From Software’s role-playing game Elden Ring will be delayed because it is more complex than expected. A network test is planned for it soon – but not for PC players.
Elden Ring will be delayed. According to a tweet from the official account, the release will be delayed by a month. The open-world role-playing game from the Dark Souls makers will thus not be released until February 25, 2022, instead of January 21, 2022, as previously planned.
Important message:
ELDEN RING will release on Feb 25, 2022, as the depth & strategic freedom of the game exceeded initial expectations. Thank you for your trust & patience. We look forward to seeing you experience the game in the Closed Network Test in Nov.
The ELDENRING Team
– ELDEN RING (@ELDENRING) October 18, 2021
Similar to Cyberpunk 2077, this only leaves the developers time for fine-tuning – let’s hope that significantly more bugs can be sorted out than plagued many players in CD Projekt Red’s role-playing game. They justify the postponement by saying that the depth and strategic possibilities of the open world exceed their own expectations.
As a small consolation, there is a new screenshot to see, showing a boss and three brave co-op warriors:
Stress test planned – but PC players go empty-handed
But you’ll soon be able to see the state of the open-world game for yourself: In November, a closed network test is planned for which you can let off steam in the magical and brutal intermediate lands. At least, if you are one of the lucky fans who will get this chance – and own a console. You can register for it until 1 November 2021 on the Beta website
However, this is not a conventional beta – the test is intended to check whether the online servers can withstand multiplayer. Crossplay is possible, but only on one platform – i.e. within the PlayStation or Xbox environment.
According to a press release from Bandai Namco, the Closed Network Test will take place between 12 and 15 November on PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series during these periods:
- 12 November: 12:00pm to 3:00pm
- 13 November: 4:00 am to 7:00 am
- 13 November: 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm
- 14 November: 12:00pm to 3:00pm
- 15 November: 4:00 am to 7:00 am
The PC will not be included in this. Bandai Namco confirmed this to us once again directly – but without giving the reason.
What condition is Elden Ring in?
The developers assured us at the exclusive gamescom gameplay presentation that Elden Ring was finished and that they were only working on improvements – a lot of fine-tuning. The material shown from the PC version, including the open world and legacy dungeons, made a good impression on us. Everything ran technically smoothly and looked atmospheric, even if assets and animations were strongly reminiscent of Dark Souls 3 and the graphic splendour did not blow us out of our chairs.
Much freedom, much risk
Open World development is a tricky business, something CD Projekt Red, Bethesda and now From Software can tell you a thing or two about. Bugs and technical problems tend to creep in that are not noticed at first or are simply replaced by new ones when they are fixed, like a hydra that can cut off heads endlessly – especially when you dare to work on an ambitious project that emphasises freedom of play.
Elden Ring stands out from Dark Souls above all in that you can approach tasks from dozens of directions and use a variety of playful means such as melee, ranged combat, your own horse, ghost buddies, co-op helpers or even sneaking and hidden routes. There are also supposed to be many secrets, characters, quests, treasures, dungeons and more to discover in the open world.
Even though the role-playing game ran smoothly in the presentation and the familiar From Software atmosphere bled from every pore, the developers already reported technical challenges in the summer – for example, co-op was reduced by one person and the horse could not be integrated into multiplayer.
Let’s hope the PC version isn’t excluded from the stress test because it’s lagging behind in development. Dark Souls already had to deal with technical difficulties and bugs again and again on our favourite platform.
However, we have not yet been able to play the game ourselves and therefore also not been able to check whether the condition of the demo shown really corresponds to reality. We will know more in November
