It's been a very long road for fans of Elden Ring. Originally announced back at E3 2019 during Microsoft's Press Conference, the game has largely gone radio silent, leaving fans frothing at the mouth for any sort of information. There's been a ton of speculation, rumors, and theories that have developed regarding the game, everything from George R.R. Martin leaving the project, to the game being outright canceled. While the game is still in active development thanks to a very small update via FromSoftware, more rumors indicate that the game is actually further along than most expect.
The latest potential Elden Ring news unfortunately doesn't come from an official channel but from a podcast between an Italian streamer known as WesaTwitch and Federico Fossetti, a video game journalist. During the conversation, Fossetti reveals that Elden Ring is complete and that FromSoftware is simply using the extra time to polish the game. According to the studio's original timeline, the game would have already released by now. The big reason for the delay has been the COVID-19 pandemic, which not only forced the team to continue development from home, but forced the company to shift it's original launch plans.
Fossetti also commented on some of the mechanics of the game, indicating that Elden Ring is similar to FromSoftware's other major franchise, Dark Souls. While many of the FromSoftware games may feel familiar to one another, Fossetti claims that Elden Ring follows quite closely to the Dark Souls formula, though he stopped short of providing much more detail on the topic. For players who were hoping Elden Ring would follow an evolution similar to what Sekiro did to the FromSoftware formula, it looks like that may not be the case.
Obviously, considering this new information does not come from official sources, fans should take it with a grain of salt. However, if recent rumors from insiders like Jeff Grubb are true, players may start to hear a bit more regarding the mysterious game sooner than later, especially with a recent leak suggesting that Elden Ring is on track to launch in the first part of 2021.
Regardless, fans do know that Elden Ring is, at the very least, in a playable state currently. Last month, Phil Spencer revealed that he's seen and played quite a bit of Elden Ring, though was unable to go into much detail. Spencer did quickly mention that some of the gameplay and setting content Miyazaki and his team are tackling with Elden Ring really left him impressed. While the game has seen a long period of silence, all these new leaks and rumors make it seem like 2021 could finally be Elden Ring's year.
Elden Ring is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: ComicBook