Let’s find out the Elden Ring’s and Bloodborne’s Lore Comparison. The parallels and contrasts between Bloodborne and Elden Ring’s lore shed light on crucial elements of both games, as well as FromSoftware.
Elden Ring is set in a fantasy world, and its lore centers around the creation and destruction of the titular Elden Ring, which is said to have immense power. The game is set in a world where humans and other races are in conflict with each other, and the Elden Ring is the key to unlocking the power to end the conflict.
Bloodborne is set in a Gothic, horror-inspired world, and its lore centers around the city of Yharnam and the mysterious blood-borne disease that plagues its inhabitants. The game is set in a world where humans and other races are in conflict with each other, and the blood-borne disease is the key to unlocking the power to end the conflict.
Both games also feature heavily on the concept of cycles, where the world goes through a cycle of creation, growth and decay, with the player character being a key figure in the events that bring about the end of the cycle.
While both games have different settings and different central conflicts, they share some similarities in terms of their lore and themes. Both games are known for their intricate storytelling and deep, atmospheric worlds that players can explore and discover.
Elden Ring’s and Bloodborne’s Lore Comparison
| Game | Setting | Lore |
| Elden Ring | Fantasy | The creation and destruction of the Elden Ring, which holds immense power, and is set in a world where humans and other races are in conflict with each other. |
| Bloodborne | Gothic horror | The blood-borne disease that plagues the city of Yharnam and its inhabitants, and is set in a world where humans and other races are in conflict with each other. |
With the release of Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 2, FromSoftware marked a significant stylistic departure from its previous three mediaeval fantasy-inspired titles. Bloodborne’s Victorian aesthetic and urban level design gave players a new—yet terrifying—environment to play through while also demonstrating the studio’s openness to trying out novel game design. More recently, Elden Ring has reaffirmed FromSoftware’s willingness to reevaluate gameplay and world design by fusing a sizable open world with the series’ recognisable mediaeval fantasy setting.
Bloodborne and Elden Ring may seem like an odd comparison given their different aesthetics, but there is more in common between the two games’ lore than first meets the eye. A closer examination of the core similarities and differences between Bloodborne and Elden Ring reveals the thematic threads that FromSoftware revisited and reimagined, presenting fresh ways to interact with the studio’s diverse and imaginative library of games.
The Narrative Styles of Bloodborne and Elden Ring’s Lore Differ Quite a Bit
Bloodborne is a video game developed by FromSoftware, and it features a complex and cryptic lore that is slowly revealed to players through item descriptions, enemy descriptions, and the game’s environment. The game encourages players to piece together the story through exploration and experimentation. In contrast, Elden Ring is a video game developed by FromSoftware and George R. R. Martin, and it features a more traditional narrative structure, with a clear story and cutscenes that provide information about the game’s world and characters. The game’s lore is told through dialogue, cutscenes, and in-game items. Both games have a rich and detailed world, but the way the player interacts with and discovers that world is very different.
| Game | Developer | Lore Presentation |
| Bloodborne | FromSoftware | Cryptic and open-ended, revealed through exploration and experimentation |
| Elden Ring | FromSoftware, George R. R. Martin | Traditional narrative structure, clear story, revealed through dialogue, cutscenes, and in-game items |
The lore is notoriously withheld by FromSoftware, who instead advises players to sift through item descriptions, listen to all NPC dialogue, and fill in the blanks in the story on their own to truly understand it. Both the lore of Bloodborne and Elden Ring adhere to this traditional style of storytelling, though not quite to the same extent.
The world-building for Elden Ring was openly outsourced for the first time by FromSoftware in collaboration with George R. R. Martin. Elden Ring’s main plot hinges on taking Martin’s mythology and transforming it into a misshaped echo of what it once was. The lore is undoubtedly more on display than in the studio’s previous games, even though it may be harder to extract than in most triple-A games.
Of all the FromSoftware games, Bloodborne is possibly the best example of conservative storytelling. It would be understandable for players to reach the conclusion of the game and still be as perplexed as they were when they arrived in Central Yharnam. In fact, Gehrman, the first hunter, cautions players against giving the situation too much thought.
