10 Ways Elden Ring Looks Different To Dark Souls | Screen Rant
While Elden Ring certainly borrows from FromSoftware's prior Dark Souls trilogy design, it's also taking steps to evolve its formula.
FromSoftware's next highly-anticipated dark-fantasy endeavor is just about ready to release, and both longtime fans and prospective newcomers are excited over where Elden Ring will take the Souls-like formula. Based on trailers, the closed network test, and other previews for the game, it's shaping up to be more than just an "open-world Dark Souls."
The core foundation of what made the Dark Souls trilogy so successful will be there, but director Hidetaka Miyazaki and co. are fleshing out those fundamentals to revolutionize the subgenre. Open-world traversal, combat mechanics, and character customization look like they'll be gameplay pillars of Elden Ring.
Of course, the biggest change to Elden Ring from Dark Souls is expanding to an open-world format. It already makes the former game the most ambitious project undertaken by FromSoftware. Open-world games admittedly fall victim to tropes, and while tropes aren't inherently negative aspects, the trailers and gameplay video demonstrations make it appear that The Lands Between uses its sprawling real estate with purpose.
The 15-minute demonstration, in particular, shows that Elden Ring doesn't suffer from bloat or scarcity. Rather, it looks enticing to explore and adds a great sense of scale to the world and its lore.
Many great action RPGs implement a class-based system for players in the character creation process. Elden Ring will use one as well that's comprised of 10 different classes. However, while each class will certainly have its respective specialties, gameplay fans have seen so far emphasizes that this will be FromSoft's most flexible action-RPG experience.
Player characters have been shown wielding heavy gear like lances with shields, yet can still quickly and seamlessly swap between other weapon types as well different kinds of magic. Dark Souls allowed for some creativity too, but this looks to be the most fluid the formula has ever been.
While a simplistic feature on paper, Elden Ring explodes its level of exploration by adding a dedicated jump button. If the open-world design looks to be partly inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, then this simple yet meaningful change takes a page from FromSoft's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
On top of adding a whole new dimension to combat, being able to easily jump gives traversing The Lands Between a thrilling sense of verticality. Dark Souls needed players to get a running start to execute a fairly cumbersome and shallow jump, so this change in Elden Ring will give players the freedom to explore every nook and cranny possible.
Players will also be able to swap weapon skills and attributes more freely. In the Dark Souls games, upgrading weapons had to be done carefully since it required massive and varying degrees of titanate. So if players wanted the same weapon but wanted to use different buffs, they had to craft multiples of the same weapon.
However, in Elden Ring, players can use Ashes of War to add different damage properties at Sites of Grace. In addition to stat scaling, Ashes of War also come with a special attack activated by a button. This level of weapon customization will help add more depth to combat.
Elden Ring takes a similar approach to Dark Souls with Sites of Grace, as these checkpoint/respawn locations are a mainstay of the subgenre. Though fans reasonably appreciate FromSoftware's brand of challenge in their games, the arduous runs back to the boss fights after dying can be seen as antiquated.
To maintain the pacing of gameplay in such a massive open-world setting, Elden Ring has been revealed to have secondary checkpoints called Stakes of Marika. To balance difficulty, players can't heal at these checkpoints but have the option to spawn at them to get back into the action faster. It looks like a great accessibility feature that still maintains difficulty.
Another natural difference that comes with the transition to an open-world format is the world events. Dark Souls made excellent use of its intricate and interconnected level design, but by expanding into a free-flowing universe, Elden Ring will add more layers of surprise and discovery.
Players will occasionally stumble upon different events -- sometimes deadly ones, sometimes for NPC side quests. Notable examples of this overworld mechanic include the dragon that ambushes players in the Stormveil Castle area and finding Alexander the Iron Fist stuck in a crater.
One of the pitfalls of open-world games is how the world and its map are littered with markers that are either pointless busywork, kill the excitement of exploration, or both. Ubisoft's messy open worlds are infamous for this, but FromSoft implemented it in Elden Ring in a way that feels natural within this dark-fantasy universe.
To uncover more of the map, players need to find map fragments throughout the world. And while there are markers to show players where to go next, they're "guiding lights" that serve as gentle suggestions. Likewise, players can place custom markers manually should they want to go back somewhere optional.
Including Godrick the Golden's domain -- Stormveil Castle -- there are six major dungeons. Each of them is ruled by a Demigod story boss, but there are several optional dungeons of varying sizes. The difference in how Elden Ring will be approaching dungeon design compared to Dark Souls is in the wealth of options given to players on how to tackle them.
Even in the plot-centric ones, there are different entry points to dungeons and with different tactics. They'll all have different levels of scale, both in terms of size and complexity, in addition to the likes of caves and mines.
Taking a page from Sekiro, Elden Ring will evolve the Dark Souls fantasy formula by bringing a newfound focus to stealth. It's another mechanic that goes hand-in-hand with combat, as the added damage dealt against enemies can make stealthy strategies worthwhile.
This could be beneficial for grabbing heavily-guarded items instead of risking the brunt of a full-frontal assault. However, it can also be used to avoid confrontation altogether if players simply need to get to a point of interest. One would expect this will also have a role to play when exploring dungeons.
Crafting is also an expected feature that's essentially baked into open-world gameplay. Nonetheless, it's a major step forward for FromSoftware's Dark Souls design and adding even more substance to its traditional gameplay loop.
It alters the in-game economy of Elden Ring, as players will now be able to craft and prepare items while adventuring, rather than having to buy from vendors beforehand. With all the opportunities this opens up for resource management, only the full game's release will reveal the full breadth of what all can be crafted while exploring The Lands Between.