As a known Soulslike hater, even I can admit Elden Ring is a very pretty game, and it holds up exceptionally well some four years after its release. Even compared to technical marvels released in 2026, like, say, Pearl Abyss's Crimson Desert, Elden Ring's fantasy world is distinctly beautiful, especially on a good PC with all of the quality settings juiced up. That said, according to veteran Capcom artist Akira "Akiman" Yasuda, it's actually an intentional blurring of visual fidelity that makes Elden Ring so appealing to the eye.
Akiman, best known for his Street Fighter character designs, recently responded to a comparison of Crimson Desert and Elden Ring's visuals on Twitter. Translated by Automaton, the tweet reads:
"Normally, as the level of fidelity increases, the viewer is left with less and less room to supplement what they're seeing [with their imagination]," Akiman says. "However, the graphics in Elden Ring are designed with careful control over the level of fidelity at each turn, in a way that ensures the viewer’s imagination is constantly stimulated to the fullest."
Per Automaton, Akiman also points to FromSoftware's use of an artistic technique called atmospheric perspective, in which artists create the illusion of environmental depth by smoothing out the grit and lessening the vibrancy of far-way objects.
Ultimately, Akiman pays FromSoftware the ultimate compliment by saying, "This is what it means to be good at art."
All of this makes me wonder what Elden Ring will end up looking like on my Switch 2. If, as Akiman says, the key to the game's magnificent visuals is its perfectly tuned fidelity, I worry Nintendo's mobile hardware won't cut the mustard. That said, GR's James Daly played the port recently and said it ran surprisingly great, although he noted "lightly choppy visuals" here and there.
