Elden Ring Is A Touching Love Letter To Berserk’s Kentaro Miura

thegamer.com:

Hidetaka Miyazaki has always been clear in his love for the late Kentaro Miura’s work. Ever since the release of Demon’s Souls we’ve seen the manga’s dark, foreboding, and almost hopeless fantasy world have a tangible impact on FromSoftware’s repertoire.

Dark Souls’ character and world designs feel pulled straight from the pages of Berserk in some places, with knights wielding greatswords and otherworldly monsters pulling the strings of a world that relies on logic that is almost Lovecraftian in how it deals with our perception of higher powers and the control they have over humanity.

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Bloodborne continued to carry these influences proudly, with Yharnham leaning heavily into the doomed, apocalyptic oblivion that defines so much of Berserk’s world. It isn’t even subtle in places, with certain iconography pulling directly from the manga while simultaneously morphing it into something new. Miyazaki’s love for Miura’s talents are clear for all to see, and I love how this relationship has continued to build over the years.

Elden Ring feels like the culmination of this homage, with The Lands Between acting as a cohesive love letter to Berserk in infinitely concrete ways. Both are masterpieces of their respective mediums, and to see FromSoftware pull so liberally from Miura’s work after his passing to showcase how much of an influence his imagination had on so many is undeniably touching. He was gone too soon, and deserves to be celebrated.

I grew up reading Berserk, indulging in grotesque battles, sex scenes, and mature themes far sooner than I should have been. But my parents didn’t give a shit so I sunk into it and felt its influence wash over me. Guts’