News about Elden Ring has always been elusive. FromSoftware's upcoming game has constantly left fans disappointed due to its absence from showcases and events since its announcement. We finally got a good look at it during this year's Summer Game Fest, but it has since crawled right back into its cave. The game was a no-show at the recent Tokyo Game Show, but we did get a small update in the aftermath.
As spotted by GameRant, FromSoftware's Yasuhiro Kitao appeared on a program for Gematsu, where he spoke about the game and some of its features. This was later translated by Redditor MysteriousBloke using DeepL. "We're in the final stages of development, and we're moving forward quietly," said Kitao after being asked about the development status.
"It's a culmination of FromSoftware's expertise in dark fantasy action," he continued. "You can enjoy the high level of difficulty and the sense of accomplishment of overcoming it, the joy of discovering the unknown, and the creation of the world setting."
One of the biggest differences between Elden Ring and the studio's previous games is that it will seamlessly allow you to fast-travel from any point. This breaks one of FromSoftware's major tenets of having to go through the same areas and fighting the same enemies if you need to backtrack.
Elden Ring will be the studio's first attempt at an open-world game. It almost feels like it's been building up to this since the first Dark Souls. The fact that it will include stealth and assassination mechanics similar to those in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice lends credence to that theory.
"We have prepared a large field, but we don't have any errand quests, so players can go there or there as they like," he continued. "However, there are no errand quests. There is also a system to help players avoid getting lost." This seems a long way from the studio's earlier games where you'd need to memorise the areas or refer to a guide in order to get around the map.
Lastly, Kitao had a message to fans who are eagerly waiting for the launch. "We released the video and release date in June 2021, after two years of no new information since we released the video at E3 2019," he said. "I thought it would be forgotten until then, but there were many people waiting for it, and I want to say thank you again to them. We will continue to develop the game to meet your expectations, so please look forward to it."