Game news Elden Ring: What can we expect from the open-world?
As its release date is fast approaching, many players are still wondering regarding the form that the open world of Elden Ring, a central feature of the title and a great first for From Software, will take. To answer these questions, a little look back at everything we already know regarding the open-world aspect of the most anticipated title of 2022 according to the Game Awards.
Summary
- An experience that invents exploration
- An empty open world?
Now that Pokemon Legends: Arceus is out, all eyes are now on the other highly anticipated open-world of 2022, if not the most anticipated: Elden Ring. With this new game from a new license, From Software, the developers behind the Dark Souls series, but also Bloodborne and Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, try their hand at the open world for the first time, following offering titles to structures where levels interconnect. But while some lucky people were able to try the game last November during the Network Test, others wonder regarding the open-world of the title, even express certain fears that the world to explore is too empty. Faced with these questions, we invite you to come back to everything we already know regarding the open world of Elden Ring, in particular from the words of the developers themselves.
An experience that invents exploration
First, let’s start with the world structure of Elden Ring. In a long interview with IGN Hidetaka Miyazaki, the game’s director and president of From Software, explains that The Underworld is divided into six main zones which are the domains of the Demi-Gods that we must face. While these areas are lined up for players to tackle in a specific order, players won’t be required to follow it exactly. There will therefore be great freedom in the progression and exploration of the Underworld. However, you won’t be able to access everything from the start of the game, but each area can be approached in different ways and there will be a lot of freedom in the order of approaching these different areas. At times, you may be sent to certain areas once morest your will, but you will have many ways to explore and approach different situations.
To get a little more concrete, your exploration will be made easier thanks to Torrent, a spectral horse that can be called upon at any time, which is used both to move faster, but can also be used during certain boss fights even if the latter is never mandatory. However, don’t expect to experience an open world full of towns and villages for several reasons. First of all, for questions of context, because the Underworld has been a world in desolation since the beginning of the war called the Burst. Then, Hidetaka Miyazaki also acknowledged that “creating a new kind of game was a big challenge for us. If we had to add cities on top of that it would have been a bit too much, so we decided to make an open world style game that focuses on what we do best“. However, the title still includes a hub which will be accessible a little later in the adventure that will give you access to different destinations.
While the world of Elden Ring won’t be alive in terms of NPCs that can be interacted with, don’t think these areas are empty, far from it. In addition to the main dungeons which house the Demi-Gods, the Legacy Dungeons which recall the levels of Dark Souls for example, each zone has a wide variety of additional content such as catacombs, castles, fortresses, or even half-bosses. While it’s possible to dash straight to the next main boss, the title greatly rewards the curious player who accepts the invitation to explore what it has to offer. What’s more, these detours can be very useful to you in the main quest since they can allow you to become stronger either by collecting Runes, the equivalent of souls in Souls that allow you to increase your statistics, but also by obtaining new equipment. But so the player doesn’t feel lost, Vanished Grace sites, Dark Souls’ equivalent of campfires where you can rest, collect your vials, and spawn monsters, display a golden trail so that we identify ourselves and allow us to move towards the main boss of the area.
Elden Ring: Epic Boss Battle!
An empty open world?
With Elden Ring, the developers of From Software therefore seek to find a balance between a world sufficiently populated so that we do not get bored there, while being sufficiently empty so that we feel a real feeling of desolation and solitude. Unfortunately, following the Network Test, some players have criticized the title for offering an area that is too empty and to spread out its ancillary content in an open-world world when everything might have been held in levels as the studio knows how to do. These same people lament a lack of interaction with the environment as can do The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild with its different systems, but also that the open world acts as filler to the detriment of the more closed levels but with the successful level-design of previous From Software productions.
When you read the comments from the press but also from players who have tried the beta of the game, you quickly realize that this kind of opinion is more than a minority. On the contrary, the title is so far praised for constantly offering new things to discover when the player has to go from point A to point B. If we know that the game can be finished in thirty hours in a straight line according to its producer, the latter also promises dozens of hours of additional play for those who take the time to explore. In reality, Elden Ring is a game that constantly invites you to detour to reward the player’s curiosity. And as for the level-design, the six Legacy Dungeons are announced as more classic levels “à la Dark Souls”so there is nothing to worry regarding here.
Moreover, without making the experiment easy, Elden Ring simplifies many aspects of its experience so the player isn’t afraid to exploreas explained Yasuhiro Kitao, one of the game’s producers. This goes through several small details, such as the great agility of the spectral horse which allows access to places out of reach, but also the possibility of resurrecting next to his corpse in certain areas identified as difficult by the developers to prevent players from losing all their runes if they get killed on the way to get them. Finally, we can also mention the spirits that can be invoked at any time and which can attract the attention of enemies. But be careful, they will not do all the work for you and you will have to do without them most of the time.
From all the elements we have, Elden Ring is intended to be an open-world that pushes the player to explore his world. Beyond the pleasure of discovery, these detours are also thought to be beneficial in order to strengthen your character to face new dangers. Without being completely open from the start, the experience wants to offer great freedom to the player in the order of approaching the areas but also in his approaches. However, From Software does not forget its fundamentals by offering a hub, as well as classic levels with level-design worked with the Legacy Dungeons, like the productions that have made it famous over the years. Finally, since this is a first for the studio, certain aspects of the experience have been simplified in an attempt to reduce player stress and not make this open world feel frustrating. In any case, answer on February 25 for the final verdict on the open-world of Elden Ring.
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