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Dusk and Amid Evil publisher New Blood Interactive has delivered the most relatable April Fools' joke yet: delaying all its games because the team can't stop playing Elden Ring.
"As you're aware, the launch of Elden Ring has affected many people, and unfortunately, we are no different," a joking statement from the studio reads. "Once the game launched, the perfect reviews and long hours in the Lands Between continued to pile up – and it became clear that things just couldn't go back to normal."
New Blood attributes these (fake) widespread delays to "Elden Ring-related production challenges," and hopes that fans can "take the time from your latest session of Elden Ring to understand why this decision had to be made." See, it's all about language. Don't tell your boss your work slipped because you were playing Elden Ring. Instead, blame production challenges.
While New Blood says it hopes to resume normal operations in the new year, it's quick to note that "really that's just going to depend on how quickly Elden Ring DLC will arrive," which is honestly a whole mood.
Like every good joke, there's a bit of truth to this April Fools' gag. Elden Ring has undeniably dominated conversations across the games industry since its launch, with developers and players alike crowding around the virtual watercooler to share stories, tips, and reactions.
Just recently, players discovered an ingenious way to reveal invisible walls and disable those pesky fire traps. Last week, Dark Souls modders found hard evidence that the strongest enemy in Elden Ring is a bugged blood dog that can insta-kill anything. And shortly after the game's launch, many game developers argued that it has one of the most efficient open worlds we've seen in some time.
Quite frankly, Elden Ring is so hard to put down that we wouldn't bat an eye even if New Blood was serious about all this, but as it stands, this is one of the few truly good jokes to come out of April Fools' day.
