Ep. 53: "Try Finger, But Hole" (Elden Ring)

Gay for Play: A Video Game Podcast

Around once a year, a game releases that seems to completely dominate the gaming cultural conversation (by which we mean it's massively popular and men get really testy about it online). This year the game in that spotlight seems to be ELDEN RING - a new open world RPG from FromSoftware (creators of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, & Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice), directed by studio head Hidetaka Miyazaki and featuring a story & lore written by George RR Martin (yes, *that* George RR Martin)
In this episode, we discuss our thoughts on this massive, brilliant, ruthless open-work adventure (basically we love it), discuss the queerness of high fantasy and spellcasting, unpack how the game's open-world design encourages queer modes of play, and talk about how this game succeeds when players chase the fun and don't take it too seriously (again, much to the chagrin of some really intensely opinionated men on the internet).
We also briefly touch on the discussion around "approachability vs accessibility" in games; a hot-button issue when it comes to FromSoftware games in particular. We highly recommend checking out this YouTube video by Steve Saylor for an in-depth conversation on this topic in regards to Elden Ring from disabled players themselves. It's a really important and illuminating conversation!
We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we're enjoying this video game! (A pretty high-bar now that we think about it, this game is a major slay).
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CREDITS
Intro and outro music by Connor Marsh (@connorjmarshmallow)
Show art by Nick Adams (@nickadams.art)
Special thanks to our patrons: Blueberri Mary, Elijah Punzal, Trevor McTavish & Martha Turner <3
MUSIC THIS WEEK:
"Elden Ring (Main Theme)" by Tsukasa Saitoh
"Regal Ancestor Spirit" by Yuka Kitamura