Disney's "Weenie" Is Elden Ring's Most Obvious Virtue

Legendary games share a similarity, a single massive landmark in the center of their worlds that naturally attracts attention. Hyrule Castle from The Legend of Zelda. The Citadel from Half-Life 2. And the Erdtree from Elden Ring, as, if I can call one game “legendary” after 4 years, it’s that one. Of course, there’s a story reason for every one of them, but these games are so good that I simply can’t assign their brilliance to their writers following a simple rule of scale juxtaposition. There’s more intent to it.

The concept of “Weenies” comes from amusement park design. And video games integrate anything from there much more naturally than from any other discipline.

“Weenies” are great because they solve multiple design problems at once:

they let players orient themselves in the world no matter where they are and mentally map other locations in relation to the central object,

they remain enviromental manifestations of end-game goals and markers,

they provide an eventual sense of familiarity and safety as a single big constant in the world,

they draw attention away from less pretty objects, especially the ones with low level of detail.

And everything that solves multiple issues at once is worth consideration, even if there’s no universal recipy for any game.

To me, there’s another function that “Weenies” fulfill, but it’s a more speculative one. I think games are more memorable thanks to them. When I recall Ocarina of Time, I immediately recall Link in his tunic with a vivid image of Hyrule Castle or the Death Mountain in the background. And when my brain constructs Elden Ring in my consciousness, the Erdtree is the building block that keeps the image from getting too non-specific. Memories of games are arguably more important than the actual experience of playing. While any good game is good to play in the moment, memorable games are the games that I want to replay.