Just kill a few animals outside. Bloodborne’s story is closely guarded, and even devoted lore miners are compelled to fill in the blanks, which results in various and occasionally incompatible interpretations of the events.
Bloodborne’s much more subliminal storytelling stands in stark contrast to Elden Ring’s accessible, albeit still somewhat guarded, lore. The lore in both games does, however, contain some significant similarities and differences.
The Similarity Between the Gods and Deities Is Greater Than It Appears
By examining cosmic horror themes, Bloodborne draws from the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. The Great Ones in the game are otherworldly beings that are beyond human comprehension, much like Lovecraft’s Elder Gods.
Given that FromSoftware is known for withholding information about its lore, this ambiguity works particularly well for the studio’s storytelling. Bloodborne’s Great Ones defy over-examination and rely on a particular narrative intangibility that, above all else, has the effect of terrifying fascination.
Bloodborne’s Great Ones more overtly allude to the Elder Gods of Lovecraftian horror, but Elden Ring’s lore also draws some ideas from the subgenre. Elden Ring’s Outer Gods are largely unexplored, and like Bloodborne, they rely on some ambiguity to achieve their desired effect.
Members of this group known as the Outer Gods include the Greater Will, Frenzied Flame, Formless Mother, and God of Rot, among a number of others. Although little is known about their connections to one another and precise origins, nearly every aspect of the Elden Ring’s lore revolves around their impact on the Lands Between.
The Effects of Deities on Their Worlds Highlight Significant Differences
The desire of Yharnam’s elite to transcend their humanity and commune with the Great Ones is the primary motivation behind the majority of Bloodborne’s lore. Regarding the nature of these beings and which figures in the game are real or fake Great Ones, numerous players have put forth various interpretations.
Some of the real Great Ones that players will come into contact with in the game include The Moon Presence, Ebrietas, Kos, Amygdala, and Mergo’s Wet Nurse. Rom the Vacuous Spider, the One Reborn, and the Celestial Emissaries are not universally acknowledged as genuine Great Ones.
The specifics of what constitutes a true Great One don’t have a significant impact on the lore, but they do serve to emphasise a key distinction between the Great Ones of Bloodborne and the Outer Gods of Elden Ring.
In particular, residents of the Lands Between are not given the opportunity to transcendence by the Outer Gods of Elden Ring. Even though Empyreans such as Marika, Ranni, Miquella, and Malenia have the potential to become gods, they are never close relatives to the Outer Gods; rather, they serve as their agents in the Lands Between.
Although the representations of the Outer Gods and Great Ones in Elden Ring and Bloodborne are similar, their functions in the games’ lore are very dissimilar. The lines between power are permeable and unfixed in Bloodborne because players can become Great Ones.
However, in Elden Ring, the Outer Gods influence the world and its inhabitants without having the opportunity to unite with them. While this may suggest that Bloodborne’s lore gives players more hope to transcend humanity than Elden Ring’s, Bloodborne’s power structures are actually much less optimistic than those in Elden Ring.
Bloodborne’s lore offers little room for optimism, but Elden Ring fosters ambition
The main goal of Elden Ring is to become Elden Lord. Bloodborne’s beast scourge has made the world violently hostile, but players still have to battle their way through The Lands Between. The Yharnamites have regressed into monstrous beasts that are purposefully driven to kill as a result of their practise of blood ministration.
However, in Elden Ring, the players take on the role of a tarnished figure who is devoid of grace and, as a result, is opposed to the Erdtree and the Greater Will. Elden Ring’s primary conflict is motivated by a moral obligation to uphold the Greater Will, whereas in Bloodborne, the main cause of violence is pure animalistic rage.
Summary of Elden Ring’s and Bloodborne’s Lore Comparison
Bloodborne’s and Elden Ring’s lore both allude to larger themes of hopelessness and despair. These themes are present in other games besides just these two. They are present in all Soulsborne games, at least in part. The themes that FromSoftware explores beneath the surface come together in original and thoughtful ways, despite the studio’s games occasionally appearing to differ greatly in aesthetics, lore, and even gameplay. This is because FromSoftware’s interest in these concepts inexorably responds to and builds off one another.
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