Elden Ring is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.
FromSoftware wanted to create an open-world game with gameplay similar to their existing Dark Cloud series, intending Elden Ring to act as an evolution of Dark Souls. Miyazaki admired Martin’s work and hoped his contributions would produce a more accessible narrative than FromSoftware’s previous games. Elden Ring received critical acclaim for its open-world, gameplay systems, and setting, with criticism going towards technical performance issues upon release. By July 2022, the game had sold more than 16.6 million copies.
Elden Ring might have won a Grand Award at the Tokyo Game Show, the convention’s equivalent of a Game of the Year award, but many players are turning their attention to CyberPunk 2077– nearly two years after CD Projekt Red’s futuristic open-world RPG came out.
Stream Charts, a website that tracks how many people are playing a game at a given time on Steam, shows Cyberpunk 2077 has 33,658 players as of Sept. 15, 2022. Meanwhile, as Reddit user Lymbassy first noted, FromSoftware’s Elden’s Ring had 29,093 players during the same period.
The gap of approximately 4,000 players may seem small, but it is a surprise considering Cyberpunk 2077’s rocky, bug-filled start and delayed expansion content. However, the game shows signs of new life after CDPR introduced Cyberpunk 2077’s long-awaited DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, in a recent live stream.
Elden Ring came out on Feb. 25, 2022, and while it launched with a full single-player campaign and robust multiplayer element, fans eagerly await news about upcoming content in the dark fantasy RPG. FromSoftware usually supports its games with new DLC quests and even full campaigns, so it’s likely just a matter of time before news of Elden Ring DLC emerges as well.
Why is Elden Ring so popular?
For the last couple of months, everybody’s been trying to figure out why everyone currently drawing breath in this cursed earthly realm can’t stop playing or talking about Elden Ring. It’s a mystery. It makes no sense. Elden Ring, a brutally challenging open-world RPG, hasn’t just been popular. The numbers have been astronomical. FromSoftware has released a number of hit titles. Dark Souls and Bloodborne have deservedly attracted millions of players. But Elden Ring’s level of success has put the famed developer into a whole other stratosphere. FromSoftware’s last game, the highly rated and super popular Sekiro, took a year to shift 5 million copies. Bloodborne, a PlayStation 4 exclusive, sold around 3 million copies over its lifespan. FromSoftware’s most successful release, Dark Souls 3, took around four years to sell 10 million copies.
Reasons behind Elden Ring’s Popularity
According to Mat Hart, the co-founder of the company, “fans should expect a dark, richly-realized tabletop world of mystery and peril, with satisfying combat and rewarding exploration.” At this stage, there aren’t many details on the project, but Steamforged promised a combat system that wouldn’t involve dice rolling. Additionally, you’ll be able to play the game with up to three other friends, or by yourself if you so choose.
Like Steamforged’s take on Dark Souls and Horizon Zero Dawn, Elden Ring will come with a handful of miniatures. The company shared a render of one of Elden Ring’s early-game bosses, which will look in miniature form. Despite its small size, this version of the Fell Omen looks just as intimidating as its video game counterpart. Steamforged will share more details on the project when it brings the game to Kickstarter at a later date. Until then, you can sign up to receive updates as the company is ready to share them.
Elden Ring’s origination
FromSoftware’s line of “Soulslike” RPGs has always given players a plethora of outfits and weapons with which to customize their characters; Elden Ring in particular has a truly diverse selection of armor sets, armaments, magic spells, and consumables, many of them derived from the appearance and attacks of enemies and friendly NPCs players can encounter throughout the Lands Between. With a creative mindset and a knowledge of outfit choices, it’s more than possible for players of Elden Ring to create “cosplay” character builds inspired by the protagonists and antagonists of Star Wars, The Witcher, and other fantasy franchises. Fantasy fiction cosplays have been popular for quite a while among fans of FromSoftware games such as Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 3, and Bloodborne, thanks to their diverse range of weapons and armor sets ranging from beautiful to beautifully grotesque in form. Character builds of Guts and other characters are popular cosplay choices from the fantasy manga. Berserk is popular in Dark Souls and other Soulslike games, in part because Berserk’s art style inspired key parts of the Soulslike RPG visual aesthetic. The open-world size scope of Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s newest Soulslike RPG, has greatly expanded the cosplay opportunities players have, letting them create custom PCs who look like, dress like, and even fight like the following classic fantasy figures
First, players can replicate the look of Kratos using Elden Ring’s character creation suite, adding blood-red tattoos to an ashen-pale skin tone and giving their Tarnished PC either no hair at all (for young Kratos) or a shaggy black beard (for dad Kratos). The Hero starting class will give players access to a shirtless armor set similar to what Kratos wears in the God of War games and a round shield. A set of Fist weapons with the War Cry or the Barbaric Roar Ash of War equipped will let Kratos cosplayers emulate his “Spartan Rage” mode from God of War (2018), and the Highland Axe weapon with the Hoarfrost Stomp Ash of War will closely resemble his signature Leviathan Axe, and weapons such as the Giant’s Red Braid (from Elden Ring’s Jotun-Esque Fire Giant boss), Magma Whip Candlestick, or Magma Blade can stand in for his iconic Blades of Chaos. In the Elden Ring character creation engine, golden-colored eyes, long white hair, and stubble facials will capture the basic look of Geralt of Rivia. Two different greatsword-class weapons can stand in for Geralt’s signature armaments – a steel longsword for slaying humans and a silver-plated one for killing monsters.
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