Is Elden Ring a Souls game?

If you’ve taken a peek into the video game world recently, you’ve probably become curious about Elden Ring. After all, everyone and their second cousin is talking about it, and multiple outlets have given Elden Ring a perfect rating (the PS5 version has a 97 on Metacritic). On the other hand, you’re likely also aware of the reputation around Demon Souls and Dark Souls games being very, very difficult. That reputation may influence your decision on whether or not to dive into Elden Ring, as they all come from developer FromSoftware. But is Elden Ring even a Souls game?

The short, un-nuanced answer is no, Elden Ring is not part of the Dark Souls series. The full answer is more complicated. Elden Ring and the Souls series share a director, Hidetaka Miyazaki. Even Miyazaki’s non-Souls games—such as Sekiro and Bloodborne—share a general vibe with the Souls series, just like Elden Ring does. All of these games center around learning the story’s deep lore through exploration of the environment, provide little information to the player up front in order to encourage the aforementioned exploration, and are, yes, very difficult.

These traits, which are central to Miyazaki’s games, have spawned a new genre known as “Soulslike.” Examples of Soulslike games that Miyazaki did not direct include the Nioh series and Code Vein. Both of those games take explicit influence from Miyzaki’s. Many Soulslike games also share the characteristic of being set in a dark fantasy world, which is certainly the case for Elden Ring.

So, to return to our short answer: no, Elden Ring is not a Souls game, but yes, Elden Ring is a Soulslike. It’s hard, spacious, and doesn’t hold your hand even a little bit. This is my first Miyazaki game, and I was quite disoriented when I first began playing—not because it was hard, but because even The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild holds your hand more. I was obsessed with figuring out what I was “supposed” to be doing, but then I saw the light: You can do whatever the hell you want to! The game doesn’t hold your hand, which means you’re free to go wherever. If something’s too hard, which includes sections the game is pointing you towards, even within the first hour, go try something else.

And, as Maddy Myers over at Polygon so eloquently writes, don’t let the toughness dissuade you. It’s not as hard as Dark Souls—or so I hear—but it’s still hard. You can do it! I am, of course, cheering myself on in that, too.

(Image: Bandai Namco)