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This week, the gang talks a surprising amount about roguelite deck-builder Slay the Spire. Plus, Final Fantasy Origin, Zenith on PS VR, and a spirited discussion about ability-granting potions. Listen in!

Stuff We Talked About

• Slay the Spire
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
• M. Night Shyamalan
• Zenith for PS VR
• Which potion we would choose

The Cast

Sid Shuman – Senior Director, Content Communications, SIE

Kristen Zitani – Senior Content Communications Specialist, SIE

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Last week, we asked you to unravel some mysteries in the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog. From shadowy figures to questionable items, here are this week’s highlights that sparked some mystery: 

Gamography_ shares an ominous pile of clocks in Control.

foxghost181 shares a shadowy portrait from Red Dead Redemption 2.

Alien_K121 shares Leon searching for clues in the morgue in Resident Evil 2 Remake.

lovers_nero shares Aloy learning more about GAIA in Horizon Zero Dawn.

Yuric83 shares the mysterious statue puzzle in Resident Evil Village.

Girlwyelloweyes shares Atreus looking at looming statues in God of War.

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? 

THEME: Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on February 2, 2022

Next week, dive in to Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection to share unforgettable adventures using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

About 13 years ago, Demon’s Souls launched on PlayStation 3, intriguing, challenging, and captivating players. Directed by FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki, the action-RPG specialized in deliberate combat, unpredictable environments, and mysterious storytelling. FromSoftware has continued to evolve its formula, from Dark Souls to Sekiro: Shadow Die Twice, inspiring throngs of fellow game makers in the process.

Hidetaka Miyazaki and FromSoftware’s latest creation, Elden Ring, innovates on the core Souls formula in exciting ways. The forlorn open world of the Lands Between invites players to explore in any direction. A summonable mount allows for faster, more vertical traversal. Famed author George R.R. Martin has even partnered with FromSoftware to dream up the fantasy world players will delve into. It hits PS4 and PS5 February 25.

Lucky for us, Miyazaki-san took some time away from Elden Ring’s final stretch to chat about the game itself, his thoughts on accessibility and artistic collaboration, and even a bit about his time with the co-op fun of It Takes Two.

Gameplay footage in this article captured from Elden Ring Closed Network Test on PS5

PlayStation Blog: Congratulations on the warm reception to Elden Ring’s Closed Network Test! What reaction from fans and press stood out to the team most following this extensive hands-on test?

Hidetaka Miyazaki: Thank you! Overall, we saw some relatively good reactions from the network test, which was nice. I don’t tend to look at the raw user reactions; that can be a little scary. I typically get filtered feedback that comes down through various sources on the team, both on our side and the publisher side, so I get to look from a more holistic view. 

As to what was particularly valuable, we mostly found things that we tend to take for granted as game developers and might consider obvious. Stuff that the users found difficult to figure out or didn’t gel with them immediately were helpful pieces of feedback. For instance, regarding the new summon pool mechanic, users can place their signs and have them collected into a group of available players to summon. Things like this weren’t immediately apparent to players, so this sort of feedback was beneficial in fine-tuning these features.

What’s one element about Elden Ring that you want to ensure isn’t overlooked by fans/press before the game launches?

There’s not one specific area from the network test that players overlooked or a part of the game that we want to push on them. Mainly, we want players to feel the importance of the level of freedom that we’re focusing on this time. We want them to enjoy the game in their own way and feel liberated in this new open world that they can explore at their own pace. 

If possible, we want players to try and steer clear of spoilers or guides and go in with a completely fresh, open mind and enjoy

Announced during the ESO 2022 Global Reveal, Tamriel’s adventurers will soon have an opportunity to explore a location never-before-seen in an Elder Scrolls game. With the upcoming new chapter, The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle (part of the Legacy of the Bretons year-long saga) the ESO development team wanted to take players somewhere brand new and tell a different kind of story from those they might have experienced in 2020 and 2021. This year, the team is focusing on the Breton race and diving deep into their medieval-style culture and history.

“We chose High Isle as the location for our next chapter because it’s a large departure from anything we’ve done over the last few years,” explains Rich Lambert, ESO’s creative director. “High Isle is the epitome of the chivalric Breton culture–a resort-like island for their nobility, with towering cliffs, pristine beaches and loads of ancient ruins to explore.”

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“In addition to the unique biome and aesthetics, this island chain has never been explored before in any Elder Scrolls game, so having the opportunity to add to the rich lore of Elder Scrolls and explore a completely new location is really exciting!”

Sophie Neuenmuller has been such a magical character to me since we first introduced her six years ago in Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book, and I know that many fans reading this feel the same way. When I was thinking about what we could do for the 25th anniversary of the Atelier series, I thought about a game that retains the Atelier-like feel of the series but is also an evolution of the series, and came up with the idea of Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream – having Sophie return as the protagonist. This game throws Sophie into a mysterious, dreamlike world as she sets out on a heart-warming adventure to find a lost friend, and I think it’s a great storyline and adventure that our passionate fans have been waiting for.

Along her journey, Sophie meets a collection of characters who join her quest, both in the storyline and battle. We’ve changed things up a bit with battles this time — for the first time in the Atelier series, combat begins seamlessly without any load times or separate screens. In Atelier Sophie 2, battles consist of up to six party members that are split into two teams: the assault team which consists of the three members in the front, and the back-up team which features the three members at the back. While there are times characters can be moved between the teams during battle, each character has their own strengths and weaknesses to consider for battle placement.

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