Elden Ring celebrates its first birthday today, and the impact it has had on the video game industry cannot be understated. As Game of the Year winner at The Game Awards 2022, Elden Ring managed to surpass most expectations - which is especially impressive given long-standing fans of developer FromSoftware had lofty expectations following a largely silent pre-release marketing campaign. Even now, Elden Ring still dominates gaming headlines as players continue to discover new things about the sprawling action-RPG. There's no reason to believe this will change any time soon, particularly with possible DLC on the way.
On the surface, Elden Ring looks to be a natural continuation of the formula established in FromSoftware's Demon's Souls from 2009. Over time this formula has evolved and diversified, with each iteration of the iconic Dark Souls trilogy becoming more sophisticated while titles such as Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice applied their fundamental mechanics to different environments. Elden Ring is arguably the culmination of this formula thus far; the direct result of a developer performing at the top of its game.
Elden Ring's Dominance Looks Set to Continue
To date, Elden Ring has sold over 20 million units worldwide, dwarfing any of FromSoftware's other hits by a considerable margin. The developer has become a major force that rivals just about any other developer in the industry, despite much of its back catalog being considered something of an acquired taste due to their perceived high difficulty and cryptic storytelling style. While Elden Ring is still brutally difficult at times, and tells its story in an equally mysterious way, it is the most accessible Soulsborne title yet thanks to a couple of crucial new mechanics - including the freedom to tackle the game in dozens of different ways.
Despite no official word regarding DLC, many feel that it's only a matter of time before Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team announce that the game is getting additional content. Except for 2019's Game of the Year winner Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, every other game in FromSoftware's Soulsborne collection has received DLC content, each more impressive than the last. The quality of DLC released for these titles is arguably stronger than what can be found in each respective base game, boding well for any potential Elden Ring DLC.
Thanks to the depth of The Lands Between, there are multiple directions any Elden Ring DLC could go in. Interesting locations that were mentioned but never visited in the base game, such as the Badlands, would make for exciting areas to visit, and based on the base game map's scale, the size of these maps could be huge. The existing map also has areas that are considerably underutilized, none more than the huge, open labyrinth that makes up The Lands Between's underground area.
Whatever is in store for Elden Ring, it will need to be as richly detailed and impressive as the base game in order to maintain the high standard that has been set. FromSoftware's next game is Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, a revival of a cult mech-based vehicular combat series from the early 2000s. Despite this, more projects in the vein of Elden Ring will surely follow given its success. With the eyes of the gaming world fixed firmly on Miyazaki and his team, hopefully FromSoftware can once again attempt to take the genre it popularized to new levels.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.