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why hello there and welcome to eldon
rings so far where we have a lot to talk
about
on august 25th the opening night of
gamescom 2021 a select group of
journalists and creators got to watch a
17 minute demo of eldon ring gameplay as
well as ask from software's marketing
director yassohiro katau a few questions
each
the embargo left it on friday and we got
a flood of impressions i have since read
and watched every scrap of information
that has come out and i'm happy to
report that every impression included at
least one unique piece of information
and that i've compiled it all into this
one video
while the demo footage has not been
released publicly yet a number of new
screenshots were dropped and i will show
all of them in this video
as i mentioned at the top the demo was
17 minutes of pre-recorded footage that
contained various segments of gameplay
the demo footage was likely captured on
pc and reports of performance were
positive overall with the demo running
at 60 frames per second according to the
washington post
and with that let's get into it
let's start with the biggest shake up to
the formula the open world
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the open world of the lands between
contains enemy and boss encounters
plants and animals to harvest access to
six main enclosed dungeons called legacy
dungeons and access to countless smaller
dungeons
while there is a recommended path to
take through the world you are free to
tackle the game in almost whatever order
you choose although game informer
confirmed you will not be able to go
straight to the final dungeon like in
breath of the wild
in the verge article from soft marketing
director yasuhiro katau explained the
development of the open world
when we first set out we knew we wanted
to create a very large world and have
that interspersed with these legacy
dungeons that sort of structure
but we thought the overworld would
become a lot more flat and plain
and be there to connect these dungeons
as we built it out we learned that we
wanted the lands between have a lot more
character and a lot more verticality and
more intricate design so we ended up
handcrafting a lot of this map and
trying to make it as interesting to
explore as possible
i think it's interesting that the open
world really did start as this negative
space between dungeons which touches
upon some of the shadow of the colossus
inspirations mentioned by insider
omnipotent on reset era but i'm very
happy the direction the development went
because the verticality seen in the
screenshots is phenomenal
i have this shot as my computer
background and every morning when i get
on i can't help but spend a moment to
explore the image and imagine all the
little secrets and encounters tucked
into the landscape
speaking of exploration getau elaborated
to eurogamer a bit more on from's goal
with the exploration in the open world
the lands between is truly dense with
dangers and secrets and our aim is for
the player to make these discoveries and
have these chance encounters just
through the act of exploring
a big question when talking about
exploration and moving through the world
is checkpoints and discovery and how
those work and the demo provided a ton
of information there
vadi explained in his video that the
checkpoints in elden ring are called
sights of lost grace
lost graces and elden ring function most
similarly to bonfires and dark souls 1.
resting at a lost grace replenishes your
health refills whatever estes-like
healing system is in eldon ring and ties
you to that lost grace in the world you
can also change out weapon skills and
spirit summons two systems i will talk
about in greater detail later
at lost graces you can summon melina the
robed nbc we have seen previously
in the demo when summons she removes her
hood to reveal strawberry blonde hair
and one golden eye her other eye shut
tight and a tattoo over it that could
resemble a dragon
you can level up with her making her
something of the maiden black or fire
keeper of eldon ring however catal
explained to eurogamer that she is not
quite like the fire keeper of previous
games he said
whereas before these characters were
generally reserved and quiet characters
molina has got her own ambitions and her
own big place in the story so we hope
you enjoy that aspect of it
in addition to being a place of respite
lost graces also provide guidance for
those seeking it they emanate a gentle
ray of light that points you towards
your next main objective
you don't have to follow it but there is
a diegetic helping hand for those who
might want it
lost graces will be less frequent than
bonfires and dark souls but their
spacing and frequency is still something
frum is working on
catal said to the verge we're currently
in the middle of fine-tuning the pacing
and tempo of what you run to out in the
overworld
with the world as large as it is from
has worked hard to provide an open world
rife with exploration while also not
making it tedious
fall damage has been reduced from the
souls games and a dedicated jump button
has been added you can get health back
by defeating enemies out in the world in
a system that sounds similar to the ring
of the evil eye from dark souls
another quality of life addition is that
you can fast travel at any time to a
site of lost grace that you have visited
keep in mind you might not want to do
that as they will be further apart but
it does provide you the option to nope
out of an area
there is another system currently in
development that catal mentioned to the
verge
one thing we did was in an area with a
high level of challenge we place these
retry points that's still a tentative
name and if the player finds that
they'll have the option when they die of
respawning from the retry point or the
last checkpoint
this is actually a system i theorized
about and i think it's a nice addition
it does not seem like you'll be able to
fast travel from them or access molina
or utilize the features of a lost grace
but it provides the option to skip
backtracking at a time when you are dead
set on getting through a challenge
in his video vadi confirmed that there
is a hub and that it is this cozy
arthurian space plus crypt shown here
