We are officially one month, I repeat, one month away from Elden Ring as of today. Hasn’t time just flown since E3 2019? God, take me back to simpler times.
Anyway, yes, it’s very nearly here, and it sounds like we can expect to be preoccupied for quite some time when we get our hands on it. As reported by IGN, during an interview at the Taipei Game Show, the producer of Elden Ring, Yasuhiro Kitao, gave a bit of insight into what fans can expect from the game and its length.
Elden Ring is finally going to be upon us on 25 February - check out the trailer below.
“This will differ significantly by player,” he said, when asked about how long the game will take to complete. “But in terms of the targets set during development, the idea is that the main route should be able to be completed within around 30 hours. The game as a whole is quite massive, and contains many dozens more hours worth of gameplay, but if we are talking about the main route only, it shouldn't take much longer than that.”
So, what sort of thing can we expect to pad out the runtime, then? Well, due to the branching nature of the game towards the end, Kitao says it’s “technically impossible to reach 100%” on your first playthrough of the game. Thankfully then, it’ll feature a New Game+ mode, allowing you to take your equipment with you back to the start of the game, which sounds like the perfect way to go through the main story again.
“Like our other titles, the game features replayability features. After clearing the game the first time, you can carry across your character data and play the game again, against powered up enemies,” explained Kitao.
Fans will also be relieved to know that there’s definitely not going to be any more delays now: “Please be assured, the title will be ready for sale on February 25,” said Kitao. “The master version has already been submitted, and right now, the team is working on a day one patch to make sure everything in the game is just so.”
I don’t know about you, but it’s quite a relief to know that the main game isn’t going to be too chunky, even though 30 hours is definitely nothing to be sniffed at. Recently, it was announced that Dying Light 2 will take 500 hours to complete if you’re dedicated enough to go for 100%, which is mind blowing, and I promise you will not catch me doing that. Best of luck to you if you are.
Featured Image Credit: FromSoftwareTopics: Elden Ring, Fromsoftware, Bandai Namco