Following A Song of Ice and Fire writer George R.R. Martin’s confirmation of his contribution to a Japanese video game project, it would seem like it is all but confirmed as the next title from Souls creator FromSoftware. The project has been rumored for weeks now, with most of the rumors seemingly just coming out of the woodwork, in particular due to the final season of Game of Thrones airing.
However, while we do know that the collaboration between George R.R. Martin and FromSoftware did take place, we are still left in the dark as to what it is. Fortunately, we did not have to speculate long, as soon as after the news of their collaboration dropped, several outlets that have been holding on to some information have revealed some other huge tidbits for us to take a look at.
The information comes from both Gamesradar and Gematsu, whose sources have spoken at length about the title of the upcoming game, when will we able to see it first, and what it’s all about.
Great Rune
The title is apparently Great Rune. While there was some speculation before that the game will be set in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire since, you know, its creator is involved, it turns out that the game will be set in an entirely new setting, one that FromSoftware has yet to tackle: the Norse world, mythology, and all of its dark legends.
It will be very interesting to see how FromSoftware manages to tackle such a different setting, seeing as they’ve already made themselves known with the medieval fantasy setting (Souls series), a Lovecraftian horror setting (Bloodborne) and of course, very recently, the Japanese feudal era setting (Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice).
Gameplay and combat
The supposed gameplay for Great Rune will involve players invading various kingdoms and stealing the powers of their rulers, which players will then use to invade more kingdoms. The combat is said to be akin to the Souls series style, although I would be very much disappointed if FromSoftware doesn’t add the technical finesse they achieved with Sekiro.
It will also be the Japanese developer’s first ever foray into an open-world title, something their previous games tried to avoid. Traversing the open world may seem vapid at first, though, so that’s why Great Rune will reportedly have horseback riding in order to move to and from various kingdoms.
When can we first expect to see it
According to both Gematsu and Gamesradar, Great Rune will debut on the Microsoft E3 2019 stage, something which has been mentioned by NeoGAF user Braldyr during his lengthy E3 leak. What’s even more surprising is that it would seem that FromSoftware is back together again with Bandai Namco, the publisher behind its Souls series. This means that we can expect Great Rune to go multi-platform as well. Sorry, Bloodborne 2 dreamers.
