Excel Masterpiece: Fan Reimagines Elden Ring

A Reddit user, brightyh360, shared an incredible project on the r/excel subreddit: a top-down version of Elden Ring, painstakingly recreated in Microsoft Excel.

This phenomenal achievement consumed approximately 40 hours—20 hours dedicated to coding and another 20 to rigorous testing and debugging. As brightyh360 stated, "I made the top view version of the Elden Ring in Excel using formulas, spreadsheets and VBA. It was a long project, but the result was worth it.”

The impressive scope of the Excel-based Elden Ring includes:

• A sprawling 90,000-cell map;
• Over 60 weapons;
• More than 50 enemies;
• A fully functional character and weapon upgrade system;
• Three distinct character classes (tank, mage, assassin) with unique playstyles;
• 25+ armor sets;
• Six NPCs with associated quests;
• Four different game endings.

While entirely free to play, controlling the game requires keyboard shortcuts: CTRL + WASD for movement and CTRL + E for interactions. Reddit moderators have verified the file's safety, but users are advised to exercise caution due to the extensive use of macros.

Interestingly, the game's Erdtree sparked a festive comparison to a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. User Independent-Design17 proposed that the Australian Christmas tree, Nuytsia floribunda, may have served as inspiration for the in-game Erdtree. They highlighted the striking visual similarities between the game's smaller Erdtrees and the Nuytsia. Further fueling this theory are deeper thematic parallels: the catacombs at the base of the Erdtree, where souls are guided in Elden Ring, mirror the Aboriginal Australian reverence for Nuytsia as a "spirit tree," its vibrant colors associated with the sunset, the supposed journey of spirits, and each flowering branch symbolizing a departed soul.