Tokyo Game Show 2021, at least, unveiled some new information for us. Producer Yasuhiro Kitao gave a few brief comments to Famitsu during the event, and allowed us to glean a few more details about the upcoming action-RPG in the process. As per the developer, the game is on track for its January 21, 2022 launch and is currently in the “final stages of development”, with the studio “moving forward quietly.” Very on-brand. Thanks to a translation via the Elden Ring subreddit, we’ve learned that – even by FromSoftware standards – the game has a “very unusual map structure” that lets you explore where you want, when you want, but “also tells you when you’re in trouble." Interesting. If you’re having trouble finding your way around the expansive world (which director Hidetaka Miyazak says has been designed to grant “an enormous sense of scale and this broadness and openness”), you will be able to discover physical map fragments in the field, which enable you to call down beams of light from the heavens in order to create waypoints. It’ll make traversal and navigation that little bit easier… if you don’t fall foul to some heaving beast on the way. Elden Ring has a release date set for January 21, 2022 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC. You can pre-order the game here.
