Elden Ring Gameplay, Release Date Finally Revealed

It's been a long, long time since we last heard from Elden Ring, and going into today's Summer Game Fest Kickoff Live event, there were a lot of people hoping that we'd get some more news about the game. Those people go exactly what they were hoping for and more today, as not only did we get our first look at Elden Ring gameplay, but we also got a release date for the game.

If you're an Elden Ring fan, today gave you a lot to be excited about. Elden Ring is the next game to come out of Dark Souls developer From Software, and that much is definitely clear from the trailer, which we've embedded below. In gameplay segments that follow the player character, the Souls-like gameplay is very clear.

While the influence of its predecessors might be obvious, there are several ways in which Elden Ring will differ from the Dark Souls games. For starters, the game's story is a collaborative effort between Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki and A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin, and Martin's involvement in the game is why hype has been riding high ever since it was revealed in 2019.

Unlike Dark Souls games, Elden Ring will also be an open world title. We'll still have the Dark Souls-like combat, but this time around we'll also have an open world to explore as well. The fact that the player character is on horseback at the start of the trailer is a hint at the larger world, and if Miyazaki and his team can pull off this Dark Souls/open world hybrid, then Elden Ring should be a pretty impressive game.

We actually don't have much longer to wait before we find out if Elden Ring can bring the goods, because the game is releasing on January 21st, 2022. That's just over six months away, so expect Elden Ring's marketing to really pick up from here. When it launches early next year it'll be available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.