Elden Ring is one of the most hotly-anticipated upcoming games right now, and for good reason: it's a collaboration between FromSoftware and George R.R. Martin, both of whom have a reputation in their respective circles as impressive creators. That said, from the small number of confirmed details about the game, and from the leaks, it doesn't exactly look like this game is going to be Dark Souls meets Game of Thrones.
What appears to be one of the most striking differences from Dark Souls is how the world itself is constructed. The Dark Souls games, while not entirely linear, are guided by what are essentially lanes. It makes the combat a bit more right-in-the-player's-face, and it defines a lot of how the game plays. Elden Ring isn't going to be like that, while also not being an open-world game: it's going to be an "open-field" game.
The World Of Dark Souls Defines Combat
As mentioned above, the construction of the world in Dark Souls affects everything about how the combat plays out. A lot of this is due to the simplicity of the combat in Dark Souls: At its core, Dark Souls combat is simply about timing and stamina management, at least until magic enters into the equation. That's not to say the combat is easy, as Dark Souls' reputation speaks for itself, but the simplicity of it all means that the arenas where combat takes place has a lot of impact on how the game plays out.
There is actually quite a bit of variety in the areas within Dark Souls, but the world itself never actually enters that "very big area" realm. There are a lot of really tight corridors, both filled with a ton of smaller enemies and occasionally fewer larger enemies that require a bit more finesse to kill. There are wider-lane areas, with a huge variety of enemies filling them, but sometimes they've got more surprises or complications like ranged enemies at the end of them. The point is, the Dark Souls formula gave FromSoftware plenty of options when it comes to creating combat scenarios, and its new open-field concept is going to create all new scenarios for Elden Ring.
The Open-Field Will Give Elden Ring More Opportunities
Switching up the formula has probably not only given FromSoftware some extra creative juices flowing, but it's going to allow the game a lot of different opportunities than Dark Souls and Bloodborne had, both in the combat and in the aesthetic/storytelling.
As far as the combat goes, the difference here is pretty obvious. There should be more open space, and that allows for many different types of combat to be present that couldn't be in Dark Souls. One of the biggest differences here is the extra opportunities for ranged combat. Whether or not ranged combat is going to be more expansive in Elden Ring compared to how it was in Dark Souls remained to be seen, but it's a possibility.
The open-field is going to give FromSoftware a lot of new opportunities in how the world can look, as well. While the claustrophobic feel of Dark Souls added to the atmosphere and to the game, Elden Ring doesn't necessarily have to feel like that, now. There can be more chances for the game to let the player sit back and observe a huge swath of land, taking a deep breath before wading into whatever fresh hell it holds.
Elden Ring is currently in development.
