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Recently, a game has been popular in the circle, that is, the dark fantasy style ARPG (action role-playing) game that has been hotly discussed by netizens - "Eldon's Ring of Law".
Stepping onto this long-lost junction, the Faded Ones gallop across the vast expanse on ghost warhorses in search of fragments of the Eldon Ring. You'll encounter all sorts of unknown enemies: the mighty Lord of Gold, the beautiful but deadly jellyfish, the swordsmanship of a samurai or a giant bird with fangs. You will explore the hidden dungeons of the dark and gloomy forest in the silent city, look up at the empty moon in the jungle at night, and the golden trees shine softly in the distance, which is the light of blessing and brings hope to the journey.
According to public information, Eldon's Law Ring was released on February 25 this year on Steam, Microsoft Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox and other platforms. Weibo topic detail data shows that on the day of release alone, the number of discussions on the Topic of The Ring of Law in Eldon exceeded 20,000, and the number of readers on the second day of the release exceeded 62.21 million.
According to SteamSpy data, Eldon's Ring of Law has sold 10 million copies in the week it was released, and SteamSpy only tracks players with public profiles, which means that those who do not have public profiles (and also own games) will not be counted. So, in theory, the actual sales of this game will only be more.
Today, Steam officially announced last week's sales charts (March 7 to March 16), and Eldon's French Ring continues to win the championship, achieving three consecutive weeks of dominance.
Last week's sales charts, Eldon's Ring of Law occupied first and third place. It is worth noting that the difficulty of this game is quite high, and the sales performance that can achieve such a sales performance has far exceeded previous expectations.
01
Collaboration between the two masters
The story of the game was born out of the collaboration of two great figures, Hidetaka Miyazaki and George W. Bush. R· R. Martin.
From the Demon Souls to the Dark Souls series, from The Wolf to the Elden Ring, Miyazaki Hidetaka has come up with a series of soul games that players are familiar with and love, using fragmented narratives and difficult games to let players experience the theme of "death" in the open world. In 2019, Hidetaka Miyazaki's "Only Wolf" won the TGA Game of the Year (Media Award), and "Dark Souls" won the Golden Joystick "Ultimate Game of All Time" (Player Award), which is considered to be recognized by both the media and players for his game aesthetic and philosophy. Once relatively niche "soul system" games, it began to receive more widespread attention.
And George W. Bush. R· R. Martin's work on the worldview architecture of the Eldon Circle of Law project adds more grandeur to the game. Previously, it was directed by George W. Bush. R· R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire has become a global hit. George Martin, though good at writing, was not a game lover. He said in an interview earlier, "All they want from me is the construction of some worldview: a deep, dark, resonant world that serves as the basis for the game they plan to create." It just so happens that I like to create the world and write fictional history. "It turns out that his stories capture the attention of players.
Compared with previous soul stories, although the grand conspiracies are all the main tone, complete and self-consistent, they always feel that something is missing. The world of Martin in "Eldon's Ring of Law" is equally magnificent and conspiratorial, but behind the major events, there are complex entanglements such as "she fell in love with him, and he fell in love with her", which may be the real trivia behind it, or it may be the secret plan of political marriage.
In short, in the mouths of many NPCs, they are like the complex power games in A Song of Ice and Fire, only to change from gods to people, closer to the messy chores of the real world. This complete freedom to give the player complete freedom to obtain intelligence from the obscure NPC dialogue, the material and the prop introduction reveal only a few words about the world between the lines - the player from these scattered clues to speculate on the full picture of this mysterious world is the most fascinating place.
The world view of the domestic game "Original God" is also presented to players in this way. Its plot is not skippable, but you don't think its plot is lengthy or boring, you are just trying to understand the emotions of people in this virtual open world, to read their memories. In addition to the fun of the game itself, by connecting the player and the game through emotions and worldviews, players can enjoy the game from the bottom of their hearts.
02
The possibilities of a good game are endless
What is it that drives players to flock to the Eldon Circle? In addition to the participation of the two god-level figures, the professional media publicity in the early stage of the release of "Eldon's Law Ring" is also very powerful, but the most important thing is the attraction of the game itself to players.
Compared with Miyazaki's previous games, the difficulty of this game is actually reduced, but new players do not think so, they still think that the game is too difficult. Recently, a foreign brother felt that the game was too difficult, too frustrated and then went berserk, smashing the PS5 controller to vent his anger. Previously, foreign netizens posted photos on the Reddit forum, showing the PS5 controller that was smashed in half.
Some gamers said that as an open-world game, the richness of maps and treasures is "amazing", even if players play in the later stages will not feel boring. In addition, in the previous two years due to the epidemic, there were too few high-quality works in the game industry, and players waited too long to naturally pay close attention to a new game with a strong production lineup, and the expectations were already full before the release.
In addition, the soul game has accumulated a large number of fans in the era of "Only Wolves", and the popularity of the Eldon Ring also has the influence of the previous soul series works, and many articles introducing the Eldon Ring also mention that it is a new work by the producer of "Only Wolf".
In addition to the rich content and worldview, the social nature of the game is also an important element that attracts players. For example, Eldon's Ring of Law has a PVP Invasion and PVE co-op mode, which allows other players to enter their own world (or make trouble or cooperate) or team up with friends to fight. There is also a message system in the game, players can leave messages anywhere, other online players can see, and evaluate this, and players who get good reviews can restore health. A game that is more social is much longer than a single-player game.
In addition, in addition to the game, there are also easy and fun communities, Tieba and so on are also important factors that drive players. Hardcore games like Eldon's Circle of Law are more difficult, and there will be many game guides, tutorials and experience sharing posts on major platforms. Taking Station B as an example, only one day after its release, there was a "Elden Law Environmental Protection M-level Raiders" launched, and in less than half a month, the video playback reached 4.53 million, and the top five views of other "Eldon Law Ring" related videos exceeded 2 million, and more than 30 videos played more than 1 million. The number of Posts of Elden Law Ring Bar in Baidu Tieba also exceeded 2.5 million, and the lively discussion atmosphere between Tieba and the game group can drive new players to enter and retain old players, after all, who will refuse the opportunity to play games with friends?
In addition, if the game wants to go out of the circle, it must not only have good quality itself, but also learn to grasp the characteristics of the times in order to enjoy the dividends of the times. We live in an era of extremely developed live broadcasting, video, and social media, and many passers-by players often look at the quality of the game through live broadcasting before deciding to start.
As far as "Eldon's Ring of Law" is concerned, the soul series is actually a very suitable game for live broadcasting, this game is more difficult, the death penalty is high, the player is not a protagonist who is destined to save the world, with an aura, but an "ordinary person" in this world who will die repeatedly, the anchor opens the map when various organs conspire to kill, boss battles and various tortures, which are actually very in line with the taste of the public eating melons. This kind of game has a better viewing experience for passers-by audiences than many other games, so it is easy to attract the attention of players and thus drive sales of the game.
In short, good stories and plots, emotional connections plus community effects, these elements bring unlimited possibilities to the game. A good game can never be achieved overnight, and the work that is dedicated to the player will be paid for by someone.