FromSoftware's highly anticipated action RPG Elden Ring has been an enigma since its announcement at E3 2019. The studio has been pretty quiet since then as fans turn to rumors and speculation to fuel their anticipation. While there is no confirmation on whether Elden Ring is dropping in 2021, there have been subtle hints which indicate that, just maybe, it will.

For starters, FromSoftware recently issued a statement on Elden Ring's development. Its Twitter account did express gratitude towards the Elden Ring community late last year. While it didn't specifically give an update on Elden Ring, there were some very magic words," See you in 2021." As is now confirmed, fans will get a glimpse of Elden Ring in 2021, if not their hands on it. With that out of the way, it's safe to say that there is plenty of info lying around that indicates that Elden Ring's release is right around the corner.

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FromSoftware has a few internal teams that allow the studio to work simultaneously on multiple projects at the same time. This is clearly indicated by the releases of Dark Souls 2 in 2014, Bloodborne in 2015, and Dark Souls 3 in 2016. Ideally, Elden Ring should have released in 2020, following the release of Sekiro Shadows Die Twice in 2019. However, Elden Ring is the studio's largest title yet, and it's hard not to imagine it being in development for a relatively longer time than the company's previous titles. Moreover, the ongoing pandemic undoubtedly affected the game's development as the company was forced to work from home.

FromSoftware seems to follow a strict release schedule if its prior releases are any indication. The company's last four projects have all released in March with both Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 had a release date of March 24, 2015, and 2016 respectively. If Elden Ring follows a similar route, which ideally it should, then players can expect Elden Ring to drop sometime in March. If that ends up being the case, players can expect a story trailer of a sort in early February, similar to the ones that released for Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, and Sekiro Shadows Die Twice. This would be a surprisingly quick turnaround time, something fans should consider, but at the same time, FromSoftware's pedigree alone has built up a ton of hype for Elden Ring.

Even without all of these speculations, there are enough leaks and evidence present to justify an early 2021 release. For starters, Elden Ring's development started right after Dark Souls 3, which means the game has been in development for at least three years. Similar info was provided by Italian Journalist Francesco Fossetti, an editor for Evereye, who claimed that Elden Ring has been in development for over four years and is currently in the polishing stage. According to him, the game would have released by now if not for the ongoing global pandemic, and this has been echoed in a few other

The most concrete evidence that Elden Ring is not far from release comes from Xbox head Phil Spencer. Back in November, Spencer confirmed that Elden Ring is playable and that he has "played quite a bit" of it. He even went on to call Elden Ring the most ambitious FromSoftware title to date.

While none of the aforementioned details directly confirms or deny that Elden Ring is launching in early 2021, it  points out that the game has been in the oven for quite some time now. With the availability of PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, it would be interesting to see how FromSoftware manages a cross-gen release, and how efficiently Elden Ring's open-world structure takes advantage of the next-gen capabilities of these systems, if/when it receives upgrades for these systems. Now, while all signs point toward an early, maybe even March release, there is one big thing to consider: this is Elden Ring. There have been places fans have been sure it would appear and it didn't, and March could easily follow suit. Nonetheless, "see you in 2021" hopefully means hands-on and not just a friendly wave.

Elden Ring is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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