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.

Elden leaks

Look up at the leaks; they burn!

Perhaps one of the most tragically devoted communities out there in today's gaming climate are Soulsbourne fans, because those guys have the sort of itch that no-one else can scratch. Addicted to that special brand of tough gameplay, existential lore bits and esoteric plots which only spawn from the enigmas mind palace of Hidetake Miyazaki. You give them hard games, confusing games, introspective games, and they'll always be unsatisfied; it's FromSoftware or nothing; there's no replacement. The only time I've seen these fans flock to literally any other developer, it was Bluepoint when they adapting a FromSoftware product, so they're pretty much as 'ride or die' as it gets. Thus it's been curious to watch this fandom tear itself apart at the seams whilst the flounder about waiting for Elden Ring news, any Elden Ring news, to satiate that vampiric thirst. Every single gaming event over the past 2 years has been flooded with hopeful fans eager to seen even the slightest hint of actual gameplay, (or, heck, they'd probably even take another teaser at this point) only to be met with a 'not this time.' Even promises that the game is still being made have all come from second hand sources; FromSoftware proper are so engrossed in getting this game absolutely right that they can't maintain a public communication. And you know what? Good, you guys get that game right. However, it does lead to such lamentable situations such as recently when grainy footage of the Elden Ring trailer leaked all over the Internet.

I imagine it must always be heart-breaking to see their creation get out in the public before it's got it's face on, when it's still in those early experimental stages before the polish has really begun to glean. But then as an undeniably huge fan I will say that went out of my way to look up these leaks the second they hit the web because, darn it, it's been too long! I just wanna see what my favourite genre is doing in it's spare time, all these 'souls-like's are getting jarring, I need the real thing! Of course, I recognise this is a pretty big breach in privacy that I'm glorifying out of selfishness, but I've never sweat stuff like that personally. (My moral compass is irredeemable anyway. Did you hear I even went on WhatCulture the other day?) If you've any moral qualms with such, however, I respect you and urge that you give this blog a skip because I'm going to be talking all about those leaks. (What little there is, the thing was rather bare in terms of story) But before we dive into this, let's go over exactly what Elden Ring is according to all we officially know.

Elden Ring is a fresh RPG Souls game form the genre's developers that is being written alongside George R. R. Martin. (Fingers crossed it actually has a finale written, then.) As these games tend to be ludicrously intricate and difficult to comprehend even when you have the full game at your fingertips, thus it's quite foolhardy to even try to piece together a story from the teaser trailer, but I tried anyway. Yet in short it appears to be another Dark Fantasy world that perhaps steps a little away from the Medieval influence of Dark Souls. Although even that is a gutsy assumption to make given that it's based upon a lack of evidence for that sort of setting rather than evidence indicating other settings. Simply put, there's pretty much nothing to go off regarding what this game might be about, all that can be said for sure is that it'll be like FromSoftware's other games.

Even after the leak that very much remains the case, so I'm sure that the several months of people creating their own speculative Fan art and rampantly theory crafting about the colour of tea leaves is hardly going to change anytime soon in the wake of this. In fact, from the footage that we can see (The majority of which appearing to be from some mock-up trailer which never made it to the public) a lot of the game looks very similar to Dark Souls 3. Some have claimed to notice a few borrowed assets; (Although looking at the resolution, I'd call that into question) but what I saw were those animations and how they really seemed to resemble what Dark Souls was shooting for. Bloodborne tended to be more agile with it's animations and Sekiro felt like an entirely different game-type a times; but this footage looks more familiar to me than I was honestly expecting. Oh, that is to say with one huge exception...

The game has horses! And horse combat! Obviously, it's hardly shocking for me to say that those shots looked entirely alien to me because we've never see a mount in a Souls game before, there's just never really been a need for it. That, of course, leads into a sense of the world this game offers that a lot of people are picking up from the context of this leaked trailer. You can almost see it in the sweeping vista shots, the ponderous galloping moments; this looks like a world very much built for open play, making this the very first Souls open world game. (If assumptions are to be believed) Now this fact alone sits uneasy with me, because the tight almost-castlevanian design of the Souls worlds is often some of their greatest assets; I have to wonder if that spirit will become lost in a larger canvas, but I'll never be one to tell someone not to experiment. If the FromSoftware team think they can nail an openworld game whilst still mastering that irreplaceable charm, then who am I to call foul? (I will still mark this down as my first legitimate concern regarding this game, just so that I never lose my footing.)

