Elden Ring is real!

 The Tarnished will soon return, guided by grace once lost

I must have been really out of it this E3 Cycle, because I didn't even know that there was going to be an event on Thursday, let alone that it was going to feature Elden Ring of all things. But then again, even if I had heard that rumour I'd hardly have believed it, for this wouldn't have been the first time that a promised Elden Ring reveal would have amounted to nothing but smoke and mirrors. I wouldn't have believed you if you promised me with your dying breath that Elden Ring would make it to a conference like this, even though in hindsight I guess it makes sense that Geoff Keighley would be able to book the folks over at FromSoftware; he doesn't have the baggage of "Uh, I guess this is an exclusive now" that other hosts will be subject to. Anyway, I'm glad to be wrong and that now, after 350+ days of rumour, leaks and mostly silence, we have a real game to look at and speculate on. No more dancing with myself in the dark, now we have a fire to light our waltz. Hmm? Oh right, this isn't Dark Souls... no fire.

Although you'd have to forgive me for making that mistake, because just as we got a glimpse at from those leaks, there does seem to be some residual Dark Souls spirit with this game. (Or, as is more likely, another inspiration borne out of love for Beserk) Perhaps some of that perception comes from the rather noticeable way that this game is last gen, and thus a noticeable visual downstep from the stunning Bluepoint Demon Souls remake. Though this has inspired a little grumbling, I'm not too fussed because no one really comes to Souls games for their visual fidelity, but even then I must admit I would have liked seeing brand new vistas and a shining world realized with Bluepoint's exacting graphical standards. (Hey, maybe this trailer was built using the last gen versions and the next gen one's will at least go some way to bridge the gap between the two standards, it's hard to say.)

The big initial difference which is unavoidable from this trailer, proving something we'd heard talks of during the dark periods of no gameplay on Elden Ring, is the openness of the world. No longer are we looking at a game built of interconnected corridors throughout a world that's always closer together than you think, now we have open plains. This is embodied in the new steed summonable in the game, a horned Norse-looking mount with the leg muscles to really launch itself across the terrain into battle. Of course that means there's going to be horse-mounted combat, and at least one incredibly cool looking Horse-back boss fight against a winged Dragon that looks like one big callback to Seath the Scaleless. It has the whole 'split-wings' aesthetic going on, and there's a specific shot of it summoning a bolt of lighting to it's hand before slamming that into the ground, distinctly indicative of the Dark Souls intro movie. In fact, I saw a lot of these parallels (with that being the most explicit) making me both feel comforted with the familiarity and slightly perturbed by it as well. I don't necessarily want to be looking at a new FromSoftware game and thinking "I recognise this", I was promised a brand new world from George R.R. Martin and Miyazaki.

Then again maybe a large part of that unease is entirely self-inflicted upon my immediate notice that the game, through employing a lighter colour palette whilst retaining both the engine and bleakness characteristic to FromSoftware games, seems to have the exact same hue to it that Dark Souls 2 had. All the day scenes have that copper sky, awash with murky, windy clouds that make it impossible to judge what time of day it's meant to be. Now as I've said before I'm not one of those who deeply hate Dark Souls 2 and feels it's a tarnish upon the franchise, but it's also definitely a very flawed title that does not represent the best of the franchise by a long shot. Invoking that spirit, even accidentally, left the slightest sour taste in my mouth that it's hard to shake. (If things play out the Dark Souls way, this entire game will lead you on with the promise of finding this 'Elder Ring', then actually have you go around fighting time-travelling Giants or something.)

But those are all just my own conjured misgivings, on it's own merits the game shines and was easily the belle of the Summer Games Fest ball. Just witnessing the sheer fantastical wonder of a Souls game with a firmer foot in the fantasy genre was a wonder all of it's own. I particularly loved the sense of scale we see here that seems to rival some of Dark Souls' most memorable moments. There's a passive turtle-bell creature that almost looks like something out of Shadow of the Colossus, and the aforementioned dragon duel is simply dipping with the epic scale we thirst from from the most exciting battles. Then there's the huge glowing tree which seems to be the backdrop of every outdoor scene in this game, I suspect that all the openworld will be splayed around this thing, and it's likely linked to the 'Elden Ring' itself, given that the symbol of the ring resembles a tree where it's circles converge.

Aesthetically I noticed that a lot of the game still reminds me of the Norse influences I caught whiff of in the original CGI announcement. The horned steed reminds me of old horned Viking head gear that we like to envision from popular culture, as well as evokes the soul of the two giant goats that Thor keeps as his pets in myth. Then there's the helmet worn by the player character, which has that Norwegian 10th century shape and construction to it, of course coupled with a glorious mane out the back for those aspirants to the Soulsian god of war: The Nameless King. The world and the enemies themselves aren't exactly dripping with obvious Nordic influence to them, but I'll bet they'll be shades here and there to pick up on, as I'm pretty sure that Norse sort of mythology is at the centre of what this game is going for. There's a giant world tree in the middle of map, afterall, like Yggdrasil herself.

One aspect I didn't get an entirely conclusive view on, but which I am deeply fascinated by, is how the feel of combat will evolve itself once again. Since Dark Souls first came out, no two FromSoftware franchises have played the same, despite featuring similar concepts, and that has been on the developer's strengths. Dark Souls featured block and roll heavy combat, whilst Bloodbourne focused heavily on parrying and revenge healthpoints. Sekiro forced players to play fast and brutal, and now comes Elden Ring which, lacking any extended gameplay footage of itself, appears to be at a middle grounds. There's a grounded nature to the combat, but the movements themselves are very fluid and cover so much ground. I've seen shots of the player literally launching themselves into an attack before jumping back, reminiscent of Sekiro but carrying the weight of Dark Souls. Whatsmore, I suspect this will be another FromSoftware title with a purposeful lack of shields. A few were shown in the trailer but they all seemed smaller and probably aren't meant to be relied upon.

Here we persist in this bizarre timeline where Elden Ring is actually real, and I'm buzzing with anticipation. It's not like I'm saying that I never thought this game would see the light of day, but George R. R. Martin was involved with the development and he does have a bit of a reputation... but it's here and we don't need to fret about what might have been ever again! Or at least, it will soon be here, because FromSoftware was nice enough to provide a release date which likely won't be hit in January next year, proving that true to Microsoft's word, AAA developers will continue to develop for both generations of consoles leading past the first anniversary of the generation. Even now that I can finally see, and thus imagine, it, Elden Ring's mystery lingers on and it's the call of every Souls fan to start unravelling it. A more tantalising journey I can't imagine undertaking this gaming year. Good luck living up to this one, all the rest of E3.