Future Classic
ELDEN RING
Modern games you’ll still be playing in years to come
Already revered for the influential Souls games that spawned their own sub-genre, FromSoftware was ready to cross over into the new frontier of open-world games and rewrite the rules as Elden Ring delivered the developer’s vision of AAA game design
Words by Alan Wen
Info
» System: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
» Year: 2022
» Publisher: Bandai Namco
» Developer: FromSoftware
» Key People:
Hidetaka Miyazaki, Yui Tanimura, George R RMartin
» [PS5] Fighting on horseback in the open world feels epic, plus you can always just bolt it.
Go Deeper
» Given the significance of rings in the game’s lore, rings are not equippable, though players can find talismans offering some similar perks.
» All demi-gods (eg Godfrey, Radhan, Melania) have names beginning with one of Martin’s initials, though the author claimed it was a coincidence.
THE BACKGROUND
Having concluded the Dark Souls series in 2016 before following up with the Japan-set and more action-oriented Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in 2019, fans craving for a return to FromSoftware’s twist on dark fantasy got their wish when the developer unveiled Elden Ring at E3 that same year, confirming its renewed partnership with Souls publisher Bandai Namco and as a collaboration with acclaimed fantasy novelist Game Of Thrones creator George R RMartin.