This year, Elden Ring successfully defended its title as Most Anticipated Game at The Game Awards 2021, winning the award for the second consecutive year. This second victory for the upcoming action-RPG out of FromSoftware may be even more impressive than its first, since the category was rounded out by God of War Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West, Starfield, and the still untitled sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This looks a bit like an early draft of 2022's potential Game of the Year candidates, but Elden Ring's hype has been continuous for years thanks to a dedicated fanbase and an extremely promising pre-launch marketing strategy.
Elden Ring was announced back in 2019 at E3, which may seem like a long time for FromSoftware fans, but is comparable to the others that were up for Most Anticipated Game this year. Ragnarök and Forbidden West were all but assured sequels based on their predecessors' endings, and Starfield was teased a whole year earlier at E3 2018. The Breath of the Wild sequel was confirmed to be in development in 2019 as well, but will almost assuredly release sometime after Elden Ring's February 2022 launch. Despite all of the other nominees being known about for as long or longer than Elden Ring, it still seems to have the most buzz surrounding it.
FromSoftware's Soulslike games have grown steadily in popularity since the (at the time) niche release of Demon's Souls in 2009. Its spiritual successor, Dark Souls, was much more influential, and is now frequently celebrated as one of the best games of all time. With two Dark Souls sequels, then Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, FromSoftware has created an extremely impressive portfolio over the last decade or so, with a rabidly dedicated fanbase to go with it. In many ways Elden Ring is a culmination of the six games that came before it, and is poised to essentially be a greatest hits compilation of gameplay for FromSoft fans.
Elden Ring's Reveal Immediately Built Anticipation
Sekiro had just released in March of 2019, so while it was assumed that FromSoftware was working on something, the teaser trailer for Elden Ring at E3 came as a surprise. Although any announcement from the Japanese developer would build hype within the community, the announcement that George R.R. Martin had a role in Elden Ring's creation indicated that this was going to be something big. This would soon be confirmed as the game's director Hidetaka Miyazaki engaged in a handful of interviews elaborating on what fans might expect. Details were still scarce, however, and with no gameplay in the teaser trailer, the idea of Elden Ring being Dark Souls but bigger was mostly what fans had to latch onto.
Whereas many games with protracted periods of radio silence tend to fade into the background until more information comes to light, the mystique only added to the excitement for future Elden Ring players. The initial trailer's most quoted line - "I doubt you could even imagine it..." - quickly became representative of the two years that would follow with absolutely no update on the game from the developer. Elden Ring having combat like Dark Souls made sense conceptually, but the same could be said about Bloodborne and Sekiro, and die-hard fans can be enthusiastic about discussing the differences. Even comparing the combat of the three games within the Dark Souls trilogy often ends in contrasting each one's mechanical minutiae.
Elden Ring's Absence Only Brought More Anticipation
Over the next year and a half, Elden Ring fans speculated on how the open world would be structured, what gameplay elements from which games would be translated, and when the next footage would be shown. For casual fans, or those more interested in other series, the wait was just that - a wait. For those who repeatedly play every recent FromSoft game, piece together their lore from in-game item descriptions, and check for tidbits of Elden Ring news daily, the wait only served to build excitement. The teaser trailer is as grandiose as it is cryptic. Even as COVID hit in early 2020 and game after game was delayed, people eagerly awaited the next sample of Elden Ring.
Rumors circulated widely that The Game Awards 2020 would be where Elden Ring finally reappeared. Dreams were crushed when no new trailer was shown, but the game did win its first Most Anticipated Game award as consolation. In 2020 also, Elden Ring beat Ragnarök, Forbidden West, and BOTW's sequel, alongside Halo Infinite and Resident Evil Village. Beating legendary franchises like Zelda, Halo, Resident Evil, and God of War in an excitement contest was a testament to the Soulslike fandom. Ragnarök had also received a teaser only months before (which is admittedly not as engaging as Elden Ring's), but still lost the award to a game that had essentially disappeared for about 18 months.
Elden Ring Resurfaced Prior To Its Second Award
Finally, in June of 2021, Elden Ring returned with a gameplay trailer. Now people could imagine it as Elden Ring had gameplay details revealed, bosses were teased, and the world was taking shape. There's a not insignificant portion of Soulslike fans who like to go into FromSoftware games as ignorant of what they'll be facing as possible. Some saw the teaser a year and a half prior, read Miyazaki's name on the screen, and decided that was enough to warrant a pre-order. Some even saw the new gameplay trailer and were worried that too much was being spoiled. Others rejoiced in the relative deluge of new gameplay info, lore implications, revealed items, and story teases.
What really solidified the hype, though, was the closed network test that took place in November. Those lucky enough to be selected were given a chance to play up to 15 hours of Elden Ring, provided they logged on at the correct times. The official reason for the network test was to make sure the game's online components worked as intended, but FromSoftware clearly knew that this glorified demo would be important. Roughly half of Elden Ring's first area was available to explore, with some content speculated to be added from other parts of the game for added interest. Most importantly for the fandom, though, the closed network test confirmed that the game was good, even incredibly so. Many Elden Ring closed network test impressions claimed that this demo was the best game of the year, and rough estimates of it being not even a twelfth of the final game more than tickled the imagination.
There's an argument to be made that a large overlap exists in people who might play Elden Ring, and those who would take the time to vote on awards like Most Anticipated Game and the Players' Voice Award at The Game Awards, so Elden Ring might have won a second time regardless. However, core gamers are also excited for the four other games that were nominated. The closed network test impressing players was somewhat vindicating for the years of excitement over so few details. The first Most Anticipated Game win was a big deal in the Elden Ring community because there wasn't a lot else going for the game at the time. It became a point of pride that Elden Ring defended its The Game Awards 2021 title, and the community's undying passion for the game made it happen.