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I’ve already spoken about this in-depth before, but Dark Souls and Bloodborne both win me over thanks to their much smaller worlds. Elden Ring’s scale is huge, encompassing, sometimes overwhelming. The agency to do anything and go anywhere has endless possibilities, and one of them is just putting the game away for weeks on end. That’s what my first experience playing Elden Ring was like, at least. There is good news, though. Hidetaka Miyazaki has hinted that From Software’s next games will not broach the scale of Elden Ring.
Of course, he says that in terms of investment and resource, though this does trickle down into literal game scale too. In an interview with The Guardian, Hidetaka Miyazaki said that Elden Ring is a “turning point,” and that there will be a “clear difference” following. Part of this includes games helmed by other directors – Armored Core VI, for example, led by Masaru Yamamura – and in turn, games with less of a blockbuster budget.
“Where FromSoftware is right now, in terms of scale, I would say Elden Ring is really the limit,” Miyazaki said. “We’ve tapped every resource and talent we have access to … scaling it even bigger, I’d have my concerns.” I can’t help but agree with Miyazaki here. Sure, From Software very rarely miss. But it is still possible, and I think leaning too far into the Elden Ring formula could play a hand in that.
With Elden Ring’s DLC just having hit 5m copies sold, and the obscene success that From Software has seen in recent years, funds and investment will no doubt be in abundance. If it can fight off the pressure from any shareholders and investors to recreate Elden Ring’s scale, then the possibility of “multiple projects” sounds like the best possible outcome.
Now, don’t get me wrong. My relationship with Elden Ring is tough. It’s punched me in the gut more times than I can think. It’s shown me fantastical and inspiring world-building and lore. Its tested my patience to the absolute limit, and rewarded me infinitely more. But, it will never budge the original Dark Souls game from that warm place in my heart, and it’s mostly because it’s so friggin’ big.
Can you imagine a year with a Bloodborne 2, Miyazaki’s JRPG, and George Miller directed Dark Souls film? I can’t either, but I’d probably lose my mind at it.
