Finally, after what seems like an eternity, it’s finally been properly revealed: Elden Ring. Now it's received an official gameplay reveal at the Summer Game Fest Kickoff, and a release date as well. It’s a momentous occasion after spending so long anticipating it, and fans have been tearing the reveal trailer, screenshots, and press releases apart for any scraps of hidden details they can find. With such a dense trailer, it seems like there are tons of hidden details to find.

One major aspect is the jumping and general verticality in the game. In an interview with IGN, FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki noted that fall damage had been reduced to “encourage exploration.” Fall damage was already low in most FromSoftware games, so it’s not clear if this is a further increase (or as significant as in its immediate predecessor Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice), but it definitely indicates that verticality is a more prominent part of Elden Ring than any other 3D Soulslike before it.

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Elden Ring Has Many Different Kinds of Jumps

elden ring

FromSoftware’s modern Soulslikes have had jumping of some kind since the original Dark Souls, but they have never been quite as prominent as they are in Elden Ring. Previously, jumping could only be performed by tapping dodge while running, which required holding the same button. Some games, like Bloodborne, also had jumping attacks. In Sekiro, jumping was accessible through a single button, and wasn’t quite as rigid. This implementation looks to be returning in Elden Ring alongside aerial attacks, which now include certain physical spells. It will probably be used similarly to Sekiro, allowing players to better navigate the environment and avoid low attacks.

That’s not all of the jumps available to players, either. Keen-eyed viewers have noticed that the spirit horse shown in the trailer offers a lot more than just enhanced speed in navigating Elden Ring’s world. During the segment where the player character is riding around a dragon, for barely half a second in one shot, it can be observed that the spirit horse is repeating its jump animation in the air and ascending even higher. It appears that Elden Ring is gifting players with a double-jumping horse for the dual purpose of enhanced exploration and maneuverability in combat. It is incredibly bizarre, but that’s not the end of it.

The horse has another vertical purpose, this time something completely new to FromSoftware’s games. It appears that there are certain points in Elden Ring’s world where the player can stumble across glowing patches on the ground. Riding their horse into these patches will send it soaring through the air, landing somewhere far above or below where they began. While Elden Ring may not have dedicated climbing mechanics like other open world games, it still has a mechanic like this to get players up to places that would otherwise just be set dressing. In doing this, FromSoftware is showing a remarkable commitment to allowing players to explore every inch of its world.

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How Elden Ring’s New Vertical Element Will Change the Game

All of this newfound emphasis on moving up and down throughout environments is going to have a massive impact on just about every aspect of the game, much like it did in Sekiro. First and most obviously, exploration is going to be a major part of regular gameplay, and players will be expected to comb every inch of Elden Ring’s huge world map. In the aforementioned interview, Miyazaki made a point of mentioning that weapon arts were now another form of equip-able collectible, and it sounds like spirits are as well.

Combined with spells, weapons, armor, items, NPCs, bosses, and other landmarks and environmental storytelling, it will probably take weeks for players to truly exhaust everything in the open world and various dungeons. This is not going to feel like a normal Soulslike, FromSoftware game.

How the open world will be laid out will also take the player’s abilities into consideration. Places to jump across rooftops, ledges, or natural outcroppings will probably be commonplace, among other elements of traversal. However, simple platforming challenges are far from the limit of its creative abilities. A detail in the gameplay trailer that very few people have noticed is that the enormous bell monster shown early on is not just a creature to be interacted with, but a platform and vehicle as well. A structure of some sort is clearly visible on the creature’s back, if hidden by the camera angle.

There will likely be some sort of task players must perform to cause the creature to lower itself, or perhaps there is a raised area somewhere in its path that players can use to jump onto it. The possibilities are endless for FromSoftware's magnum opus, and it’s surely not out of the realm of possibility that airborne or water-dwelling behemoths will also hold buildings for players to explore.

And of course, what would a mechanic in a Soulslike be without contributing to combat in some way. Even before the fighting in Elden Ring starts, players have the chance to stealthily ascend to a high vantage point and survey the layout of enemies. Afterwards, they might be able to set up a plunging attack, or they can ride into battle and jump off their horse for a degree of safety.

From then on, jumping can serve as a sort of offensive dodge where the ability to attack is still present. Some enemies may have weak points only exploitable while hitting an attack that is best jumped, such as hitting a giant in the head while it is performing a low sweep that would catch a roll. In general, hitting higher weak points or airborne enemies (like the spectral deer in the trailer) is a good use for jumping. And of course, there will most likely be at least one boss arena, high or low, that must be entered using a jump pad. FromSoftware knows how to add spectacle to its fights, and taking them to the sky will surely impress.

Elden Ring will release on January 21, 2022, for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

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