Elden Ring’s dauntingly enormous open world has been one of its greatest strengths since its release in 2022. The 2022 GOTY’s world has established itself as a landmark achievement in game design that will no doubt serve as inspiration for future developers.
The action-RPG’s layered and detail-packed world design prompted many fans to question the philosophies that guided FromSoftware while crafting its gorgeous landscapes. FromSoftware CEO and Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki has answered that question for us.
A Trio Of Open World Icons Shaped Elden Ring
In an interview with Xbox Wire Japan, Miyazaki offered insights into the Elden Ring’s design philosophy. He asserted that Elden Ring isn’t a direct copy of any particular open-world title, which is a no-brainer considering how it innovates over the existing stagnant open-world formula:
I don’t think we took specific inspiration from any particular game, but I’ve personally played a lot of open world games that are considered classics of the genre, and I’ve been influenced by all of them.
He cites established classics like The Elder Scrolls, The Witcher 3, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, as the primary inspirations behind Elden Ring’s world design. And it makes perfect sense.
Taking Elder Scrolls’ sprawling landscapes, The Witcher 3’s ingenious environmental storytelling cues, and the emphasis on player exploration and discovery in Breath of the Wild worked well for the game. Putting them all together in one colossal action-RPG was bound to yield jaw-droppingly immersive results, and it did.
The FromSoftware Secret Sauce Is Ever Present
Inspiration doesn’t have to mean dilution, however. FromSoftware’s signature DNA still remains deeply embedded within Elden Ring. Just as in their previous works like the Dark Souls series and Bloodborne, challenging boss encounters take center stage in the action-RPG. Miyazaki reveals that the world itself was meticulously crafted around these groan-inducing battles.
“Our first step when designing the map was to decide where the bosses would appear, especially the important ones,” he explained, “Therefore, the map was really designed on the basis of boss gameplay, then we adjusted the boss gameplay based on their location on the map.” This confirms that boss fights and a world that seamlessly integrates them were two big pieces of the puzzle.
This brilliant design philosophy has demonstrably worked wonders for FromSoftware. Elden Ring’s open world breathed new life into the genre, and the game rightfully ended up being the 2022 Game of the Year. In fact, it’s the most-awarded game of all time, sitting at over 330 GOTY awards.
The staggering amount of accolades showcases the sheer powerhouse Elden Ring has become in such a short time. It masterfully blends the best bits of established open-world classics while remaining true to FromSoftware’s core design principles of challenging gameplay and fragmented storytelling. The game manages to be a total reinvention while sticking to its roots.
Elden Ring is a monumental masterclass in open-world design, drastically innovating upon tired, old concepts to offer a world brimming with individuality, and one that will no doubt be used as the benchmark for future open-world titles. All that remains to be seen is whether its expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, can mesmerize players with its world all over again.
