What a setup
Elden Ring is taking the world by storm in a way that a few other From Software games haven’t, and a lot of that is through straight-up word of mouth (as these games usually excel at). But this time they have a killer Elden Ring Thai commercial to augment that strategy. Brought to my attention by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, the below commercial is a real thing that aired on the Bandai Namco Entertainment Southeast Asia YouTube channel.
It’s nearly four minutes long, and has a full narrative arc set to the tune of familial strife, with a bit of gameplay at the end. The family allegory set forth in the video is probably the most ambitious part, especially in the context of the actual Elden Ring campaign.
My favorite pastime over the weekend was showing any number of people this video without context (through the Twitter link above, which doesn’t have the game title), and seeing how long it took them to get what it was. There are some cues that are more obvious than others, especially if you’ve been playing the game or following it closely: like the golden tree or the name of the horse.
In any case, it’s a bit of Monday fun even if you do know the context!
