The Elden Ring series will live on, but Elden Ring 2? That’s slightly more in doubt. So says Hidetaka Miyazaki, the original Elden Lord, in a new interview about From Software’s current projects, which apparently span a variety of genres.
The interview in question is a roundtable chat from this month’s PS Awards, as passed on by Game Watch. It’s also in Japanese. Not being much of a Japanese reader, I’m wary of quoting from it directly, but Miyazaki does say that right now, Elden Ring 2 is not in development, though From naturally have plans for Elden Ring in general. Miyazaki has previously suggested that From Software’s future game projects might be smaller in terms of development resources than Elden Ring, commenting in the wake of the Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC that he’d have serious “concerns” about going bigger.
Chalk the hesitancy about Elden Ring 2 up as a minor tactical victory for everybody’s favourite high school club, the Elden Ring Isn’t That Amazing Brigade, current president: me. I have wittered on here before about my apathy for From’s first “proper” open world game, so I won’t bend your ear about the superiority of branching world design again. But I will say that I’d much rather play, for example, a Bloodborne PC port or a sequel to Sekiro, From’s magnificently mouldy reprise of Tenchu.
In the interview above, Miyazaki also says that From Software have a variety of projects on the go, spanning a range of genres – this in response to a question about whether their next game will be science-fiction or fantasy. Miyazaki himself appears to be game director for at least one of these projects.
This isn’t exactly mind-blowing news – From Software have been working on parallel projects that straddle the realms of fantasy and SF for years. But I’m happy to think aloud about what kind of fiction the next From Software project might inhabit, assuming it isn’t a sequel.
In particular, I was talking to Brendy the other day about the possibility of a From Software Soulslike that isn’t broadly the tale of an outcast chosen one overthrowing a corrupted divine ruler. While the details vary, that particular thematic arc is arguably the heart of every Souls game. Given the extent to which the politics and metaphysics of From’s worlds inform the detail of character progression and combat, I’m not sure it’s even possible to make a Soulslike that isn’t about a cosmic cycle of usurpation. I guess the obvious source of inspiration would be the Armored Core series, which tell a different kind of story. Then again, I’ve never found Armored Core plots very exciting.
I might end up writing a fusty longread on the subject. As and when I ever get to interview Miyazaki, I’ll ask him about it too. Although in the shorter term, I would probably ask him whether Sony are really going to buy From Software’s parent company Kadokawa, and if so, how that might impact his job.