Medieval fantasy is nothing new to the world of video games, with countless popular franchises ranging from The Elder Scrolls to The Legend of Zelda featuring fantastical worlds inspired by real-world Medieval history. But fans of fantasy RPGs are especially excited for one particular video game that was just shown off at E3 2021: Elden Ring, an upcoming title releasing next year for home consoles. Fans are especially excited for a few reasons, with the biggest being the fact that the game’s story and world is penned by fantasy novelist George R. R. Martin.
Developed by FromSoftware, Elden Ring is an action role-playing game set within a medieval fantasy world similar to the Dark Souls series, where the player will create their own character and send them on a deadly journey. Director Hidetaka Miyazaki stated that he felt the game to be a “natural evolution” of the Souls series and that Elden Ring has many new features, including horseback riding and an open world.
A Master of Medieval Fantasy
One other major upgrades that Elden Ring has over the Souls series seems to lie in its story. Developers worked alongside George R. R. Martin in the development of the game’s narrative, with Martin handling most of the world-building and backstory of the in-game universe.
Author of the critically acclaimed medieval fantasy epic book series A Song of Ice and Fire (later adapted into the successful HBO TV series Game of Thrones), George R. R. Martin is considered somewhat of a household name in the medieval fantasy genre. Having published works dating back all the way to the early 1970s, Martin is known by many as the American Tolkien and has even stated himself that his work is heavily inspired by the Lord of the Rings author.
Martin has been known to base his fantasy stories on real-world historical events and settings, with Game of Thrones borrowing heavily from European history. World events ranging from The War of the Roses to The Black Dinner, countless historical events can be connected to those read within Martin’s books, as the man is a massive fan of world history. Seeing as much of his prior works were inspired by history, players could probably expect Elden Ring to also be a fantasy epic filled to the brim with historical inspiration.
Launching Early 2022
FromSoftware’s previous titles include such classics as Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Echo Night. The developer dates all the way back to the early 1990s but really rose in popularity during the seventh console generation with the release of Demon’s Souls on the PlayStation 3.
Though gamers still don’t have much as far as details for Elden Ring’s story, we luckily won’t have to wait too much longer to find out. Elden Ring is set to launch on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and PC on January 21. 2022.
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(This article is credited to Ben Price. For as long as he can remember, Ben has always loved playing, discussing, and writing about video games. Since receiving his B.A. in English, he now writes about them for a living.)