How “Elden Ring” Changed the Gaming Industry

Scar De Los Santos | Writer

“Now, come forth, become Elden Lord,” said Renna in the bone chilling Elden Ring launch trailer.

It feels like video games have been repetitive the last 5 years or just outright bad, with the gaming industry focused on the battle royale genre. From popular battle royales like Fortnite, Apex, and PUBG to lesser known ones like Spellbreak, Realm Royale, and Hyperscape, they all ran off of the same concept and fundamentals. The player is put on a battlefield of 60 to 150 online players and told to be the last one standing.

Although this genre was popular at first, people became bored of the trope quickly if the game was not a mainstream title. As a result, all of the small battle royales were forgotten about.

Video game developers continued to try this trend, though, and continued to fail, with every new game title flopping, as it offered nothing new.

The few developers that were working on story based games or single player games were not successful with their projects, as critics and gamers called them lazy and messy. From their bad graphics, clunky mechanics, and lazy story writing, games simply were not what they used to be, until February 25, 2022. On this date, Elden Ring was released. Elden Ring has been highly anticipated for the last three years, with its production spanning over the last 10.

\Although the wait was long, the reward was worth it. “Elden Ring” has brought story-based video games back to life. The game's graphics are visually pleasing, the mechanics are simple but fun, and the story is immersive and intriguing. With 12 million copies sold in a span of two weeks, according to FromSoftware, Inc., gamers have been bouncing off the walls over the new title.

Elden Ring is a dark fantasy role-playing game (rpg), offers at least 100 hours of gameplay to the average gamer, and gives them access to a large arsenal of weapons, magic, armor, and enemies. In addition to being loved by the average person, popular game critic and news outlet IGN has rated the game a solid 10/10, giving it a perfect score.

“Elden Ring” has set a standard for video games that may not be met for a while, but the gaming industry will surely take inspiration from this masterpiece and proceed to create even better content.