As for the rest of the footage, it's all pretty much what you'd expect. Hulking giant slave beasts evoke Dark Souls 2 memories, swooping fire breathing dragons evoke Dark Souls Artorias of the Abyss vibes and heavy great sword plunging attacks evoke every single Souls game ever made. Although I will single out that dragon encounter as taking place on an open field and thus really looking more like something out of Dragon's Dogma in scope. It will be nice to finally take an a flying lizard that doesn't confusingly alternate between lazy claw attacks directly in front of itself and a ground focused flame spout. (Those guys literally got fire glands in their lungs, don't they? Why don't they light everything up more?) I suppose the one genuinely brand new thing regarding lore which we can take away from all this is in the snippet of Dialogue which confirms the McGuffin of the plot is indeed the Elden Ring. And, in fact, it's apparently something to be sought. Oh wait, what am I talking about? Stealth was also revealed; duh. Actual sneak attacks are coming to Souls games. Heck yeah!

Unfortunately for those who convinced themselves that this leak was the smoking gun indicating we'd be getting an Elden Ring trailer imminently, reports seemed to suggest this is not the case. The footage is apparently from a build of the game that's over a year old, and the trailer clearly would have been much updated since then, so we'll likely never see HQ renders of these leaks. Whatsmore, you can kind of tell that from the footage itself, despite it being in such an iffy recording. Some quirk to the movement and composition of the trailers just doesn't posses that same aura of perfectionism that I expect from From Software. I'd imagine this was probably more of an internal project that got around a bit further than was intended thanks to lockdown and impromptu file sharing. But that's just my speculation. Also, reports slate us for a 2022 release, so don't be surprised if this is the only Elden Ring news of the year.

I don't envy the dev team right now, but I hope that having this confirmation that their game exists is enough to sustain the From Soft crowd for a bit so that the rest of us can enjoy the season of game announcements. It's getting pretty annoying to hear them complain about how every game isn't this all last year. For my part, however, I will admit that nothing has quite blown me away from a pure presentation standpoint in the same way that Sekiro did. It's a subtle feeling, not an overwhelming sense, but it's something I can't shake all the same. Nothing seems like it 'wows', and that's despite one shot seemingly being a new boss's introduction scene. So perhaps that's a consequence of this footage being unburnished, or maybe of the game itself not being different enough for it's own good. It's hard, and unfair, to judge from such little material. My excitement's still there, don't get me wrong, it's just closer to tepid than boiling right now. Hopefully in a year that's an early inclination that I laugh at for it's foolishness. Hopefully.

Elden Ring. Oh, Elden Ring!

I doubt I could even imagine it.

This is perhaps the first time I've written it but it shall not be the last; I love stories. Moreover, I love storytelling. Stories have been a part of human culture ever since we first discovered how to communicate. Stories are how we teach, how we learn and how we speculate. A story told right is one that will last for generations.

We experience stories and storytelling every day in our books, on TV, at the movies and in games. Each medium has its own special quirks unique to it that makes it difficult to translate elsewhere. That isn't to say that games can't have moments that can be 'cinematic'; but that you can't tell a story you told in a movie the same way you tell it in video games, and vice versa. Just look at video game movies; like the mess that was the Assassins Creed movie. Games are expected to be 10-20 hours long on average, giving the story plenty of time to juggle two entirely unrelated stories such as an assassin in the present and his ancestor. However, in the movie there was just no time and so all the moments of the movie set in old Spain were stripped of story and left as just impressive feats of action with no context. Storytellers must always be cognizant of the medium they are utilizing and always play to its strengths, or else the final product suffers.

This brings me to Hidetaka Miyazaki. Miyazaki is renowned as a visionary game director and storyteller who greatly benefits each project he heads. So much so that he has built a reputation for his company, From Software, as being master craftsmen responsible for a slew of high concept masterpieces. Dark Souls in particular absolutely enamoured me with its unique take on storytelling, told in a way that one could only do by utilising the strengths of storytelling in games. At some point I intend to write a full blog on the specific ways that Dark Souls  revolutionises storytelling whilst simultaneously returning the art form to its spiritual roots. For now I just want to establish that this is man who is a master of his craft and who understands how to work within his medium.

