Elden Ring producer teases the Roundtable Hold where you'll meet a bunch of NPCs

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Expect cutscenes and other moments at least on par with Sekiro

Elden Ring gameplay trailer
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Elden Ring cutscenes and character interactions are apparently at least on par with Sekiro, and many of them are tied to a new area called the Roundtable Hold.

Producer Yasuhiro Kitao discussed the scale and role of the game's cast in a recent Taipei Game Show broadcast. A fan asked if Elden Ring has lots of cutscenes – at least as many as Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – and Kitao explained that while there are some movie-style sequences, as we saw in the network test, there's a greater abundance of "conversation cutscenes" involving other characters.

"As I recall, there weren't many actual movie sequences in Sekiro, with the only real examples being before boss battles, so I assume the questioner is referring to conversation cutscenes with NPCs," he said. "There are a lot of NPCs in this title as well. There is also a location in the game known as the Roundtable Hold, where several NPCs gather and can be talked to. Conversations in these sorts of locations, which naturally all tie into the game's own overarching story, should provide a lot of enjoyment themselves. If you're imaging something along the lines of the volume in Sekiro, you should be satisfied, I would think."

Elden Ring

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

The Roundtable Hold was first shown in a few old screenshots, and one popular theory is that it will function as the Firelink Shrine-style hub area of Elden Ring, with merchants, mentors, artisans, and other NPCs making their way to the hold as you encounter them out in the world. 

"These NPCs all have their own relationships with the world of Elden Ring, and rather than make the main storyline explicit through text, we felt it was more entertaining and edifying for the player to [obtain] key information via the spoken lines of these characters," Kitao added. 

Kitao also outlined how Elden Ring new game plus compares to the Dark Souls series, and affirmed that FromSoftware is confident the game won't be delayed again and is now working on a day-one patch.

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Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.