After months of rumors, the collaboration between Hidetaka Miyazaki and George Raymond Richard Martin (the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, which spawned Game of Thrones) on a dark fantasy action RPG was confirmed to be true at E3 2019, where Elden Ring was unveiled with a brief teaser.
Speaking to IGN, the creator of Dark Souls discussed the details of the high-profile partnership.
I was really surprised by how smoothly it all went. It was a fascinating collaboration, as we both weren’t restricted by each other, yet still influenced each other’s work.
GRRM didn't write the story of the game itself, by the way. To make an analogy, following Miyazaki's words it sounds basically as if Tolkien had written the Silmarillion but not The Lord of the Rings itself.
By having him write about a time the player isn’t directly involved in, he is free to unleash his creativity in the way he likes. Furthermore, as FromSoftware we didn’t want to create a more linear and story-driven experience for Elden Ring. Both issues could be solved by having Martin write about the world’s history instead.
It really is like a guide for the world’s lore, and therefore feels quite different from his novels. As someone that loves to learn about a world’s setting, it was very exciting to read.
The player will be able to learn about Martin’s mythology through exploration. We are known for letting the player explore the game’s lore through fragments of environmental storytelling, and this time around Martin’s story is what you will be trying to unravel.
Blending the two styles will surely result in a unique narrative experience, one that fans of both Miyazaki-san and GRRM can hardly wait for, which is mirrored in the game's varied experience. There's no release date for Elden Ring, though, and we wouldn't be too surprised if the game was currently scheduled for 2021 internally. After all, FromSoftware did just release the excellent Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice a few months ago.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
