Elden Ring has the chance to outdo the Dark Souls trilogy and the rest of the Souls-like franchise because of its attempt at open world gameplay. If FromSoftware manages to get open world right, it will be a series first for the prolific franchise, and could redefine the rest of the series going forward. As great as they were, the Dark Souls trilogy never reached the level of freedom that open world games can provide, and fans would love to see a souls-style game set in a vast and explorable space that they can tackle at their own pace.
Obviously, none of the three Dark Souls games were open world. Often, their beautiful level design could invoke the feeling of an open world game with the way levels looped back around on themselves and led into one another, but there was still always a very clear path to follow moving forward. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with this type of game, as Dark Souls became one of the most iconic game franchises with it, but more and more games are shifting their attention to the open world genre as players show their love for it. The same is true of Elden Ring, which promises to be From Software's first real attempt at an open world setting.
Elden Ring - Open Field
Of course, it is worth discussing the distinction that Hidetaka Miyazaki, the series' creator, makes between the concepts of open world and open field. Miyazaki has described Elden Ring as being open field, but never went into too much detail on what that meant exactly. Most likely, this term is being used to temper player expectation, as fans probably shouldn't go into Elden Ring expecting a map on the same scale as Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, or other massive open world maps.
Elden Ring's open field concept has been compared to Shadow of the Colossus, which features a relatively small open world style map. The desolate yet gorgeous scenery of that game provides an eerie beauty to the game that would be fitting of a From Software game as well. If that game is anything to compare Elden Ring to, exploration will likely be a major factor, even if the area to explore is somewhat limited by today's standards. It will be interesting to get more information on this concept when Elden Ring finally shares news on the game.
Fog Gates and Area Changes
Before entering any boss room or even certain new areas, players had to traverse the white fog first. While this has become something of a tradition in Dark Souls games, it initially was caused mostly due to technological limitations. Elden Ring likely won't suffer from these, allowing the game to have a much more connected and immersive feel. Likewise, players won't be railroaded into certain areas, and the thought of wide open fields filled to the brim with difficult and deadly enemies is exciting for some. Players will have a choice as to what they wish to take on for the first time in franchise history, and this will provide a whole new level of depth to the gameplay, provided From Software decides to seize it.
How Elden Ring Differs From Dark Souls
Obviously, this approach is very different from Dark Souls, but different isn't enough, it needs to truly set it apart. As great as the original Dark Souls was, it is often referred to as a flawed masterpiece. Dark Souls 3 went on to really smooth over some of the previous titles' defects and make Dark Souls better, but there are still some noticeable shortcomings. Particularly things like the fog gates that stop the flow of gameplay and take the players out of the world for a moment. They were necessary because of hardware limitations at the time, but that shouldn't be the case for Elden Ring.
Another thing is the tight spaces which are so prevalent in Dark Souls. These work as a great way to emulate the loneliness that is any Ashen One's adventure, but there are other ways to accomplish this that allow for more exploration. Elden Ring's Open Field concept could provide players the big, open areas that fans have been longing for while still keeping a lonely and dark tone that the franchise has become known for. Fans can imagine fields full of Ultimately, it all just depends on how FromSoftware decides to implement this aspect of the game, but if done well, it could very well surpass its predecessors.
Elden Ring is currently in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.