After lots of speculation about a collaboration between George R.R. Martin and From Software, promotional images of the game leaked today. Titled Elden Ring, it’s expected to make its first official appearance at E3.
The pre-E3 leak marathon continues with a leak as brief as it is exciting. Multiple sources are reporting that the first promotional image for the rumored collaboration between From Software and George R.R. Martin has appeared online. It’s allegedly called Elden Ring, not Great Rune, as was previously suspected.
According to Gematsu, the leak happened when files that were supposed to be private on Bandai Namco’s server were made available to the public. Those files included a concept image for Elden Ring along with a description:
Elden Ring, developed by FromSoftware, Inc. and Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc., is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set within a world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki—creator of the influential Dark Souls video game series; and George R.R. Martin—author of The New York Times best-selling fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Danger and discovery lurk around every corner in FromSoftware’s largest game to-date.
Hidetaka Miyazaki, President and Game Director of FromSoftware Inc. known for directing critically-acclaimed games in beloved franchises including Armored Core, Dark Souls, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
George R.R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire – A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows, and A Dance with Dragons. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made.
The image has a distinctly Dark Souls flare, with its three interlocking rings, but with enough stylistic differences to set it apart from those previous titles. Elden Ring is expected to take place in a new world, but given FromSoft’s penchant for including references to their other titles in their games, we wouldn’t be surprised to see some thematic connections and maybe even more solid links.
It should come as no surprise that From Software and George R.R. Martin were working together; it’s been something of an open secret for quite a while now after the author revealed that he had been working with a Japanese game developer.
Rumor had it that Great Rune was to be a Norse-inspired open-world game where players rode a horse through a series of large kingdoms to track down and slay their rulers. We know that the rumored title was incorrect, but it remains to be seen whether any of the other supposedly leaked info turns out to be correct. The leaked art features what may be an anchor, which could lend credence to some sea-faring Norse adventure. Our best guess is that more details will come out during Microsoft’s E3 press conference on Sunday.
The Bandai Namco leak also revealed two other games: a new entry in the Tales series called Tales of Arise, and a port of Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for Nintendo Switch along with a remastered version for PC and PS4.
