Elden Ring might be among the most critically acclaimed games to be released this year, but the burning questions that are definitely on everyone’s minds remain, “why can’t I play it on the original Game Boy?”
Worry no more, as an Elden Ring fan has begun developing a ‘reversal’ of the FromSoftware epic, shrinking the game’s colossal open world to fit on Nintendo’s innovative handheld.
And the best part? The developer, Shin, plans to make the Elden Ring demake playable on real hardware. That means if you have an old Game Boy laying around, you could be playing the Elden Ring demake on that instead of an emulator on PC.
Shin shared a proof of concept for the demake on the Elden Ring subreddit (thanks, GamesRadar) where it quickly went viral. The minute-long proof of concept shows off a recreation of the Elden Ring’s starting location, the Chapel of Anticipation, complete with a boss fight with the Grafted Kindred at the end. While the animations are rudimentary at this early stage, it’s an impressive concept that we can’t wait to see more of.
Development of the Elden Ring demake also seems to be going well, as Shin plans to have Limgrave, the introductory zone of the Elden Ring, completed by the end of May.
The appeal of From Software demakes
Shin’s attempt to create an Elden Ring Game Boy demake is incredibly impressive, but it’s also not the first time a fan has taken it upon himself to create a retro version of a popular From Software title.
Earlier this year, developer Lilith Walther released the final version of Bloodborne PSX, a remake of the PS4 classic that emulates the look and feel of a PS1 game, complete with relics like texture distortion and muffled sound design. A humorous follow-up, Bloodborne Kart, is also in development at the moment.
Clearly, there’s something appealing about reimagining FromSoftware games as old-school classics, and it’s fascinating that these reversals draw from two very different inspirations. Bloodborne PSX is like early PS1 hack-n-slashers like Nightmare Creatures, while the Elden Ring demake is similar to The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.
We have yet to see how much Elden Ring Shin removal will cover. As mentioned, the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S title is overwhelmingly big, but we’re certainly looking forward to seeing as much of the riveting Lands Between translated into a Game Boy adventure as the developer deems possible.