‘Elden Ring’ shows off stellar world design, boss fights in new gameplay footage

FromSoftware has just released a new gameplay footage from its highly-anticipated open-world role-playing game Elden Ring.

On Friday, the studio behind Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice showed-off a 19-minute video from its upcoming Souls-like offering, giving fans an extensive look at the game's fundamental elements including combat mechanics, exploration, and world design.

The clip begins with the Tarnished at a Site of Grace, which serves as a place where players can rest. The video then proceeds with the character as he summons a mount to explore the breathtaking environment of the Lands Between.

Aside from giving fans their best look yet at Elden Ring's stellar world design, the preview also showed various types of gameplay action, including an encounter with a number of monstrosities such as a fire-breathing dragon and a boss fight with the multi-armed, axe-weilding demigod Godrick the Golden inside the Stormveil Castle.

While in combat, players can use a variety of basic and advanced fighting options across a number of weapon types and magical disciplines, including the use of spears, arrows, flaming swords, and the ability to summon spirits that can assist you in perilous situations.

Meanwhile, the video also showed how players can use fragments to populate the game's expansive map, which can also be customized using markers to highlight places where players can find crafting materials and dangerous enemies. Beacons, meanwhile, can also be used to help the character navigate the map, just like in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Additionally, players can also utilize Spirit Springs across the area, which allows the character to jump high into the air in lieu of climbing high terrains. Catacombs, caves, mines, and other multi-level dungeons can also be found while exploring the world, with some of them awaiting fearsome bosses or hidden treasures.

First announced at E3 two years ago, Elden Ring comes from a collaboration between Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki and A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin.

Here’s the official game synopsis of Elden Ring: 

Rise, Tarnished, and be guided by grace to brandish the power of the Elden Ring and become an Elden Lord in the Lands Between. In the Lands Between ruled by Queen Marika the Eternal, the Elden Ring, the source of the Erdtree, has been shattered. Marika's offspring, demigods all, claimed the shards of the Elden Ring known as the Great Runes, and the mad taint of their newfound strength triggered a war: The Shattering.

A war that meant abandonment by the Greater Will. And now the guidance of grace will be brought to the Tarnished who were spurned by the grace of gold and exiled from the Lands Between. Ye dead who yet live, your grace long lost, follow the path to the Lands Between beyond the foggy sea to stand before the Elden Ring.

“With ELDEN RING, we have applied all our dark fantasy and action-RPG expertise cultivated throughout the Dark Souls series, in order to create a bold, classical evolution of the genre,” Miyazaki said. “We've crafted a rich world with a staggering sense of scale, based off of legends written for the game by George R. R. Martin. ELDEN RING is a world full of mystery and peril, ready to be explored and discovered; a drama in which various characters flaunt their own mystique and ulterior motives. We sincerely hope you enjoy experiencing it for yourself.”

Those who will pre-order Elden Ring beginning today will gain access to a digital adventure guide and a bonus gesture called The Ring. There will also be a Collector's Edition, which contains the game along with a steelbook case, 23cm statue of Malenia - Blade of Miquella, along with a 40-page hardback artbook. Additionally, a Premium Collector's Edition will also be available and contains the same items just like the Collector's Edition but with the inclusion of a 1:1 Malenia helmet replica.

Originally slated to hit store shelves in January, the long-awaited open-world RPG will finally launch on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Steam on Feb. 25, 2022.