Stunning graphics, a chilling voiceover, intriguing soundtrack, exhilarating gameplay—all of these aspects came together to create the trailer for Elden Ring, the long-awaited collaboration between FromSoftware and world-renowned author George R.R. Martin. The fantasy action-RPG's gameplay reveal trailer was unveiled in June, and since then, fans eagerly anticipating its release in January 2022 have analyzed the three-minute trailer in search of details that might better inform players of what they can expect from Elden Ring. The most obvious thing that most fans picked up on, however, was just how much it resembles Dark Souls.
While most fans of the Souls trilogy knew that there could be similarities, given how much its incredibly defined world and well-structured gameplay created a winning and often-imitated formula, the resemblance caught some fans off guard. FromSoftware often releases games in the Souls-like formula, and the trilogy has influenced a number of RPGs in the last decade to some degree, however minor. The studio's other popular works, Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, both have very distinct worlds and they incorporate major innovations to combat. Their similarities to Souls are superficial on the surface and can be attributed to the success of the Souls formula and its impact on the RPG genre. With Elden Ring, however, these similarities go a little deeper.
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Elden Ring's story puts players in the shoes of one of the Tarnished, a people who have been ostracized and exiled, and it takes place in a new world named the Lands Between. They have to take down Elden Ring's bosses in order to gather the scattered shards of the eponymous ring, with their ultimate goal being to become the Elden Lord.
There are some moments in the trailer that appear to be small tributes or nods towards the Dark Souls trilogy; for example, the moment in which a person we can assume is the player’s character is seen sitting in front of a bonfire is an obvious reference. FromSoftware loves to reference its previous works in its games even if they do not exist in the same universe. But flames, unending curses, enormous, mangled monsters, and delipidated Gothic castles are all startlingly reminiscent of Dark Souls in a way that is not at all superficial.
The Dark Souls series has always had a distinct style that leans into medieval horror, and it seems so far that Elden Ring has adopted a style similar to Dark Souls. The decrepit, crumbling fortresses castles and dark dungeons shown all look like they could have been extracted from Dark Souls 3. The world is as bleak and forlorn as any Souls game; in fact, no FromSoftware game would feel complete without a world submerged in chaos. It is that combined sense of wonder and horror that defined the world of Dark Souls, and the trailer for Elden Ring offers fans insight into just how much it strives to imitate that. There is clearly a well-structured lore behind this game, and from the trailer it is evident that the claims about this being FromSoftware's biggest project so far are accurate.
When George R.R. Martin stated in an interview that Elden Ring is a "sequel to a video game that came out a few years ago called Dark Souls", many fans of the trilogy may have taken Martin's comments wrong and believed this was confirmation that it is a Dark Souls game. Instead, it rather just confirms that Elden Ring is not shying away from how much it was influenced and inspired by the enormous legacy of Souls. Martin appears to have simply mixed up the term "sequel" with "spiritual successor"—or perhaps he wrote his contribution to Elden Ring with Dark Souls at the back of his mind.
It has been stated multiple times that Elden Ring is not a direct sequel, and both the trailer and the official website state that this is “A New World Created By Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin”. It is not a Dark Souls 4, or even set in the same world, although perhaps there will be some small connections and Easter eggs in the game that say otherwise when it finally launches.
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So far, in spite of the similarities and Martin’s comments, it does seem that Elden Ring truly will be its own unique fantasy experience. While it is a return to the dark-fantasy form for FromSoftware, it is not a pale imitation of the Souls trilogy or a Dark Souls 4. Instead, it is set to offer fans of FromSoftware, Miyazaki, and Martin a chance to delve into a brand-new adventure.
Elden Ring's story aims to be more layered than the studio's other works and will have multiple endings, offering players the opportunity to branch out into the game's fleshed out world. There will be more exploration and more freedom, and in this way, Elden Ring could be understood as a more expansive, amplified Dark Souls successor; one that takes from the studio's flagship games and improves on them. It has the potential to innovate the fantasy RPG genre just as its predecessor did.
Nonetheless, it is a positive thing that Elden Ring is embracing its connections as it is likely that Elden Ring would not be able to escape the shadow of its predecessor, even if it wanted to. Whether or not it will live up to the standard set by Dark Souls, of course, remains to be seen. Comparing a game that has not been released yet to one of the most celebrated trilogies of all time seems like an unfair comparison to make, but we have faith in the experience Elden Ring is set to bring to fans of fantasy RPGs.
Elden Ring is scheduled to launch on January 21 on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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