FromSoftware's Elden Ring is one of the most anticipated RPGs in 2021, with a contingent of people seemingly following every little rumor. Yet for all that, few concrete pieces of information have emerged, and fakes are an ongoing problem. One of the more recent rumors claims that the game will finally get a full-scale presentation during E3 2021 in June, and there are reasons to both doubt and be hopeful about that possibility.
Elden Ring was originally teased at E3 2019, a collaboration between Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin, best known for writing the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Work began in early 2017, but relatively little is known about its gameplay other than it expanding on Souls series' concepts with things like an open world and horseback riding. Lore-wise, footage has shown a variety of characters, weapons, and enemies without much story context beyond the hunt for the Ring.
The best reason to hope for an E3 showing is arguably just industry trends. If a game started production four years ago and was first teased two years ago, it should be far enough into development for some sort of gameplay demo. There can, of course, be exceptions - especially if a project radically shifts direction - but Elden Ring, despite the game's long period out of the spotlight, has given no indication this is the case, and while FromSoftware's parent company has hinted that the game might not arrive until after March 2022, even mid-2022 would be close enough to expect an Elden Ring E3 2021 release date or gameplay trailer reveal. Skipping the world's biggest games expo would mean foregoing a lot of publicity.
Secrecy Around Elden Ring Could Mean Unfortunate Things
One counterargument is that developers are rarely this quiet for this long unless there's little to show. Elden Ring in particular is expected to have a bigger scope than any of the Dark Souls games, so it's legitimately possible that there's still too much work to be done before a proper gameplay trailer and an Elden Ring release date can be announced. FromSoftware usually doesn't wait this long between showing off a game for the first time and giving players additional information, and it's unclear how much the current worldwide pandemic slowed down development.
It doesn't help that Martin is an infamously slow and meticulous writer - the last two Song of Ice and Fire books have yet to be published, even after HBO concluded eight seasons of Game of Thrones. But Martin is mostly helping with the game's underlying mythos, so there's still a strong chance that Elden Ring will both show at E3 2021 and get a release date.