Bizarre live-action Elden Ring trailer baits players hoping for DLC news

A bizarre live-action Elden Ring trailer has raised and immediately squashed some players' hopes for a DLC announcement.

The official Elden Ring Twitter and Bandai Namco YouTube accounts released the "Sharper Than Their Swords" trailer earlier today. It combines shots of UFC fighter Israel Adesanya, seemingly acting as an Elden Lord, with scores and quotes demonstrating the game's critical acclaim, framing a frankly bizarre accolades trailer. 

Surprisingly, this actually isn't the first time Elden Ring and the UFC have shaken hands; the game was previously mentioned as a sponsor for a match featuring Adesanya. Nevertheless, the trailer does raise an eyebrow, especially the ominous opening, so it's no surprise that the replies and comments for both versions of the trailer are soundly split into confusion and disappointment. 

Many players were understandably surprised to see a UFC fighter representing the game, let alone in a simple accolades trailer, and many more lamented getting their hopes up for some sort of DLC announcement. They've even got the clown makeup out, the poor souls. 

FromSoftware has never actually promised or even hinted at Elden Ring DLC, so fans are just working off the assumption that the studio would want to release more paid content for its most successful game ever, but those hopes haven't manifested yet. 

We do know that Elden Ring will get more updates even as director Hidetaka Miyazaki moves onto a new game, but that could well amount to little more than continued balance patches and bug fixes. 

FromSoftware has "multiple new projects" in the works and its next game is apparently in its "final stages," so while it may not be Elden Ring DLC, we shouldn't have to wait too long for a new FromSoft something.

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

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