Elden Ringhas become one of the most mysterious games currently in development. However, one of the few details actually known about this title is that it’s going to be what FromSoftware calls an’open-field' game. Not open-world, but open-field.
There’s a subtle difference between these two concepts. There have been a ton of open-world games, ranging fromSkyrim,toValheim,toGrand Theft Auto, toThe Witcher. These games offer nearly unlimited freedom to the player in terms of where to go, while an open-field doesn’t necessarily quite do this.
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Skyrim’s Open World
Skyrim’s open worldis honestly a little staggering, and it’s easy to take it for granted now that the game’s been out for so long. But there’s so much freedom inSkyrim;right from the get-go, players can head to Riverwood and eventually Whiterun if they wish to follow the main quest for a little bit, but they don’t actually have to do that. Players can simply… wander. Find something cool on the map, and head in that direction.
It’s almost a guarantee that they’re going to stumble across some kind of an interesting story, regardless of where they go. And even if they go through an entire cave or building and there isn’t necessarily a story spelled out for them there, there’s usually enough environmental cues and snippets of dialogue from those inside that the players can glean enough information to understand most of what’s going on.
The point is,Skyrimis the epitome of an open-world game. Players can go absolutely anywhere they want, whenever they want, and the game is going to balance the characters accordingly, ensuring the player rarely gets into an area full of enemies they can’t deal with.
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Dark Souls' Open World
Dark Souls' worldis a bit trickier to define. It’s not quite an open-world game, though it is a game about exploring the world the game takes place in. It’s just a bit more linear; players can’t go anywhere they want right off the bat, at least not without progressing through the game to do so.
TheDark Soulsworld is narrower, more constricted into passages and alleyways than it is an open area where the player can go whatever direction they want. It’s a good thing, too; the enemies inDark Soulsgames aren’t designed to scale with the power level of the player, the player is meant to become more powerful and/or skilled to match the enemies. If it were a game where the player could go anywhere they wanted right off the bat, it would probably lead to quite a lot of dying, more than is already typical inDark Souls.
Elden Ring’s Open-Field Design
Elden Ring’s open-field design is probably going to be something in the middle of these two concepts. It’s not going to be this open, sprawling world likeSkyrimwhere the player can pick a direction and go. But it’s also not going to be this constricted, narrow world made up of lanes likeDark Soulsis. There will likely be some open areas where the player can poke around and see what they find, but these areas are probably still going to be fairly guided. It’ll pull the player along to the areas that they’re meant to go to, while still giving the player some authority to go see what they want to see inside that area.
WithElden Ringbeing a FromSoftware game, and a collaboration with George R.R. Martin, the world is probably still going to be chock-full of interesting lore and environmental storytelling, which is the biggest draw of theDark Soulsworlds anyways. So despite the difference in its construction, fans ofDark Soulsare probably still going to feel right at home withFromSoftware’s biggest title yet.
