Five Things We Know About George R.R. Martin’s "Elden Ring"

Game of Thrones meets Dark Souls.

At Summer Game Fest overnight, a bunch of exciting announcements were made for some of the most highly anticipated upcoming games. The most exciting: George R.R. Martin's Elden Ring.

The Game of Thrones writer has helped create the world of Elden Ring, and the team at FromSoftware (the minds behind Dark Souls) brought his vision to life in the most beautiful fantasy game we’ve seen in a long time.

To get you pumped about Elden Ring’s 21 January release next year, here are five things we know about the game so far.

Elden Ring is gonna be dark.

Anyone who is familiar with Game of Thrones knows that anything George R.R. Martin creates isn’t going to be sunshine and rainbows. It’s gonna be dark… I’m looking at you Red Wedding.

The trailer is bleak and brooding, with a mystic voiceover mentioning things like an "unending curse".

It’s fair to say, don’t get attached to any characters in this world, ‘cos just when you least expect it, Martin will probably kill them off.

The search for the Elden ring.

Plot-wise, it looks like the main character of the game—which is alluded to being called the “Tarnished” one—is on a quest to find the Elden Ring. It’s not a literal ring, but actually the name given to “a mysterious concept that defines the world itself,” head of FromSoftware Hidetaka Miyazaki said.

“The Elden Ring has been shattered. The significance of this will be one of the important themes of the game.

We don’t understand and yet, we're all in.

Elden Ring is gonna be a massive game.

The game is FromSoftware’s biggest creation to date. The studio has departed from the usual smaller, limited map—like in Dark Souls—in favour of an open world map that will be ripe for exploration.

Unlike other free roam games though, this one won’t be a world populated with NPCs and towns, but instead a bleaker world that is devoid of society.

We’re especially excited about what Miyazaki calls “intricately designed, multi-layered castles.” That just sounds awesome.

Co-op multiplayer campaign.

It looks like Elden Ring is adding a co-operative multiplayer component to the game, with the trailer showing the main character teaming up with two phantoms that spawn in.

Great news for people looking to take on a fantasy quest with a couple of mates.

So many freakin’ monsters.

Elden Ring is packed with monsters that look humourous at best and downright gross at worst. 

To name a few that were just in the trailer alone, there are walking pot plants, a half-human half-scorpion ghoul, a sword-wielding ram-horned giant, an armoured werewolf, a fire breathing dragon with four wings, a skeleton moose and massive man-beast made of hands. Big yikes on that last one.

We can’t even begin to imagine the foul beasts that they chose not to show us.

"Oh cool, they added a dragon, I wonder if it's also weak to lightning."

The Dragon:#ELDENRING pic.twitter.com/autLOpOfLw

— Shaku (@ShakuTweet) June 10, 2021

It’s seriously gonna be a fantasy world like no other and we can’t wait to explore it.

Elden Ring is slated to hit shelves on 21 January 2022 and will be available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC for $89.

Header Image: PlayStation