Elden Ring, From Software’s new open-world action adventure hit co-directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George RR Martin, will be launching on February 25, 2022. The gameplay trailer was revealed today. “It will be an evolution of Dark Souls.” Director Miyazaki stated during an interview. “Players still need to piece together their own story fragments, but I think the basic part of the story is easier to understand than before. Also, the depth of the story is unprecedented.” Martin’s presence will bring the lore to another level. Miyazaki considers Elden Ring a mythology, a history, and moreover, an epic.
Regarding combat, Miyazaki said that combat will be just as tough as in Dark Souls but fundamentally different. Players will have much more freedom with combat style and strategy. “Weapon arts are not tied to weapons like in Dark Souls. Players are free to combine a weapon with any weapon art. We have prepared around 100 weapon arts for our players to choose from.”
From Software is aiming to broaden its fanbase with Elden Ring. Boss battles will be tough as usual, but will not hinder players’ progression in the story. Players can choose to leave a boss they cannot beat and come back for it later. Nevertheless, these battles will still lead to the climaxes of the gameplay. Miyazaki said that it’s hard to compare Elden Ring’s difficulty to From Software’s other titles. “It’s hard to compare Elden Ring to the other games. In terms of its action adventure title, I think Elden Ring is easier than Bloodborne and Sekiro. It’s easier to compare Elden Ring with Sekiro, but players can level up their stats before challenging a boss, so overall I think the difficulty is similar to Dark Souls III.”
When asked if players will be able to jump in Elden Ring, Miyazaki gave an affirmative answer. “Players can perform jump attacks, which deal more damage than normal attacks. Lower attacks can also be evaded by jumping. We think allowing players to jump would give players more capacity to explore this open world.” As we can see in the gameplay preview video, rolling will not be the only way to dodge enemy attacks anymore.