Astoundingly, we're only one month out from the release of Elden Ring (opens in new tab)—and to the surprise of no-one, it's quickly become the most wishlisted game on Steam.
Analytics site SteamDB (opens in new tab) reports that over 278,000 steam users have slammed that "add to wishlist" button under From Software's latest gloomy action-RPG, which launches on February 25th. It takes the spot of Steam's most wanted game from Dying Light 2 which, despite plans to release in late 2021, was delayed (opens in new tab) into an absolutely packed February 2022.
Last August, Evan wrote on what the shape of Steam's most-wishlisted games can tell us about PC gaming (opens in new tab). At the time, Dying Light 2 seemed to be echoing much of the pre-release hype that surrounded Cyberpunk 2077—a dense, mature RPG offering dynamic stories and reactive gameplay. But Dying Light 2's development has reportedly been total chaos (opens in new tab), and while its systems may look promising, that ambitious story may be a bit of a dud (opens in new tab).
Elden Ring, meanwhile, may be slightly more of a sure bet. From is quite good at making hefty sword-swinging romps at this point, and even as Elden Ring takes a risky step into an open world (one that Wes wasn't quite sold on (opens in new tab)), it seems Steam players are simply excited to bash their heads against some grotesque bosses one more time.
We'll find out if Elden Ring is worthy of this excitement in just over a month. In the meantime, the game's character creator leaked earlier this week (opens in new tab), proving that Elden Ring should be just as capable of creating nightmare fuel. But it also seems From might be finally ready to take a step away from grim fantasy, as reports suggest the developer is gearing up for a return to its Armored Core mecha series (opens in new tab).
