It’s been more than two years since Elden Ring launched, and fans everywhere cannot get enough of this game to this date. Either they can be seen making wild theories about the game, or they can be seen defeating the same boss again and again in anticipation of its upcoming DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree. But one thing that no one has been able to confirm as of yet is if this game has any connection with the Dark Souls franchise.
A while ago, when Elden Ring was still months away from launch, writer George R. R. Martin raised a bunch of issues. He revealed some crucial details about his role in the development of this game. But no one noticed what he said about how it was related to the Dark Souls franchise.
George R. R. Martin might have revealed the connection between Elden Ring and Dark Souls years ago!
FromSoftware has a long history with soulslike games. Their first game, Demon Souls, was launched back in 2009. From that game to this very day, they have yet to make a soulslike that does not create buzz. Their rise to success was so quick that director Hidetaka Miyazaki got brave enough to approach legendary writer George R. R. Martin for his latest project.
And it made sense; both of their writing approaches are pretty similar in many aspects. FromSoftware makes dark fantasy games that deal with a bunch of politics and a story that spans hundreds of years. Every character in these games has a lengthy backstory that adds to the game’s depth.
This is exactly what George R. R. Martin is known for, writing his stories in such detail. The greatest example is his A Song of Ice and Fire series of books. Every single character in these books has a history. His dark fantasy books got universal acclaim; which might be why FromSoftware approached him for the project.
His being part of a massive video game is not a small thing. To many people, he was the guy who made the Game of Thrones HBO series happen. This gave Elden Ring a lot of press even before fans knew how the game might turn out.
Eventually, when gameplay footage and other trailers were shown, George R. R. Martin decided to start talking about it. He mentioned what his job was during the production, and how much he worked for this game.
But in one of those interviews, he went on and revealed something curious: he suggested that Elden Ring is a sequel to Dark Souls.
“I’ve played some video games. I’m not a big video gamer. But the game is called The Elden Ring, and it’s a sequel to a game that came out a few years ago called Dark Souls, and it came out of Japan.”
This is pretty weird, given the fact that neither the developer FromSoftware nor the director Hidetaka Miyazaki has made any such confirmation as of yet. Maybe it was just a slip-up on George R. R. Martin’s behalf? Or, who knows, maybe he revealed something that the developers were holding onto for a later time. This detail will stay secret until the developers decide otherwise.
Elden Ring can be a spiritual successor, though
While there is no confirmation of Elden Ring being a sequel to Dark Souls as of yet, one can say without a doubt that the game looks like a spiritual successor to Dark Souls.
It has most gameplay mechanics from the Dark Souls franchise, just with a bunch of enhancements and tweaks. The biggest of those additions is a massive open-world area to explore. Let’s see if Shadow of the Erdtree reveals anything about the same, or not.