we don't know much about this hub right
now but we do know that npcs you meet
will come here that this is a place of
respite for the player
so what will you be doing out in the
world at any given moment
this was a big question i had and this
demo crafted an answer
eldon ring will feature the collection
of resources like plants and animal
hides and meat as part of its crafting
system
you will use these collected resources
to craft things like arrows and food
using recipes that you find out in the
world
from software stressed that vendors will
still provide items and this is
presenting players another option
we've seen plans throughout the gameplay
trailer that look usable for crafting
and in the demo they showed sheep deer
and eagles as just a few of the animals
you can hunt for resources
there were a couple of recipes mentioned
by catal such as different types of
arrowheads with different effects as
well as dried meat that provides
increased stamina recovery but what good
are arrows in dried meat without the
need to use them in combat
the world of eldon ring will feature a
variety of enemy encounters there are
typical groupings of enemies that you
will come across and much more the
caravans we've seen in the gameplay
trailer will move around the world and
were featured multiple times in the demo
game informer spoke about an instance of
the player sneaking by a caravan as it
stopped and the enemy is fanning out to
protect it
the player returned at nightfall to use
the increased stealth of night time to
tackle the challenge on better terms
this is a cool way to demonstrate the
role of the day night cycle as well and
how can feature into handling the open
world
in addition to groups of enemies there
are also bosses called field bosses out
in the open world
in the demo they showed an extended look
at a fight with a wyvern scene in the
gameplay trailer as well as a fight with
this character from the concept art
these battles sound very dynamic i'd
like to quote a passage from the
eurogamer article describing the wyvron
fight
we stay on horseback firing what look
like soul arrows at the dragon as it
wheels around and crashes to the ground
again the demo shows multiple ways of
attacking the creature including on foot
with melee weapons as it sets the ground
alight but the most impressive clip
shows the player riding around the
dragon on our spirit seat as it breathes
fire in a wide arc
the player rides in underneath the
dragon's wings to attack its neck safely
from the side
there's also a moment where the dragon
is stunned while the player is attacking
on foot allowing them to get in for a
critical stabbing in its yellowed eye
the fight with the concept art guy also
sounds strange and beautiful as you
battle this figure atop a hill covered
in pink flowers and ruined windmills the
player is seen using a variety of spells
and skills to fight as the boss casts
flames and their body contorts into a
snake-like form over the course of the
fight hmm snake-like
this open-field boss drops a sight of
lost grace atop the hill upon being
defeated
meaning we will be fighting for some of
our precious checkpoints in eldon rings
open world which is awesome
the open world enemy encounters sound
great and challenging and catal
sweetened the pot with this statement to
the washington post
you'll find some optional encounters
that will definitely test the player's
medal which we've prepared specifically
for these players that love a challenge
souls fans rejoice also another small
detail that is grounds for rejoicing and
that i couldn't find a good place to put
ragdoll physics is in and i can't wait
to see enemy corpses fling about as i
ride my spirit steed over them
and with that let's talk about the
spirit steed which we learned more about
in the demo
you can summon your mount anytime out in
the open world when you're not co-opting
or summoning
summoning is very smooth to the point
where you can do it while running and as
part of your battle strategy according
to extra life you can swing your weapon
fire a boat and cast spells while
mounted
cacao indicated that you might prefer to
fight on horseback against larger photos
for hit and run and dismount for
multiple enemies
the horse handling is described as
arcadey and vary one-to-one with the
player which is great news
i personally prefer a mount to handle
tightly so that i can move and fight
easily instead of wrestling with wide
turning arcs
the spirit seed can move fast double
jump and use jump heads seen in the
gameplay trailer to easily get around
the world it also sounds like the steed
will be used for storage with multiple
impressions noting that saddlebags
changed over the course of the demo
the verge also learned that you will be
able to interact with your mount to a
limited degree
ketau told him you will be able to do
small interactions such as feeding it to
regain its health and small things like
this hopefully through this the player
will be able to form a small attachment
the final topic about the open world and
one that i'm personally very happy about
but could be somewhat controversial in
the community
is the map
there is a map in eldon ring it features
no words and has a hand-drawn appearance
you do not have the whole map you need
to collect map fragments out in the
world to further fill it out
you can place symbols on the map marking
locations to revisit as well as place
markers these markers will appear in the
game as a beam of light in the sky
similar to breath of the wild
the map is also where you can fast
travel to sites of lost grace
vladi also noted in his impressions that
the map features an ocean with what
appeared to be a path on it indicating
there may be some sea voyaging in elden
ring
there's also another layer to the map
that was not shown which displays the
subterranean labyrinth indicating the
map may feature multiple layers
there was also a compass mentioned in
the eurogamer article envati was kind
enough to tell me that after marking and
exiting the map a compass appears to
help orient players and show the
direction of the markers
before wrapping up the open world i
wanted to highlight a few miscellaneous
tidbits learned from the impressions
the first is about the aesthetic of the
