It seems that Elden Ring Director Hidetaka Miyazaki and I share an affinity for the same kind of game: Export stemers. (I always knew he had good taste). In a recent interview, the award-winning director said he was not a fan of the other Escape from Tarkov and, most importantly, that this and other innovative multiplayer games provide inspiring material for future FromSoftware games.
Released last year, Elden Ring it has become a phenomenal success. One of the best Soulsborne games to date, justifiably scoring last year’s title Game of the year at Keighley’s. It was also the game’s first major expansion recently announced to the impatience of the fans. Although many usually enjoy Elden Ring and other Soulslike as gritty, solo RPGs, FromSoftware’s games often include multiplayer elements. In addition to cooperative play, players can “invade” another player’s game, posing a new and smarter threat.
Although very different species, they are liked by export shooters Escape from Tarkov and more recently, Call of Duty’s DMZ, offer a similar experience. As PvPvE games, players are at risk from enemy AI as well as other players. But instead of warping through a Bloody Finger like in Elden Ringplayers in multiplayer export shooters are always at risk of being “invaded” by players occupying the same game instance, creating an unpredictable set of difficult challenges.
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What is Escape from Tarkov? (and why it looks so much like Elden Ring)
Talking to you IGN regarding future games from FromSoftware, Miyazaki said:
“I’m really interested [multiplayer elements, both technology and game design] as one of the fans and one of the creators. Especially [Escape from Tarkov]. So basically I pay attention to those elements as a creator and a fan of the game.”
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Still in Early Access from the original 2016 release date, Escape from Tarkov has made a name for herself as a brutally technical and tactical shooter. The goal of collecting essential equipment or searching and then escaping the map is challenged by hostile AI and players scattered across an open world filled with unlockables and collectibles. In addition, the game features a highly detailed health system and a set of inventory management responsibilities. You get out alive, you keep what you find. Die and you lose everything, including the one you came with. Hmm, doesn’t that sound familiar?
Other export sights, such as Call of Dutyof the DMZ or The Cycle: Frontier, call back some of the survival and loot management, but keep the same PvPvE element. Although the main loop of the game is to enter and exit an area, what happens in between is completely dependent on the unpredictable chaos of uncertainty and competing interests. Look beyond the shooter game, and it bears a striking resemblance to Dark souls the Elden RingThe cycle of the journey from fire to fire, hopefully alive and with all the souls you’ve recovered along the way. It makes sense then that Miyazaki is a fan.
Elden RingIts creator is interested in using other players as a “game resource”
What Miyazaki seems to be particularly interested in when it comes to games like Tarkov is how this multiplayer layout uses other players “as one of the resources for the game”. In multiplayer export shooters, other players are equally an opportunity for opposition or cooperation, leading to tense confrontations and wider debates about the ethics of player behavior and difficulty—again, not too dissimilar to difficulty level discussions when it comes to Souls Games.
From the perspective of a single player, opposing players take on the role of the game’s obstacles, creating challenges of unexpected and varied difficulty and behaviors based on social dynamics as much as actual game mechanics.
Whether this inspiration is likely to be seen or not Elden RingThe recently announced and upcoming expansion remains to be seen. But damn, the mere thought of a merger between these two worlds sure is exciting.