Elden Ring, the forthcoming fantasy RPG by From Software, will boast a conventionally sprawling open world, rather than an interlocking Metroidvania style map. It'll be a departure from the likes of Dark Souls, Sekiro and Bloodborne, but it won't feature towns, according to game director Hidetaka Miyazaki.

"Creating a new type of game is a big challenge for us," Miyazaki told IGN . "If we would add towns on top of that, it would become a bit too much, so we decided to create an open world style game focused on what we are best at.”

So rather than bustling settlements the likes of which usually feature in open world games, From Software's take will likely settle for ruins instead, according to the article. The open world will be traversable via horseback, and while the gameplay is "heavily based on Dark Souls", according to Miyazaki, the world design will throw a spanner in the works.

"With a more open and vast environment, the way combat plays out becomes fundamentally different," he said.