Fans of Elden Ring, the joint collaboration between Dark Souls maker FromSoftware and Game of Thrones writer George R. R. Martin, have been desperate for confirmation that the game is still real and will eventually come out. It now sounds like they have an answer: according to a new report by VGC, trailer footage of the game exists and has been circulating among various groups online.
“The video, which has been seen by VGC but cannot be shared for legal reasons, is labelled as ‘Bandai Namco confidential’ and shows a significant amount of off-screen footage, from what appears to be a planned gameplay trailer for the From Software title,” the site writes. “I can only imagine what drives you to seek the Elden Ring,” a narrator reportedly says during the trailer. “I suppose you can’t be talked into turning back. Very well then!”
According to VGC, the leaked footage shows an “open environment,” Dark Souls-style combat, and a dragon. None of this tells us much about what Elden Ring will be, but it does prove that, unlike the conclusion of Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series, the next FromSoftware game does in fact have pages. While VGC does not specify where exactly the leaked trailer is circulating, fans on the game’s subreddit are already furiously searching for it.
This tweet appears to contain some of the footage. Meanwhile, user justsomerandomsir has shared this three second clip of a dragon breathing fire on Reddit, which appears to also be from the leak. In it a warrior on horseback can be seen with the Homing Soulmass spell from Dark Souls cast.
Originally revealed at Microsoft’s E3 2019 showcase, Elden Ring has reportedly been subject to multiple delays as the development team, like many others, struggles with work from home conditions during the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.
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The rumor mill has also been hard at work in the absence of hard news about a potential release date for the game and when it will re-emerge from its post-reveal slumber. An entire cottage industry has cropped up around Elden Ring speculation, with one gaming news site recently suggesting it would make an appearance at a Microsoft event in March, only for the head of Xbox marketing, Aaron Greenberg, to quote-tweet the article saying “this is not happening.” As PC Gamer’s Morgan Park put it, “inventing Elden Ring news is its own business.”
Still, it sounds like plans for the game to re-appear are in the works. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier and VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb both said last week they expected the game to be shown again soon.
Additional reporting by Ian Walker.