Geoff Keighley planted a glowing, skeletal monolith in the middle of the Mojave and the internet went into instant overdrive. For a few feverish days theories ricocheted across feeds: Diablo 4 DLC, a new God of War, The Elder Scrolls VI — and, for a while, Lords of the Fallen II.
Then CI Games’ CEO Marek Tymiński stepped into the conversation and quietly deflated one of the louder guesses. “Flattered so many think we’re behind that statue,” he wrote on X. “Can confirm it’s not us, we’re just as hyped as you are. Devs are praying it’s something FROM. Huge respect to them and we dream of reaching that level one day.” He also teased “big news coming for both Lords of the Fallen and Lords II,” but made clear the desert artwork isn’t their doing.
What we actually know
Not much — and that’s the whole point. Keighley’s original image came with the teasing tagline “regal.inspiring.thickness,” and The Game Awards account replied with a deliberately redacted sentence: “The █████ are silent. █████ bleeds. New █████ stir.” That kind of vagueness is an invitation to rumor mills; when outlets and insiders began ruling out obvious candidates (Diablo 4, God of War, and apparently Elder Scrolls VI), attention narrowed toward a few high-profile possibilities.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier added a little more fuel without spilling much: on Triple Click he called the title “a good one” and “very cool,” which only made speculation more frantic. Industry folk have also pointed at other contenders — everything from Housemarque’s Saros to whispers about something FromSoftware-adjacent.
Why CI Games’ denial matters
When a studio that makes a Soulslike gets named in connection with a cryptic, skeletal statue, it’s natural for fans to draw a line between the two. But Tymiński’s post does two things: it kills a false lead, and it subtly borrows some narrative momentum by publicly aligning his studio’s hopes with FromSoftware’s cultural cachet. Lords of the Fallen — the 2023 release that struggled at launch and has been iterating since — benefits from any optimistic spotlight, even if it’s speculative.
Tymiński’s shout-out to FromSoftware underlines another reality: whatever Keighley is teasing is treated like a trophy reveal. Big reveals at The Game Awards have a habit of landing new trailers or surprises — remember how other major studio trailers have dominated headlines in previous years — and it wouldn’t be a shock to see the mystery resolved on the show itself. If you want a sense of how awards-night teases can relaunch a franchise’s momentum, look back at moments like the renewed hype around Metroid Prime 4’s resurfacing trailers and how those teasers reshaped attention cycles. See more on that here: Metroid Prime 4's 'Survive' Trailer Rekindles Hype.
FromSoftware, Bloodborne 2 and the Switch 2 angle
A chunk of the chatter leans back toward FromSoftware. Fans equate the monolith’s aesthetic — bones, gothic silhouettes, eldritch lighting — with Bloodborne or Elden Ring-adjacent projects. The Duskbloods, a FromSoftware title slated for Nintendo Switch 2, has also been mentioned in the same breath; that connection keeps the Switch 2 conversation alive in these threads (console plans and exclusives matter when fans speculate). For background on the Switch 2 situation and why a Switch 2 exclusive would be headline-worthy, see this piece on Nintendo’s current momentum: Nintendo Raises Switch 2 Forecast as Console Sales Soar.
But a dozen plausible games could fit the aesthetic and few outlets — nor Keighley himself — have confirmed anything. The tease that “New █████ stir” invites the idea of a fresh IP as much as a sequel to a beloved series, which is why industry sources and podcasters are treating the reveal like a locked-room puzzle.
If you’re betting on anything: expect theatrics. Keighley has engineered theatrical reveals before; the statue is an expensive, attention-grabbing prop designed to turn a slow news week into appointment-to-view TV. Whether the statue points to a FromSoftware follow-up, a surprising third-party reveal, or an entirely new franchise, we’ll probably find out once The Game Awards flips the curtain.
Until then, the desert keeps its secret — and the guesses get louder.