Worry not, though - the delay isn’t severe. Originally slated for a January 2022 release, the game’s new release date is February 25, 2022. The delay, as is often the case, is to give the developers time to further polish and tweak the game before prime time to ensure that it lives up to the hype.
There is a silver lining here, too. FromSoftware announced that there will be a ‘Closed Network Test’ in November. The developers’ official Tweet does say that they look forward to “seeing you experience the game” as part of the test, so some lucky players will get to take Elden Ring for an early spin. This test will take place between the 12th and 14th of November, on consoles, broken up into 3 hour blocks. There will be a total of 5 three hour blocks, giving the developers time to apply changes and fixes on the fly in between these testing periods to show iteration. Cross-generation play will also be tested during this Closed Network Test, for which you can sign up here.
ELDEN RING will release on Feb 25, 2022, as the depth & strategic freedom of the game exceeded initial expectations. Thank you for your trust & patience. We look forward to seeing you experience the game in the Closed Network Test in Nov. The #ELDENRING Team — ELDEN RING (@ELDENRING) October 18, 2021 It’s not clear based on what criteria players will be chosen from those who sign up, but since PC isn’t on the menu it isn’t like your specs will give you an advantage or disadvantage. Since we’re already more than halfway through October, the testing period isn’t far away - so you should know soon enough if you’ve been selected. Between the small scope of the delay and the test to look forward to, this news isn’t at all that bad on its own - the issue arises when we look at February as a whole. A ton of games were hit with delays over the past year or more, and almost all of them got rescheduled to February 2022. The month is stricken with an embarrassment of AAA titles, and gamers with a broad palate will struggle to keep up. Further softening the blow of this news of a delay is even more leaked footage from the game. FromSoftware maintained radio silence on Elden Ring after its announcement for so long that it became a meme, and as we inch closer to release they’re still pretty reserved with official info - but the game has been leaking big time. The 27 second footage shows… not much, actually. The player character, clad in some drab rags and holding a shield upside down clumsily stumbles across a few rocks precariously close to a cliff in that typical, somewhat awkward but iconic and immediately recognizable ‘FromSoft Gait’. Even if you wouldn’t be familiar with the game, that walk cycle is basically a signature. We could definitely think of more exciting footage to leak, but hey, at this point we’ll take what we can get. Elden Ring launches on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC on the 25th of February, 2022.
