As a devoted fan of FromSoftware’s soulsborne games, I couldn’t be more excited for Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree to drop later this year, and I know many fans feel the same.
However, as the game’s sole expansion, it seems the DLC aims to wrap up the game’s story in a neat little bow, and pave the way for our next adventure from the developer. With that in mind I’ve been asking myself a question as of late. When we finally bring peace to the Lands Between or bring the whole thing crashing down, should we get a sequel? I think not…
Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree drops later this year, check out the gameplay trailer below
Like basically everything FromSoftware has released over the past few years, Elden Ring is an enormous world filled to the brim with interesting characters and lore, many of which could be the centre of their own games let alone one small part of a huge storyline.
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The Shadow Of The Erdtree expansion will deliver even more insight into how the world works as well as introduce even more of its key players, most notably Miquella who’s mentioned several times in the base game and even viewable in Mohg’s boss arena.
Regardless of how the DLC ends, there’s loads of potential for sequels and spin-offs set within the world of Elden Ring, though they’d probably have to venture out of the Lands Between to do so.
That being said I personally don’t think a sequel would do the IP any good, in fact I’d go out on a limb and say it would potentially ruin some of the mystery and fantastical nature of the fantasy world.
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The elephant in the room is how you’d even follow-up a game like Elden Ring, which is already enormous even before Shadow Of The Erdtree expands it. I’m sure that’s a problem FromSoftware is gravely aware of, as once the DLC drops and Elden Ring is “finished” it won’t be long before fans are asking about the next big project.
Of course the next game the team works on will likely be for the next-generation of consoles like the PlayStation 6, so one can only imagine how great of a technical leap we can expect from the next game in the soulsborne series.
Execution aside though I feel like the biggest obstacle to an Elden Ring sequel, and by that I mean Elden Ring 2 rather than a spiritual successor like Dark Souls was for Demon Souls, is that we simply don’t need one. This might sound blasphemous, but hear me out.
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Out of all of FromSoftware’s games my all-time favourite is the first Dark Souls. I acknowledge it’s not the best game the developer ever made, but it’s the one I feel most connected to and most likely to revisit for another playthrough. While I could go on and on about why I hold the game in such high-regard, one of the main reasons is how the game’s world makes me feel, largely due to its less-is-more approach.
I’ve had several long discussions with a close friend of mine about Lordran and how it makes us feel when playing. He said the method of storytelling didn't make him care about the world, and questioned why he should bother saving it when it’s so bleak and depressing. I fundamentally disagree, as whenever I meet NPCs like Solaire, Laurentius, and even Lautrec I see people struggling but still trying to do the right thing, except Patches of course. This always encourages me to Link the First Flame at the end of the game, as despite the world being at its darkest there are still people, heroes even, enduring like embers of hope in a long-extinguished fire.
Elden Ring is largely the same, as the Lands Between are in disarray, monsters rule and Demigods cling to what once was, all why your Tarnished warrior makes a decision that’ll change the fate of the world forever. You can restore the Elden Ring and become the land’s new Lord, burn it all down with the Frenzied Flame, or leave with Ranni to start a new one. I’ve always felt the latter was the best option for a similar reason to the First Flame ending of Dark Souls. It's hopeful, and implies there could be a better tomorrow through your sacrifice.
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Of course there’s really no definitive answer to any of this, and that’s largely my point, there doesn’t need to be.
Elden Ring is a beautiful adventure from start to finish, a masterpiece that’ll be remembered for years and years, with the expansion simply prolonging that adventure and tying a few loose ends.
A sequel to Elden Ring would just be far too restrictive in my opinion in terms of ideas. If it followed on from one of the game’s many endings it’d make one canon, thus defeating the point of there being multiple endings. It can’t really be a prequel because then there’s no world-ending disaster to face/fix, as it’s speculated Shadow Of The Erdtree will take place in an alternate timeline, dimension or sometime in the past. The only way a true sequel would work is if it took a page out of Dark Souls 2’s book and made it entirely standalone, keeping the core gameplay the same but telling a self-contained story. In theory that’d work but what other story could be told aside from “There’s another Elden Ring out there, go find it.”
It’s the same reason Bloodborne doesn’t need a sequel in my opinion, as FromSoftware is a champion of writing stories that leave you second-guessing your choices in the game. It’s the intentional vagueness that leaves you questioning if you’re really the hero of the story or the villain, and more importantly whether you’re okay with that.
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The open-ended nature of the games is one of the core components that makes them appealing, and why you can find an endless supply of video essays explaining why they’re the second coming of the Lord himself. If you serialise them and lay out the story in a coherent way with a beginning, middle and end, they quickly lose their mystique and easily blend into more linear RPGs instead.
Elden Ring does not need a sequel in my opinion, it’s a fantastic game and I’d love for it to go on forever but I think FromSoftware is at it’s best when it isn’t shackled to a particular IP, and is free to explore new worlds and ideas instead.
But hey, maybe I’m wrong and maybe an Elden Ring sequel is in early development as we speak. After all, the game made heaps of money, won Game Of The Year and is still as popular today as it was when it launched, so why wouldn’t FromSoftware and Bandai Namco want to capitalise a little more on its overwhelming success?
Whatever happens it’ll surely be for the best, but I’d hate to see Elden Ring’s legendary reputation tarnished, no pun intended, by a sequel that feels more like a cash grab than another story worth telling.
Featured Image Credit: Bandai NamcoTopics: Elden Ring, Fromsoftware, Dark Souls, Xbox, PlayStation, PC