Elden Ring just became the most wishlisted game on Steam

At this point, the hype behind Elden Ring has grown to considerable proportions. If Geoff Keighley's stories about being hounded for an Elden Ring reveal for years weren't enough to convince you of that, maybe Steam wishlists will. Elden Ring has become the most-wishlisted game on Steam, and it managed to unseat a juggernaut to claim that crown.

Elden Ring is Steam's most-wanted game

As noted by Eurogamer, Elden Ring has now surpassed Dying Light 2 to become the most-wishlisted game on Steam. Valve lists the top-wishlisted games as part of Steam Search, and right now, that list still shows Elden Ring at first place, followed by Dying Light 2: Stay Human in second, Party Animals in third, God of War in fourth, and Hollow Knight: Silksong in fifth.

Becoming the most wishlisted game on Steam was no small task for Elden Ring. Eurogamer points out that Dying Light 2 held the top spot for all of 2021, so Elden Ring is definitely contending with a highly anticipated title here. Time will tell if Dying Light 2 can reclaim the first place ranking across Steam wishlists, but for now, Elden Ring is holding onto it.

Why is Elden Ring so popular on Steam?

If you've been out of the loop for a while, you might be wondering why Elden Ring was able to surge to the top spot on this particular list. There are actually a variety of answers to this question, but a lot of it has to do with the popularity of the Dark Souls series.

Elden Ring is the newest game from the folks at From Software, which before this was the studio responsible for the brutally difficult Dark Souls series and its spin-offs, Bloodbourne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Elden Ring will be the third Souls spin-off, and it's shaping up to be the biggest one yet.

Not only is Dark Souls creator and luminary Hidetaka Miyazaki directing Elden Ring, but he had help in creating the game's world and lore from none other than George R.R. Martin. Martin, as many fantasy lovers already know, is the author of the series A Song of Ice and Fire, which was turned into the massively successful HBO show Game of Thrones.

Elden Ring will take the Dark Souls formula and drop it in an open world for players to explore, and for a lot of fans, that's an exciting combination. While we feel it's important to remind readers not to get too excited for the simple fact that even companies with solid track records can stumble now and then, gamers have good reason to be excited for Elden Ring.

Assuming Miyazaki and his team can pull it off again, Elden Ring should live up to that hype, but we'll find out for sure next month. Elden Ring is out on February 25th, 2022, for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.