Nice that it will arrive at a time during the year that we do not have that many AAA releases.
Praise the Sun!
I don’t know what to think about this. All I do know though is that I still can’t get over the fact that there’s the word ‘ring’ in the title while it’s also written in Lord of the Rings font.
Why not call it Dark Souls 4
Maybe its not a part of the Souls universe?...
Because the lore is different.
Yay another Souls game!
Why did this comment got downvoted? It's obvious that From is stuck in a certain stylistic loop, which honestly starts to become a bit boring. I wish we would get another armored core TBH.
I've been waiting for what feels like forever for a new Armored Core, but at this rate I don't think we're ever getting one...
From seemingly just wants to be a one trick pony, doing only Souls games, which can be fine for fans feasting well on that one style of games, but there's folks like you and me who are clearly being neglected for mecha action style games.
Nah, we need Evergrace remake.
It ain't dark souls 4,
It has a mix of sekiro and dark souls gameplay,
Horse traversal means the game is a much larger and bigger open world akin to the witcher and it might be a spiritual successor to the souls saga just like demons to dark souls.
The day the internet broke once more!
If it plays more like Bloodborne than DS, I'm for it.
They're taking mechanics and designs from all the previous From games and putting them into one game. This looks so fucking amazing?
Dark Souls does have it's own continuity though. They might have wanted a fresh world like with Bloodborne.
I think it's nice to create new concepts and new IP. I know it's virtually identical looking to Dark souls, but it sounds like the overall feel and gameplay will be unique enough to allow it to be its own thing.
Plus he said previously that he intended Dark Souls III to be the end of the series, and it's not like Dark souls as officially a sequel to Demon's souls or anything and that ended up being just different enough to justify being its own thing.
I just don't see why so many are saying 'it's just Dark souls IV'. Spiritual successors are a thing and people always whine for new IP, yet when we technically get one way too many people complain it's not just another sequel to a game they like.
Me? I'm happy either way. I loved everything else Miyazaki made since Demon's Souls (Dark souls, Dark Souls III, Bloodborne, Sekiro), so I have faith this will be fantastic.
