After months of rumors, the collaboration between Hidetaka Miyazaki and George Raymond Richard Martin (the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, which spawned Game of Thrones) on a dark fantasy action RPG was confirmed to be true at E3 2019, where Elden Ring was unveiled with a brief teaser.

　　Speaking to IGN, the creator of Dark Souls discussed the details of the high-profile partnership.

　　I was really surprised by how smoothly it all went. It was a fascinating collaboration, as we both weren’t restricted by each other, yet still influenced each other’s work.

　　GRRM didn't write the story of the game itself, by the way. To make an analogy, following Miyazaki's words it sounds basically as if Tolkien had written the Silmarillion but not The Lord of the Rings itself.

　　By having him write about a time the player isn’t directly involved in, he is free to unleash his creativity in the way he likes. Furthermore, as FromSoftware we didn’t want to create a more linear and story-driven experience for Elden Ring. Both issues could be solved by having Martin write about the world’s history instead.

　　It really is like a guide for the world’s lore, and therefore feels quite different from his novels. As someone that loves to learn about a world’s setting, it was very exciting to read.

　　The player will be able to learn about Martin’s mythology through exploration. We are known for letting the player explore the game’s lore through fragments of environmental storytelling, and this time around Martin’s story is what you will be trying to unravel.

　　Blending the two styles will surely result in a unique narrative experience, one that fans of both Miyazaki-san and GRRM can hardly wait for. There's no release date for Elden Ring, though, and we wouldn't be too surprised if the game was currently scheduled for 2021 internally. After all, FromSoftware did just release the excellent Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice a few months ago.