With Elden Ring right around the corner, speculation continues to mount about where it will stand in the FromSoftware universe. With Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Dies Twice acting as standalone titles, it raises an intriguing question: is Elden Ring a spiritual sequel to Dark Souls, or another standalone?
Here we'll break down what we know so far, and whether there will indeed be a connection.
What we know so far
With acclaimed fantasy author, George R. R. Martin brought along to assist in the contextual and narrative world-building, Elden Ring takes place in The Lands Between. A disparate world of warriors and monsters, players will embark on a cursed quest to gather the splintered shards of the titular Elden Ring and become the Elden Lord.
But obtaining these shards won't be easy, with deceptive characters not to be trusted, and corrupted bosses to stifle your progress roaming the world.
Is Elden Ring connected to Dark Souls?
Since the release of the very first Dark Souls, FromSoftware have since gone on to create a number of new series around the souls-like gameplay formula. Bloodborne took us to a decaying city filled with bloodthirsty beasts. While Sekiro, the last FromSoftware game prior to Elden Ring, took us to a fictionalised version of feudal Japan. These standalone games were not connected to the Dark Souls universe, and it is looking like Elden Ring could be the same.
On the release of Dark Souls 3, FromSoftware's director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, confirmed that it would be the last entry of the Dark Souls series, but not the last souls-like game they would develop.
At the time of writing, it appears Elden Ring will be following suit and not be connected to the overarching Dark Souls story. Only time will tell if there is indeed a connection to Lothric, Lordran and the Lands Between.