Wataru Aida struggles with communication, yet somehow he ended up with a job in sales. His sole source of joy is playing video games, where he immerses himself in the world and studies online strategy guides alone rather than interacting with other players. However, this all changes one day when his senior coworker Reito Kashima catches him looking at a site for the game he's currently obsessed with—and rather than chewing him out, Reito asks Wataru to help him with Elden Ring! As they adventure together across the Lands Between, both Wataru's career and his life begin to lead him down paths he never thought possible…

See You at That Site of Grace After Work has a story by Keiichi Hikami and art by lack. English translation is done by Kim Morrissy. Published by Yen On (October 13, 2026).

Lauren Orsini
Rating:

When Rebecca Silverman said we got an Elden Ring-themed novel, and one translated by former ANN staff member Kim Morrissy no less, I was all like “Let Me Solo Her!” But after finishing the novel, I was dismayed to find it more maidenless than expected. See You at That Site of Grace After Work has a disappointingly mundane concept: it is, quite literally, about colleagues who play Elden Ring after work. There's no fantasy element here. Rather, it's a slice of life story that takes place in a world in which Elden Ring has a dramatically larger cultural cachet than it does in ours. For a book about a game full of gory character designs and gruesome deaths, there's no objectionable content to be found and in fact I'd call this story downright wholesome. My real question is who this is for. It's a big advertisement for Elden Ring, but it spoils key elements of the game. And if you've already played it, that's a far more immersive way to digest the game than to do so vicariously through fictional office workers.

“The words YOU DIED appeared on the screen in red letters.” The novel begins with an anecdote relatable to any Elden Ring player. It's our introduction to Wataru, an average introvert who has a hard time making friends. It doesn't help that Elden Ring “consumed almost all his waking hours,” outside of his office job, of course. When coworker Reito notices Wataru browsing Elden Ring information on his tablet at lunch, the two begin gaming together after work. Then their pink-haired colleague Miyama joins in the fun. I can believe that three young men and women would be gung-ho about Elden Ring, but when it starts to veer into unintentional comedy is when it turns out their Section Chief plays it too. As the story develops, Wataru, Reito, and Miyama find new success in their careers and even save the company thanks to skills they've developed in Elden Ring. Like the famous post “Getting a lot of Boss Baby vibes from this…” the protagonists see the world through Elden Ring as a lens in ways that defy regular logic. For example, it's the relationship between Elden Ring boss Rennala and her daughter Ranni that makes Wataru understand the love between parent and child. My eyes were in danger of rolling out of my skull after Wataru quipped, upon resolving a discussion with a business rival, “I've been in way tighter spots in Elden Ring!” This book is full of corny lines like that.

I suspect See You at That Site of Grace After Work may have been inspired by the success of the manga Destroy All Humans. They Can't Be Regenerated., about a boy and girl playing Magic: The Gathering in the '90s. The difference between this slice-of-life story and that one (aside from the nostalgia factor) is that Magic: The Gathering really does have the level of influence portrayed in the story. New Magic sets come out multiple times a year, so MTG is always fresh. Meanwhile, FromSoft games like Elden Ring (and Sekiro, also mentioned in this novel) are mainly popular right after they come out for about a year or so. The game came out in 2022, and this novel was published in 2024. I can see it doing OK after the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC came out that same year, but it's 2026 and I haven't thought about Elden Ring since then. (Nightreign? Never heard of her.) I'd call this book a must-read only for Elden Ring's biggest fans. But if you think about Elden Ring just a normal amount, a story set in a world in which everyone and their boss plays it seems rather exaggerated and silly.