New details regarded Elden Ring and its world design have come out in a recent interview with game director Hidetaka Miyazaki, and FromSoftware's latest endeavor will, at least in part, include the signature verticality of the original Dark Souls. Based on Elden Ring's few trailers and the closed network test in November, it's something of a combination of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, with each having noticeable influence on Elden Ring's game mechanics. Dark Souls in particular, however, seems to have been a major contributor when FromSoftware was designing the macro-level layout of Elden Ring's open world.

Dark Souls gets praised for many things, but one of the more captivating aspects of its game world is how interconnected each area feels, even though they are distinctly isolated from a gameplay standpoint. Players can look down from Firelink Shrine and see Blighttown; the glow of the Demon Ruins' lava illuminates an exposed cliff in the Tomb of the Giants; and the Duke's Archives looms over Sen's Fortress even though Anor Londo is completely hidden by its massive wall. All of FromSoftware's Soulslike games have this element to some degree (especially Dark Souls 3, where many locations can be seen from Vordt of the Boreal Valley's boss room on the edge of the High Wall of Lothric), but Dark Souls has a certain verticality to it, where the world feels like it's all piled on top of itself.

Related: Elden Ring: Why Miyazaki Won't Play His Own "Almost Ideal" Game

In a new interview with Edge (with the relevant information shared online by Reddit user Tripledoble), Miyazaki acknowledges that a particular tweet from Elden Ring's Twitter account does in fact refer to explorable regions of the game being situated with great verticality. He notes that FromSoftware "wanted to create this world that was full of the joy of exploration of the unknown," so part of that includes making sure "the depths and the heights of the world will be places [players] can actually explore." With Elden Ring adopting a genuine open world, vistas have already been seen that overlook explorable areas in the distance, but it would appear that players will eventually not only delve underground, but climb to higher elevations as well.

Underground Areas For Elden Ring Have Already Been Seen

Elden Ring may have several underground, hidden areas

The Elden Ring closed network test impressed a select number of players with a hands-on look at roughly half of one of the game's six major areas, but there were plenty of locations that could be seen from a distance, inaccessible in the glorified demo. There was also some pretty strong evidence that Elden Ring might include a vast tunnel network underneath the Lands Between. Some players managed to glitch through an impenetrable, magically blue wall near the network test's tutorial area. What they found was clearly not intended to be seen in the network test - being entirely devoid of enemies - but the underground dungeon was surprisingly large, and seemed to imply that there could be more massive and sequestered areas waiting to be discovered when Elden Ring launches.

Though no flying castles or floating islands have been definitively spotted, many item descriptions in the game make reference to ruins that have fallen from the sky. By all indications, Miyazaki's words on Elden Ring's verticality seem to be anything but hyperbole, and his reference to the joy of exploration seems to be mostly intact leading up to launch. Elden Ring's Legacy Dungeons will certainly provide some of the labyrinthine verticality seen in FromSoftware's previous works, but the world itself may end up having a wide range of altitudes as well. Seeing how the world of Dark Souls fits together as its explored was a highlight of playing through it for the first time, and Elden Ring appears to have a chance at recreating that feeling.

Next: Elden Ring Director Discusses Game's LOTR And RuneQuest Inspirations

 

Source: Edge (via Reddit user Tripledoble), Elden Ring/Twitter