Next year is shaping up to be massive for video games, not just for titles originally scheduled for 2022 but also some of the notable AAA games from 2021 that got pushed back. Two such highly-anticipated video games that are planned to kick-off and finish 2022 in style are Elden Ring and Starfield, respectively.
Elden Ring and Starfield have been a long time coming, and their respective fan bases are eager to finally dive into their massive and intricate worlds later next year. While both these upcoming games have garnered a dedicated audience that has been immensely vocal, their developers, on the other hand, have been equally quiet and refrained from providing frequent development updates. As a result, both Elden Ring and Starfield find themselves in a rather odd position as their release dates draw near.
Elden Ring and Starfield: Catering to Unrealistic Expectations
Elden Ring and Starfield are brand new IPs from widely renowned studios that have consistently delivered top-notch RPGs. Elden Ring may be a true successor to Dark Souls—a game that sprouted a new sub-genre of video games, whereas Starfield is the first new IP from Bethesda Game Studios in 25 years and is being called Skyrim in Space. Many expect Elden Ring and Starfield to continue the legacy crafted by their beloved forefathers—Dark Souls and Skyrim—which automatically creates unprecedented expectations from both these upcoming new IPs.
However, both FromSoftware and Bethesda haven't been catering to fans' expectations in a way that many would expect them to do. After a grand announcement at E3 2019, Elden Ring went silent for over 700 days until it reappeared at 2021's Summer Game Fest. In between this painstakingly long period, Elden Ring fans carved out fake lore for the game, crafted innumerable fan-arts based on the reveal trailer, made sad but hilarious memes that reflect the current mindset of the Elden Ring community, and much more. The tidbits of info dropouts in between and the unexpected Elden Ring leaked trailer that surfaced further fueled the imaginations and expectations of its dedicated fanbase.
On the other hand, Starfield got revealed at E3 2018 as a countermeasure to Fallout 76—an always online action RPG—that many Bethesda fans didn't take an immediate liking to. Fallout 76's failures aren't an indication of Starfield's quality though one can get skeptical. Starfield's vague teaser trailer only set the tone of the game, which hardcore Bethesda fans have, since then, scrutinized innumerable times for hidden details. Similar to Elden Ring, Starfield's Reddit community has spiked up significantly since the reveal, often speculating, debating, and posting fan art inspired by the game's reveal trailer and the muffled info gathered by leaks, rumors, and interviews.
Starfield's tremendous hype continues to increase exponentially, especially since Microsoft acquired Bethesda and reports about Starfield's exclusivity began to surface. Starfield has, since then, been confirmed to be a next-gen Xbox exclusive and PC title and is already being lauded as a 2022 game of the year contender despite little to no gameplay and story details revealed publically.
All of this doesn't take anything away from Elden Ring and Starfield, and both titles could still deliver on their promises when they launch. However, some of the recent AAA game releases that generated enormous hype during their development didn't quite meet the players' expectations at launch. Cyberpunk 2077 got revealed eight years before it was eventually released in 2020, that too in a broken state. Needless to say, CD Projekt Red set an unrealistic expectation for Cyberpunk 2077 with years of silence and misleading the community with Cyberpunk 2077's E3 2018 allegedly fake gameplay demonstration. Thankfully, gameplay videos of past FromSoftware and Bethesda titles before launch have accurately resembled the final product and should not be an issue here. However, both Elden Ring and Starfield have other concerns to combat outside of this before they launch.
Elden Ring and Starfield: Where They Stand Now
FromSoftware games primarily target a niche audience though they have started appealing to a larger audience since some of its recent releases. Every Soulsborne or Soulslike game tends to bring back the accessibility debate and whether these games need a difficulty mode. Elden Ring's open-world design will make it more accessible, as FromSoftware confirmed. However, it could also fundamentally change what makes a FromSoftware game so unique in the first place.
FromSoftware games are generally praised for their unique art styles, and Elden Ring looks no different. However, Elden Ring doesn't have photo-realistic visuals like the recent Demon's Souls remake from Bluepoint Games. FromSoftware needs to acknowledge such comparisons and address such notions before the game arrives, so as to set a much realistic expectation for Elden Ring, especially for those new to FromSoftware games.
BGS' past games often get mocked and criticized for dated visuals and poor optimizations, which has many concerned for Starfield. Unfortunately, Bethesda hasn't done a great job of handling expectations, which could bite it back when Starfield launches later next year. Starfield is built on the next iteration of Bethesda's infamous creation engine and will only ship on next-gen consoles. While this paints a pretty picture, Bethesda has yet to demonstrate Starfield's gameplay - which it may reserve for E3 2022. The alpha-in-game teaser trailer revealed so far is not representative of the visual fidelity of the final product and could mislead a ton of people.
Issues like these exist because both FromSoftware and Bethesda Game Studios haven't exactly been transparent about their upcoming releases. The massive time gap between re-reveals and new updates has only led to more rumors and speculations which ultimately results in unrealistic expectations. Fans may not get another glimpse at Starfield in 2021, and Elden Ring's next gameplay demonstration might still be months away. It, however, wouldn't stop fans from gushing and actively discussing and speculating about the various features of these games that may or may not make it to the final product.
Both Elden Ring and Starfield have a lot to live up to, and it will be a while before they get their hands on them. Elden Ring and Starfield could still turn out to be incredible games that respect the legacy of these companies, however, if certain aspects of these games are not made clear before their releases, they could end up disappointing a massive chunk of the audience waiting for their release dates with bated breath.
Elden Ring launches January 21, 2022, on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox, and Xbox Series X/S.
Starfield launches November 11, 2022, on PC and Xbox Series X/S.