Elden Ring’s summoned characters look pretty familiar to the Souls games. They’re the blue, transluscent folks that you can spot here in the trailer at the 1:41 mark. Of note though, those summoned assitants don’t look to be your Sun Bros or Onion Knights. No, those pals are apparently former enemies. Miyakazi explained a bit about summons in an interview with IGN: Elden Ring will also have online player summons, of course, Miyazaki adds. That’s well and good, and I do fully enjoy stomping around FromSoft games with my pals. I find the idea of enemies collected as little sidekicks quite enjoyable though. This excites me on a couple levels. At the most basic, I always enjoy the mix of sounds in FromSoft games. There’s so much silence that the crunchy, metallic clomp swish stomp of another being trailing behind you is so satisfying to hear. “Ah yes, my little buddy,” I look forward to thinking to myself as I hear the clip clomps of some platemail monstrosity following me like a pet dog. On another level, Souls games have a very catching feeling of stomping on enemies that were once quite difficult. You know how it is, getting thrashed by the same fella with a giant spear several times before a combination of leveling up and muscle memory eventually make them trivial to dispatch. That sense of mastery feels nice. I imagine that adding further insult to injury by bringing those enemies along as your new pals will feel even nicer. Clock that blue pal with the whip at the 1:45 mark in the trailer. That looks like a baddie that will have trashed me several times before I’m able to summon them. Oh, and, there’s the co-op implications too. I suspect that Elden Ring will likely let you concurrently summon a mix of NPCs and players as past Souls games have. I quite hope that I’ll have the opportunity to impress a stranger with a rare summon and then be able to show them where to find it for themselves. That’s the spirit of Souls, to me. Of course now I’m wondering if Elden Ring’s lovely little vase fellas are enemies, and if so can they be summoned. Talk about a summon which is aesthetically pleasing. There’s plenty more to pore through in IGN’s interview if you’re keen. Miyazaki talks a lot about how there’s more “freedom” in Elden Ring. It comes up in how skills are not tied to weapon types, allowing more customisation in combat builds. There’s talk of horseback riding and fast travel and how Elden Ring will still largely allow you to tackle areas of the game in whatever order suits you—though there is an expected main route. He explains Elden Ring’s relatively light stealth system as well. Elden Ring has now announced its launch date for January 21st, 2022. It will be arriving on PC via Steam and will be available on PlayStations and Xboxes as well.
