Writer George R.R. Martin called Elden Ring a sequel to the Dark Souls games in a recent interview, making it clear he draws a connection between the two series. He also made brief comments about his work on the new title, including his relationship with Japanese developer FromSoftware.
Elden Ring was a focal point for a lot of the media's E3 2021 coverage since it was the first time the game was explained in any detail, including its plot and mechanics. Martin - best known for the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, which became Game of Thrones on HBO - is responsible for the game's background lore rather than its plot and dialogue. It was first announced at E3 2019 and will ship on January 21, 2022, after nearly four years in development.
Martin's comments, highlighted by EldenRingUpdate on Twitter, were made during a PBS interview in Chicago. In truth, Elden Ring is a Dark Souls sequel only in terms of gameplay, since it doesn't share the same world or characters. The former is set in a place called The Lands Between and sprawls across six major areas, each of which is ruled by a demigod that holds a piece of the game's namesake ring. Martin called his contribution "considerably different" from writing novels, adding that his contribution was finished "years ago." FromSoftware is said to be occasionally updating Martin on the game's progress, showing him things like monsters and special effects. "I'll be as excited as anybody else to see it [in January]," Martin concluded.
The author earlier noted that he's "played some video games," but is "not a big video gamer." Indeed Martin probably has little time for the hobby - he's assisting on a Broadway play, two Game of Thrones spinoffs, and more. He's frequently criticized for being slow to finish the last two Song of Ice and Fire novels, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, which forced HBO to go in its own direction with Game of Thrones' final seasons.
There are some thematic connections between Elden Ring and Dark Souls, such as visual aesthetics and the concept of unending curses. It remains to be seen how deep these go - the Dark Souls games can be notoriously cryptic, so even if Elden Ring tones this down, it may take a full-length playthrough to make a fair comparison. The game will be available on the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Elden Ring releases for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC on January 21, 2022.
Sources: EldenRingUpdate/Twitter, PBS