Elden Ring will be more Dark Souls than Sekiro and way bigger than both

Elden Ring won't follow in the footsteps of Sekiro, says its creator Hidetaka Miyazaki, but instead double-down on Dark Souls' RPG design to create From Software's "biggest title yet, in terms of sheer volume."

In an interview with Bandai Namco community specialist Sam Wilkinson, Miyazaki spilled the beans on how exactly Elden Ring will compare to From Software's previous games.

"Unlike Sekiro, which has a heavy focus on action, Elden Ring puts more focus on RPG elements," Miyazaki said. "Of course, we are not shying away from the fun of responsive melee-based combat, and these elements will be present as well."

To that end, Elden Ring sounds like it'll be a more familiar game to Dark Souls veterans. Character customization is returning and players will be able to choose from a "wide variety of weapons, magic, and ways to engage enemies, that make it possible to provide users with a style of gameplay and strategy that suits them," Miyazaki explained.

But this isn't just Dark Souls 4, either. Miyzaki told Wilkinson that Elden Ring is also significantly larger than anything From Software has made before—which is almost hard to imagine considering how big both Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro already were. "The scale of the world and its narrative, as well as the depth and freedom of exploration have increased dramatically," Miyazaki said.

While From Software's games have always had that sense of exploration, it could be that Elden Ring is more comparable to traditional open-world games like, say, Skyrim. Though it could be due to a translation error, Miyazaki refers to the world of Elden Ring as a "large, open field" with areas hiding "intricately designed, multi-layered castles and such."

Without seeing actual in-game footage, though, it's hard to tell what exact shape Elden Ring will take. And even though I loved Sekiro, I'm excited to return to a more traditional From Software style of game.

You can read the full interview here, including some fun insights into how Miyazaki and author George R. R. Martin, who penned Elden Ring's mythos, first met and started working together.