The Taipei Game Show 2022 was held yesterday, albeit with a limited capacity due to the pandemic, and gamers were given an exclusive look at several games, including the upcoming title Elden Ring. The game’s producer, Yasuhiro Kitao, gave an exclusive interview “about the game’s mechanics” and answered several gamers’ questions. Check out the full forty-six-minute video below.
Kitao began the interview by introducing Elden Ring saying, “In terms of the fundamentals of the game, genre-wise, it is positioned as a dark fantasy action RPG. It is a robust, content-heavy action RPG, centered upon the satisfaction of overcoming difficulties and exploring the unknown, with the dark fantasy element pertaining to the worldview created in the game.”
The producer then went on to describe Elden Ring‘s “Compelling worldview.” Kitao described “two key aspects of the title” and said, “In terms of the world of the game, it is the first FromSoftware title to use an open field design.” Continuing, “In addition to the breadth provided by the sheer enormity of the world in which it is set, the story itself is multi-layered and profound in its depth.” The producer of Elden Ring also mentioned how instead of relying on “cut-scenes to explicitly inform the player of the storyline,” developers “tried instead to provide the player with small fragments and let them use their own imagination to construct the story.”
Elden Ring uses what the developers call an “open field” design. Kitao described this as, “More than simply vast, the sprawling open areas are also replete with danger around every corner, with a relatively high battle encounter rate, as users have come to expect from our titles.” The Elden Ring producer added that in addition to smaller dungeons, there are larger dungeons referred to as “legacy dungeons. They provide a sharp contrast to the open field maps outside. Complex and three-dimensional in structure, they feature a more intense, strained atmosphere.”
The interview also touched on the game’s tactical diversity and character customization. Kitao mentioned, “Users are free to customize their characters. This applies not only to appearance but also to equipment and abilities.” Players can create characters whose specialties range from close combat to wielding heavy weapons or even excelling in magic. Additionally, “Spirits” help players “when faced with a powerful enemy, or a boss character” They “fight alongside you,” can be strengthened, and “there are a variety of different types available.”
Kitao confirmed that multiplayer will feature in Elden Ring, “in both the open field portion of the game and in the dungeons.” There are two types of multiplayer: “cooperative play, in which you work together to explore areas and defeat bosses, and adversarial play, involving players from other worlds.”
Elden Ring will release on February 25, 2022, for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X’S, Xbox One, and PC. According to Kitao, the main game should take most players around 30 hours, but with how massive the open field is, players will probably spend a lot longer just exploring the menacing world.