Director’s Commentary: How Elden Ring Turns Its Player into an Outer God

The following is an episode of With a Terrible Fate’s weekly podcast discussing video-game storytelling from all angles. Find all episodes here.

Join Aaron and Dan in a behind-the-scenes look at the argument that the player of Elden Ring is an Outer God, not a Tarnished.

Discussion topics include: why Elden Ring’s endings are puzzling in the first place; what we can learn about Elden Ring from Miyazaki’s other work; how Elden Ring uses lore differently than Dark Souls; why the Golden Order is a paradox, and how the player’s ability to resolve it spells new opportunities for video-game storytelling.

Want to dig further into the storytelling of Elden Ring? Attend With a Terrible Fate’s PAX East 2022 panel on April 21st, in person or virtually! Find all the details you need to know here.

(Spoilers for Elden Ring, the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.)

• “How Elden Ring Turns Its Player into an Outer God,” Aaron Suduiko
• “Where are the Humans in NieR: Automata?”, Aaron Suduiko
• “‘How Gaming Will Change Humanity as We Know It’: A Reply,” Aaron Suduiko
• “Understanding Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts II,“ Dan Hughes