Souls fans are now a few months away from Elden Ring’s release date. After two years of relative silence, the game finally started getting trailers and gameplay this June. That also came with a surprisingly close release date, even if it's been delayed a month to February 2022. With a closed beta just around the corner, it feels like the marketing cycle for Elden Ring is finally in full swing. Thanks to the relative drought of a traditional FromSoftware Souls-like after Dark Souls 3, fans are ravenous for any scrap of information they can get on this ambitious open-world fantasy project.

And thankfully, a veritable feast of news has arrived in the form of a 19-minute gameplay trailer showing many areas, bosses, mechanics, and other things present in Elden Ring. This preview was incredibly dense with information, and would probably satiate fans for at least a month if they didn't already know that a network test for Elden Ring is happening the very next week. The gameplay preview paints a much clearer picture about Elden Ring than previous trailers, and a ton of new information can be gleaned from every single part of it.

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Revealing the World of Elden Ring

Elden Ring Map

One of the first things that struck players upon seeing the gameplay in action is that Elden Ring is a lot bigger than any previous FromSoftware game. When the player is shown standing on a cliff or moving down a path with their horse, the amount of traversable land stretches into the middle distance. While the map does betray that The Lands Between is not quite as wide as some other open worlds, they’re still absurdly gigantic compared to every other area FromSoftware has made, except for some of the larger buildings in Sekiro.

Speaking of which, a map was properly revealed, and this map appears to be set up similarly to other open-world games. Players will be able to place a variety of different markers on the map that are visible in-game. The map also helpfully marks any landmarks that the player can come across, including Sites of Grace, buildings, ruins, and other installations. This is the first detailed map featured in a Souls-like game that shows enough detail to be useful, unlike Sekiro’s more abstract map. The fact that it details the geography of every location will help players and encourage them to seek out more pieces of the map.

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Elden Ring is Populated with Many Friends and Foes

Elden Ring online multiplayer

Another major part of the trailer was the many NPCs the player came across. The world of Elden Ring is densely populated with many different creatures and factions, and quite a lot of them were shown in this gameplay preview. Enemies roam the map and populate specific areas. Some set up caravans and camps, while others guard important locations with their lives. There's even a forest full of giant enemies making creepy noises that appear better off avoided. This preview also showed a surprising number of boss fights, starting with a dragon smashing into a pyre in the middle of a swamp. Another boss rode out from some sort of structure after the player finished traversing the unsettling forest, while a couple more mini-boss enemies could be seen pacing around certain parts of Stormveil Castle. And of course, the climactic fight against Godrick the Golden cannot be forgotten.

But The Lands Between is not full of only adversity. Plenty of friendly faces can be found scattered amongst the map, often near a Site of Grace. Several NPCs are seen sitting or standing near key areas in the trailer, like one slightly behind the first Site shown and another sitting on the broken bridge leading into the forest. Of special interest is Alexander the Iron Fist, a large pot creature who the player fries from a hole in the ground. The tone Alexander gives off is very similar to recurring quest NPCs from previous Dark Souls games, so players can expect to see plenty of him. They will also see plenty of Melina, the mysterious new Bonfire Maiden equivalent. Finally, the two friendly NPCs in Stormveil Castle show off how dialogue options and player choice can interact with the world.

The Gameplay of Elden Ring is on Full Display

Elden ring cooperation multiplayer

All of that wouldn't be worth much without a good framework to rest on, and Elden Ring’s mechanics look to provide just that. Aside from the new mobility and stealth options that have been covered in past interviews and trailers, many new gameplay systems were revealed in this preview. One of the biggest new additions is the crafting system, which encourages players to forage for food and items in the wild so they may build certain tools. One item, in particular, is a kind of sleep arrow, which will be essential for stealthy approaches in Elden Ring. The spirit summoning system was shown for the first time, and it looks like different spirits will help the player in very different ways. Only two were shown for sure, those being a band of goblins and some sort of vegetable-headed orc, but they both proved to be interesting changes from the usual summoned NPCS of past Souls games.

The general combat also had several new mechanics slyly showcased. Combat skills featured prominently in this trailer, being an improved and more flexible version of Dark Souls 3’s Weapon Arts. Players were shown using them frequently, and even an enemy used one, so combat is looking to be in its flashiest form yet. Mounted and mobile combat was also shown off, with archery and spell-casting able to be performed while jumping or on horseback. Working in Sekiro’s posture system was also shown. And while this was not called out in the trailer, a new mechanic where the player can counter-attack out of a block appeared a couple of times. Blocking has felt like it's needed an improvement for years, so this is welcome to see. Elden Ring is a synthesis of the highlights of FromSoftware's existing Souls-likes, and it will surely give fans hours upon hours of content to delve into once it comes out next year.

Elden Ring launches February 25, 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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