open world catal told eurogamer
regarding the increased use of color and
beauty that
this aesthetic definitely came into play
when designing that overworld
when traversing this vast landscape if
it was always going to be dark and
dreary it might play on your motivation
a little bit so he wanted to keep in
mind these beautiful vistas and sunsets
these old heroes that lived in the world
before the events of the game take place
many of the designed castles and cities
were for them
and they lived in very luxurious
glamorous surroundings a lot of that
will be preserved in the world that the
player explores
some of the vistas we can look forward
to exploring are wintry planes
snow-capped peaks a flooded city and a
decrepit swamp
in a stream talking about the demo game
spots tamar hussain spoke about multiple
golden trees which you can make out
somewhat in this image
he spoke about a foggy valley with a
load of gravestones and golden trees on
either side of the valley
he clarified that while these were also
golden trees they were much smaller on
scale than the aired tree
and finally the verge mentioned a fight
with an oversized falcon with swords
affixed to its talons that pecked and
sliced at the player while also throwing
powder kegs at them
man the enemy designs in this game are
on point
there are six main dungeons in eldon
ring called legacy dungeons and they are
home to the demigod lords who have taken
the great runes shards of the elden ring
these are self-contained zones roughly
the size of an area in the souls games
and feature a similar structure of
multiple winding paths and shortcuts to
progress through the area
there are no maps for these dungeons and
you cannot ride your mount while inside
them
in the demo segments of stormvale castle
were featured this is likely the first
legacy dungeon most players will play
through but is confirmed there are
multiple legacy dungeons the player can
travel to from the start
at the entrance to stormvale castle the
player met with an npc in a white robe
wearing a book as a necklace who warns
them that the main gate is guarded and
that the player should take a secret
side path
the player is then given the option to
ask the gate to be open or to take the
side path the player chooses the main
gate and after it opens and the player
enters they're met by a troll soldiers
and ballista firing on them
at this point they choose to retreat and
choose the side path and here is where
the dedicated jump button shines
the player takes thin winding paths and
leaps from platform to platform as they
make their way along the castle
the washington post describes seeing
multiple hidden routes and architecture
that hints at secrets and treasure off
the beaten path
eventually this side path leads them
behind the castle's army and the player
slips past them through a golden fog
gate at which point in the demo godric
the golden the boss of stormville castle
is shown off godric is described in the
impressions as hulking and very
aggressive
infectious life likens his aggression
that out of gayle from dark souls 3.
like we saw in the gameplay trailer he
swings at you with his axes and then
later in the fight uses the head of a
wyvern to shoot fire and even grab the
player and chomp down on them it is also
confirmed that the boss music is banging
there was an npc summoned by the player
to help and here is fextra life's
description
our champion tried to fight back by
summoning what i can only describe as
onion bros long-lost evil cousin pumpkin
bro who had an enormous pumpkin head and
a flail
i thought that it might be the flail guy
in this image but again vadi was nice
enough to confirm for me that the summon
was akin to a large ogre and very tanky
before moving on to smaller dungeons i
want to spend a quick moment to discuss
the design approach of from software
miyazaki is known to give artists
keywords to describe enemies and then
let them get creative and come back with
drawings inspired by those keywords in
speaking with the verge catal said that
one example is the demigods the boss
characters in the game
the keywords for them were old heroes
from the lands between
so we wanted them to have this heroic
and majestic quality
i just really love this collaborative
approach and based upon godric i can't
wait to see the other majestic
monstrosities from has come up with for
the legacy dungeons
in addition to the legacy dungeons there
are also smaller dungeons accessible
around the open world
these small dungeons will vary between
caves cemeteries catacombs and ruins
around the world
they are handcrafted not procedurally
generated like chalices according to
polygon
like the legacies you cannot use your
steed inside them and will follow the
more classic level design of from
software
these smaller dungeons contain enemies
to fight traps to avoid treasure to
collect and illusory walls to open
the impressions describe the brief
segments inside these smaller dungeons
as being similar to sense fortress and
design they weren't heavily featured in
the demo but sound to me like shrines
from breath of the wild or enemy camps
from ghost of tsushima it will be a
small challenge that will net your
character loot and experience
speaking of loot and experience let's
talk about your character in eldon ring
and what we've learned from the demo
impressions catal told eurogamer that
without an ring building your character
we hope it will evoke a sense of the
good old-fashioned rpg genre
that means character creation and class
selection are back
like the souls games it sounded like
class selection will simply be a
starting point for your character and
that you can allocate stats and equip
them as you like throughout the game
stats will be similar to the souls games
with some additional stats unique to
eldon ring
catal confirmed agility will be coming
back but that it may function
differently
strength of course is returning but
catal mentioned that strength will now
affect the maximum equip load of your
character
equip weight will once again affect your
roll and eldon ring it is unconfirmed if
equip load affects stealth or jumping
fextralife explained that perry repost
and backstab are all very much the same
and look like they did in dark souls 3.