Enter George R. R. Martin. Another renowned storyteller in his own field. Say what you will about season 8 of Game of Thrones, (And 7 while we're at it.) but for all the time the show was directly adapting his work it was a one-of-a-kind rollercoaster that pushed the art of TV shows further than they had ever gone before. And the books are good too. George R. R. Martin has a long and rich career of writing for films, TV and, of course, books. He is an incredibly talented and subversive storyteller who respects his audience enough to deliver them tales that ring with the utmost authenticity.

What do these two auteurs have in common? Elden Ring of course! Elden Ring is the latest From Software project to get a sly tease and a vague trailer. Marketed as a meeting of two great narrative minds, Elden Ring promises to deliver a challenging story, with classic souls gameplay and a concept that is 'bigger' than anything From Software have produced before. Whatever that means. All I know is that as an amateur writer I find the collaboration of one of my heroes with an author I greatly respect to be absolutely fascinating. That is why I will now proceed to break down the stark, haunting, weird teaser that was dropped during the Xbox conference for any nugget of insight I might glean.

First I decided to provide a transcript of the disparaging old man who narrates the trailer:

I doubt you could even imagine it,

That which commanded the stars

Giving life its fullest brilliance.

The Elden Ring.

Oh, Elden Ring!

Shattered by someone, or something.

Don't tell me you don't see it.

Look up at the sky, it burns!

Then I realised that all sounds more like a sermon then anything concrete enough to draw actual information from. But it's all we have to go on so let amateur analysis commence!

Right away the viewer is berated for being a dullard and told of the importance of this seemingly omniscient, godly presence known as the Elden Ring. I feel that it's important to note the reverence in the tone and feel of the trailer suggesting an almost religious feverance within the speaker. Whatever this Elden Ring is, the trailer man seems to hold it in as high regard as the first flame from Dark Souls, A lynch pin the holds the whole world together. Or rather held.

'Someone or something' (Real specific there, pal) managed to break this force of such omnipotent power and the backlash of this event appears to be have caused something catastrophic. 'The Sky... burns!'

Now I'm done listing the bleeding obvious, lets dive into rampant speculation.

When the voice first speaks, we're greeted with the image of this old man sporting about five arms too many and holding a severed forearm above his crowned head. For me, this image immediate evokes the concept of creationism, with the many armed figure reminding me of beings like Kali from Hinduism or... well... Arceus from Pokemon. Okay, hear me out! Arceus was another character based heavily around the idea of the creator deity represented in many religious cultures. And he had 1000 arms. Allegedly. We never saw them.

If this image is supposed to represent a creator of some kind, is it so far to assume that he might be some form or representation of the 'unimaginble' concept that is the Elden Ring? Unlikely. Chances are he is just our narrator and the man who will greet us at the beginning before giving us a whisper of a motive and sending us on our merry way. But I can speculate.

Also, there is a moment when the servered arm twitches as though it is still alive. I don't know what this is meant to denote but it might be a reflection of what I have gathered to be the core theme. Familiarity with Hidetaka Miyazaki's work had taught me that it ain't a Miyazaki game without the theme of decay. But perhaps with 'Ring' in the title we could be looking at a theme of renewal too. Like the ouroboros, the serpent eating its tail, The Elden Ring could be the process of death and rebirth symbolised by... a twitching severed arm... Yes I know I'm grasping here, just work with me.

Now we see the smith, hard at work at his forge. Several of the shots of this trailer revolve around showing him off, so he or his work is clearly of importance here. The man himself appears to be cracked and burnt as though his skin is made of porcelain and at the moment he finishes whatever it is he is forging, the man falls to his knees like his toils have finished him off.

What is he crafting? It's hard to say as the shots are specifically constructed in order to block the viewer from seeing but the obvious answer would be the Elden Ring. I know that clashes with my earlier theory but we're going to treat it as an open relationship. I can't shake the vibes of Lord of the Rings this shot gives me, either, as though The Smith is pounding away at the one ring like some hairy Nordic Celebrimbor. I'm not a big fan of the idea that The Elden Ring is just a piece of jewelry but with a shot like this is hard not to draw Tolkien parallels. I know George R. R. Martin is a Tolkien fan so this may just be a thematic send up but the prominence of this image in the trailer implies something more concrete.

