Elden Ring's Full Map Could Be Nine Times Bigger Than Network Test Indicated

thegamer.com:

Elden Ring is a new chapter in FromSoftware's catalogue of Souls and Souls-like games, dropping the 3D Metroidvania level design for a sprawling open-world. It sounds ambitious, and the network test was huge, but the game might be as much as nine times bigger than even that.

Many thought the network test showed the entire continent of The Lands Between, the place Elden Ring calls home, but in a new preview from Kotaku Australia, it was discovered that zooming out as much as you can shows a bigger map.

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In that same preview, writer Junglist was teleported to another part of The Lands Between. Upon arriving, they inspected their map to find themselves at the edge of a giant black square. The first continent, the spot we visited in the network test, only made up a small part of the map, leading them to believe that Elden Ring might be as much as nine times bigger than we initially thought.

Despite its size, developer FromSoftware claims that Elden Ring only takes around 30 hours to beat, a decent length of time that's on par with other Souls games despite the shift to a more open world. But that might just be the main story - exploration and side content could make it a lengthier experience, doubly so with NG+ and different paths to different endings.

"While checking the map, I pressed back on the joystick and the map zoomed out to a level which I don't remember being a feature in the early multiplayer test," Junglist wrote. "Suddenly there was a long, thin bar making up the world, and the known starting continent occupied the middle of it."

This points to the map having far more scope than we thought, but some have also pointed out that it could be