there is also a new guard counter-attack
system where blocking with a weapon lets
you respond with a special
counter-attack in addition to the
classic dark souls elements a dedicated
jump button has been added as previously
mentioned and that you can attack and
use a bow in midair like sakuro
also similar to sakuro there's a light
stealth system that lets you perform
back backstabs and also what is being
described as a stance system that is
similar to posture and sakura
there was no hud in the gameplay demo
but after heavy attacks and jumping
attacks enemies would be stunned opening
them up to what was described as similar
to a visceral attack dealing tons of
damage
if extra life described the combat of
velgen ring as take dark souls 3 start
there add a jump add stealth mechanics
and add a light posture system from
sakura in addition to crouching and
hiding behind tall grass there were
sleep arrows the player could use to
knock out enemies to perform critical
attacks or simply sneak away from them
should you not come out victorious it
was confirmed that when you die an elden
ring you leave a blood stain behind like
in dark souls where your collected runes
which are elden rings experiencing
currency item
drop and must be retrieved without dying
again also interesting to note is that
it does not cost stamina to sprint
outside of combat allowing the player to
jog the lands between until they engage
now let's talk weapons armor magic and
skills
there will be more weapons and armors
than previous games according to catal
weapons shown in the demo were twin
blades daggers swords
long swords greatswords curved swords
staves
bows axes spears halberds scythes whips
small medium and great shields and a
jousting lance
game informer asked katau about the
moonlight greatsword to which he
responded well it didn't show up in
sakura so it has to show up sooner or
later right
for magic i'd like to read you this
quote from vextra life if you were
wondering what you can expect for your
magic arsenal we saw several pyromancies
including fireball and a long and
improved version of firestorm
we also recognized several weapon buff
effects that were glowing blue and
yellow hinting to magic and lightning
effects
we saw a fluid and beautiful version of
soul darth magic based soul rain cast
that created a magical storm that
precipitated soul arrows down on the
area a ginormous version of magic
greatsword a light-colored aoe of
frontal scythes
and a particularly awesome frontal aoe
magic that summoned lightning and seemed
to cause the earth to tremor in its
conal wake
weapon skills are also returning from
dark souls 3 but the system has been
overhauled there will be over 100 skills
that are now found out in the world and
can be attached to and removed from
weapons at lost braces
we saw a few returning skills in the
gameplay trailer such as spin slash
quick step and quick fire
in the gameplay demo there was a wind
blast shown
a lightning strike skill and a magical
greatsword slash
magic skill and spirit summons all use
focus points or fp which is making a
return from dark souls 3.
speaking of spirit summons we learned
more about the system in the gameplay
demo
after beating some enemies you get
deceased ashes which lets you summon the
enemy as an ally using fp when you were
near one of these obelisks
spirit summons will serve a variety of
roles from tanks to distractions
during the demo game informers said that
they saw trolls orcs and goblins all
summoned
in the case of the goblins it was a
whole swarm which are summoned so there
will be a lot of variety now the spirit
summons function
you can choose which summons will be
available to you at lost graces where
you can also make spirit summons more
powerful by leveling them up
it is worth noting that you can only use
the spirit summons when you're by
yourself not in co-op fextralife asked
about the pop boys as a spirit summon to
which catal responded the pot boys we
hope that players can explore and find
their own answers in regards to the pot
people you are free to befriend them if
you wish but we can't promise you that
you won't have to smash them
we learned more about the multiplayer
systems of elgin right
for co-op players will put down summon
signs like in souls games and players
can sum it up to two co-op partners
you will be able to be in a password
group with friends so that you only see
your friend's blood stains and messages
as mentioned previously you cannot ride
your steed while co-opting however you
can be invaded
invaders will only be able to invade the
world of those engaged in co-op but
qatar did stress this system was still
being developed
also still in development are covenants
and their mechanics but ketau did say
they will function much like they do in
the souls games
and finally it was confirmed that
gestures will be returning an elden ring
and that hurrah joy applause and deep
respect were all seen in the demo
according to fextra life
and that is what we know about the
gameplay and mechanics of eldon rings so
far
i'm hoping and hopeful that we will get
to see a version of this gameplay demo
soon because it sounds incredible i love
reading these impressions but i can't
wait to see it with my own eyes
and speaking of my eyes they are looking
at the recently released images that
came out alongside these impressions
you can look forward to a deep dive into
those screenshots coming out on the
channel soon
so what do you think about all this
information let me know in the comments
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thanks for watching
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you