Elden Ring wants you to stop hitting yourself

Elden Ring has been the most funny game in years. This is due to FromSoftware’s excellent understanding of player behavior and absurd comedy. You can see the gothic atmosphere of Souls: ruined camps, piles of dead bodies and warriors grieving over their lost companions. These people also wear huge hats.

Absurd comedy happens when a logical world is disrupted. This is the abrupt transition from coherence into incoherence. You think you understand the world, but then some thing comes in and starts fussing over everything. It doesn’t matter what type of world, it just matters that it’s clear and consistent. Then it gets confused by anything that is contrary to it. It will be more funnier the stronger its coherence and the more disorienting the incoherence.

Every grafted creature, pre-eviscerated great, and skeletal bird makes the bizarre stunts and You-Died humor of Elden Ring even more obvious. But that’s only the most obvious edge of FromSoftware’s creative chops. They’ve mastered a kind of comedy that’s available to any game developer, but which is rarely used: environmental jokes.

Watch the video above to learn more about how FromSoftware crafts their jokes in Elden Ring and beyond.