Elden Ring's Success Keeps Inspiring New Indie RPGs
The runaway success of Elden Ring, FromSoftware's new dark fantasy action RPG, has introduced new gamers to the «Soulslike» video game genre, challenged the conventions of open-world video game design, and even inspired tabletop game developers to make their own indie Soulslike tabletop RPGs. This begs the question: what about Elden Ring inspired tabletop game designers to create Souls-style game systems, and what exactly makes a good Elden Ring-inspired Tabletop RPG?
Elden Ring drew much of its inspiration from FromSoftware signature line of dark fantasy RPGs, starting with Demon's Souls, continuing with the Dark Souls trilogy and Bloodborne, then culminating in the gameplay of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Distinct combat features of Elden Ring such as parrying enemy attacks, wielding special weapon skills, or combining attacks with jumps are refined versions of game mechanics introduced in Demon's Souls, Dark Souls 3, and Sekiro, respectively, while original game mechanics such as horseback riding and Spirit Ash summoning were innovations designed to make traversing the game's open world easier for players.
Related: Souls Games You Should Stop Ignoring If You Liked Elden Ring
The main narrative of Elden Ring is a blend of FromSoftware President Hidetaka Miyazaki's preferred jigsaw-puzzle method of storytelling and the creation myths/world-building details supplies by fantasy author George R.R. Martin (of A Song Of Ice And Fire fame). The result is a fantasy world both rich in detail and fraught with mystery – a story with gaps players must fill in through speculation and investigation. Indeed, it's this combination of challenging gameplay and challenging narrative that has inspired so many game designers to rise to the
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