Will Elden Ring finally show at E3 this year?

Will Elden Ring be at E3? How dare you. But I get it, I also want to know. I just can't be disappointed again. FromSoftware fans are having a tough go of it lately, and even though the Souls games are about hopeless worlds, we still want to believe Elden Ring is coming out someday. Since that first cinematic reveal 100 years ago in 2019, we've largely operated in the dark, except for some recently leaked footage from an old internal trailer that confirmed Elden Ring is Big Dark Souls. Even so, we didn't get a peep out of FromSoftware afterwards. 

But I've got a good feeling about E3! This could finally be it, showtime for Elden Ring. The proof? Aha. Well. Please direct your attention to this adorable GIF. 

Late into the evening of June 5, Geoff Keighley, host and creator of the Summer Games Fest, posted a GIF of a panda climbing out of a cage to his personal Twitter account. This, in the year 2021 AD, is likely proof that Elden Ring will show on Thursday. If it doesn't show, then the GIF is proof that Geoff Keighley does not adequately value the ground upon which he walks. 

The GIF is a reference to a community in-joke made during last year's Summer Games Fest. Geoff's wild geometric stage effects produced a wireframe around him at times, like a jungle gym for 1s and 0s, or a cosmic prison for men. Anticipation was still high around Elden Ring at the time, especially so since Geoff named Elden Ring in passing, though not necessarily confirming it as part of the show. But because we are feeble, desperate creatures, many including myself took it as a sign that Elden Ring would finally show. 

It did not, and so Geoff was banished to Gamer Prison. 

A year later, Geoff compares his person to this panda and alludes to clambering out of Gamer Prison. Either he has something to show that will absolve him—an Elden Ring trailer—or he's genuinely making a run for it, in which case he will be found and returned to his cell. No snacks this time, Geoff. 

Is the adorable infant panda actual confirmation that Elden Ring will finally get a gameplay trailer this year? Absolutely not. Is the hope that it might all mean something, anything the only thing keeping me from taking a baseball bat to my computer? Yes, so it'll do for now.