Elden Ring is going to feature a much bigger and more open world than the previous entries in the Souls series, and players will be able to approach each area in different areas.

　　Speaking with IGN, From Software's Hidetaka Miyazaki talked about the game's progression system, confirming the developer wanted to give players a free level of progression and exploration. Not all of the areas will be available at the beginning of the game, but players will have different ways to approach each area.

　　One of our big themes for development of this new world was that, because of the grandeur and sense of scale of it, we didn't want players to get lost and not have any clue of what to do or where to go. So there is an element of guidance, particularly at the beginning. There is a mainline route that they can follow, but at any time they're free to break off this route and to take the untrodden path. We wanted to focus on a design that caters to that high level of freedom, that free order of progression throughout the world - which order you choose to tackle the different areas, the different bosses, and how you approach each of them as well. You may get sent to a couple of areas against your will, but there's a lot of ways that you can explore and approach these different situations.

　　In Elden Ring, players will be able to enjoy a much higher level of freedom when building their character as well, as it will be possible to combine different skills with different weapons, unlike Dark Souls 3 where Weapon Arts were tied to weapons. The now-classic Stamina bar will also be back, but it will feel less restrictive.

　　Yes, the stamina bar exists in Elden Ring, but we feel it has less influence on the player overall. We wanted to make it feel less restrictive and contribute to that level of freedom more so than our previous titles.

　　You're free to combine your different skills with different weapons. You're free to build your character with different weapons and equipment. You're free to learn magic as well. We think the build customization is going to be even richer and even more varied than before.

　　Elden Ring is going to feel different than previous entries in the series also thanks to George R.R. Martin's involvement. According to Hidetaka Miyazaki, he is the one that came up with The Lands Between name, and that many other things wouldn't have been possible without him.

　　And I think as far as some of its characteristics go, we really focused on bringing something with just an enormous sense of scale and this broadness and openness to The Lands Between, the world that you'll explore. As part of creating this vast world, we wanted to bring on involvement from George R.R. Martin, and he brought things to the table that we couldn't have done by ourselves, in terms of that rich storytelling and that sense of character and drama. So we really appreciate his involvement as well.

　　Elden Ring launches on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One on January 21st, 2022