A fan of Elden Ring, Reddit user, and Github creator Honzaap, spent around 500 hours creating a low-poly version of the game’s massive world, the Lands Between. After sharing this creation on the Elden Ring subreddit, it quickly gained attention from the community.
The project caught people’s interest not only because of the sheer scale and effort involved but also because it echoed a previous “Tiny Elden Ring” model shared by Konstantin Chemelev. Honzaap’s version, however, aimed to recreate the entire map, offering a unique and simplified take on the game’s open-world design.
Honzaap explained that they were inspired by Chemelev’s earlier model, but wanted to see what the whole map would look like in a similar style. They used a combination of in-game references, a top-down map from lostgamer.io, and a 3D map tool called DSMapStudio to accurately place key landmarks.
Although they admitted that Chemelev’s model had a more polished low-poly aesthetic, Honzaap was motivated to build the complete world, experimenting with different tools and techniques to achieve their vision.
The 500-hour project, completed over five months, required significant time and effort, particularly when it came to creating models for unique locations like dungeons, castles, and forts. Leyndell, the capital city, was the most time-consuming area, taking a full week to finish.
In addition to map creation, Honzaap had to spend time setting up the model for display on a web page. The overall process involved balancing the reuse of some models, like trees and rocks, while still manually placing many individual elements across the map.
For this project, Honzaap created the terrain entirely by hand and incorporated third-party assets for some creatures like dragons, witches, and turtles. They worked on the project whenever they had free time, especially during weekends and their university summer break.
The project also served as an opportunity to refine their skills in Blender, though it quickly became a much larger endeavor, helping them master the software in the process.
Building complex areas like Leyndell, Farum Azula, and Caelid presented unique challenges due to their scale and design. Leyndell’s intricate layout made it hard to know where to start, while Farum Azula’s distinct floating structure required different methods.
Honzaap was particularly proud of their recreation of Raya Lucaria Academy, which they felt matched the low-poly style perfectly. Other areas like Miquella’s Haligtree and Farum Azula also stand out as highlights of the model, showcasing the level of detail Honzaap was able to achieve.
