Longqi Bangbangtang, a well known and highly regarded Chinese Soulsborne Creator, has spilt the beans over the details of Elden Ring. The guy is known for making in-depth lore videos and was even invited to From’s office for Sekiro. The details were shared via a video on Bili Bili (Chinese version of Youtube). Unfortunately, the video has been deleted in the meantime. However, here’s a summary of the important bits (courtesy of Reddit):
- The game world is based on the world tree from Norse mythology (Yggdrasil), and also references some elements from Celtic mythology. God of War brushed up our knowledge of Norse Mythology. Meanwhile, given that George R.R. Martin is behind the story, we’re certain to see deep lore.
- The gameplay is similar to Dark Souls as has been reported before by various sources, but the map is much larger. New features are dynamic weather and day/night alternation. Imagine you fight with a wandering boss from day to night, he said, and the weather changes from sunny to thunderous. For reference, previous titles from From Studio’s had stable and fixed weather, which was more often than not dark.
- The guy with a lot of hands at the beginning of the 2019 trailer is probably an NPC.
- That crestfallen dude will appear again.
- There will be a black-clothed female NPC taking the role of the fire keeper as is the tradition in Soulsborne games.
- Patches may not appear, or not appear in human form (think of the spider in Bloodborne).
- There are characters like Gael and the Xanthous king.
- The game development stage has been completed in the first half of 2020 and is now in the polishing stage. The game will be released in 2021, he’s pretty sure (though of course not officially confirmed)
- Two concept arts were revealed:
The first one shows a snake enemy with Lovecraftian vibes. The second artwork shows a picture of the red-haired giant wearing a tusk helm who can be seen in the trailer. He was badly wounded in a battle. His faction is characterized by red hair and the use of large weapons. There is also a faction characterized by white hair. The two biggest factions he has known so far seem to have come from the same ancestor but have split up eventually.
We’re fairly certain that the leaked art concepts are actually from Elden Ring since they look so much like Soul series art work and given that it’s pretty difficut to replicate From’s design.