One hypothesis I have is that this Smith is a god, or The God, crafting the divine entity that is the Elden Ring. Hence the cracked, porcelain skin to indicate that he isn't human and the intentionally obscured perspective to indicate that he works at something beyond earthly comprehension.

Another observation I made is that one shot shows The Smith striking his anvil, and at the moment after he does the cracks and his back grow as though the act of making this ring is destroying him with every strike.

Next we get a couple of enduring images of two individuals that I have decided to label The Burnt Lady and 'Gilgamesh'. I named the former for her burnt hand and fiery plume and the latter for his resemblance to Gilgamesh as he appeared in Final Fantasy Type 0. These two are perhaps the only human characters we seen in the entire trailer and are indicated as such by their wear and tear. The Burnt Lady has a badly scolded arm and fits what seems to be a prosthetic onto her left shoulder. 'Gilgamesh' is seen staring up and screaming into the heavens as the narrator equates the shattering of The Elden Ring and the burning of the sky. As he screams, 'Gilgamesh's' garments seem to be beginning to catch ablaze, as though the narrator was being literal about the whole sky thing.

Perhaps this references a mechanic in which the longer the player remains within the force of the red sky the more they catch on fire.

Tenuous, I know. 

Maybe the absence of the sun within these shots is also important. If The Elden Ring 'Commanded the stars' and the Ring ain't around no more, the sun might be decaying as a result. We do get a glimpse of something beyond the sky when The Shatterer charges but I will get more into my theory on that, next.

'Gilgamesh' seems to be a lone survivor sitting amidst some sort of battlefield (Just like in Final Fantasy Type 0) with some very large weaponry nearby. He looks almost as though he is surrendering to his fate as the burning sky swallows him up. This tell me that the world we are being shown is undergoing some sort of doomsday scenario in the absence of The Elden Ring. Maybe this is the world players will get to explore; but I suspect that, given Miyazaki's previous bodies of work, that what we see is the prequel to our story. We will likely see the world in the aftermath of it's apocalypse and walk among the dead, just like dark souls.

I chose to separate The Shatterer from The Burnt Lady and 'Gilgamesh' because I believe this scene comes from earlier than those two. For one, he is the only character we see outside who is not burnt, for two, he is the character we see when our narrator mentions the 'something or someone' who shattered The Elden Ring. Also, we even see the sun clearly behind him as he charges not faded like it is in 'Gilgamesh's' shot.

The Shatterer (Assuming he is the one who shatters The Elden Ring) seems reminiscent of Dark Souls' iconic Black Knights from their matching scorched obsidian armour and shared penchant for long halberd's. In Dark Souls, the Black Knights were the spirits of Lord Gwyn's silver army sacrificed in the linking of the first flame. Perhaps this Shatterer is a dark reflection on them, a being that lives in a world of enlightenment who shatters The Elden Ring and brings darkness upon the land.

Do note that I do not believe that the scene the see depicts the shattering of the Elden Ring, The Shatterer appears to be ganking some poor golden armoured guy who doesn't even have a guard up, but I have chosen to equate him with the words that accompanied him. Of course he could just be a nobody and I'm looking into him way too much. That is likely. I should move on.

The trailer concludes how I have already described. The Smith finishes his work and falls to his knees spent/ possibly dead, some otherworldly presence seems to ooze from his workspace and we get a fleeting glimpse at a lady overseeing his work. The Forewoman, as I have called her, seems godly too. She is present within this dark abyssal void, for one, and she shares The Smith's pale, milky complexion. Beyond that her presence is an absolute mystery. The narrator has already trailed off to go chase kids off his lawn by the time she shows up and we see so little of her that it's hard to even guess at her role. I suppose her relevance will remain one of the many mysteries that this game raises. And maybe even answers. If we're lucky and eat our greens.

Needless to say I'm already heavily invested in this game. I've always loved the dreamy, ethereal essence of the From Software trailers and the way the seem to beg you to unravel its layers of secrets. Now I can say I've devoted a blog's worth of speculation to the matter and perhaps now my hungry heart can rest until more is revealed. Don't count on it though.

If you have any ideas yourself, please comment down below. From my nonsensical ramblings you can see that there are no wrong guesses here. At least none that are any more wrong.