The mysterious statue at The Game Awards: clues, theories, and a possible connection to Diablo 4

The next edition of The Game Awards It comes loaded with awards, trailers and announcements, but in the days leading up to its release, an unexpected protagonist has emerged: a A monumental, demonic-looking statue planted in the middle of the desert, which has become the focus of a campaign of intrigue that has the video game community completely revolutionized.

The whole commotion stems from a single image shared on social media by Geoff keighley, presenter and producer of the event, accompanied by a cryptic message: “regal.inspiring.thickness”Since then, players, press, and content creators have been analyzing every inch of the sculpture and every word of the message, trying to piece things together before the gala where the new GOTY will be announced.

How a strange phrase led to the Mojave Desert

The first step in the mystery was to decipher what exactly the combination of words meant. "regal.inspiring.thickness"Several users immediately realized that it fit with the system of What3Words, the app that converts GPS coordinates into easy-to-remember trios of words.

By entering the phrase into the app, the community located a specific point of the Mojave Desert, in the Joshua Tree area, CaliforniaNot far from Los Angeles, the city hosting The Game Awards gala, a curious onlooker and fans flocked to the location within hours to see if the image shared by Keighley depicted a real structure.

Upon reaching the spot marked by What3Words, the visitors found exactly what the photograph showed: a huge stone sculpture, made up of bones, twisted creatures and a large monstrous eye Presiding over the top, like a portal to a hellish world. Personnel associated with the organization were also seen on the ground, although they offered no clear explanations.

The confirmation that it was not a simple digital montage, but a physical installation built specifically in the desertThis further fueled the theories. And to top it all off, the The Game Awards official account He responded to Keighley's tweet by pinpointing the same location, implying that it was all part of a perfectly planned campaign.

A demonic statue that changes its appearance from day to night

Those who have visited the area speak of a piece of art as striking as it is unsettling: a colossal gate decorated with skeletons, demons, hybrid animals and macabre symbols, with a small staircase that seems to lead to a kind of supernatural threshold.

By day, the structure resembles a infernal totem taken from a dark fantasy universe, full of grotesque details: tentacles surrounding the central eye, deformed bears and crocodiles, humanoid creatures and a door carved with motifs that evoke sacrificial rites or scenes of mythological horror.

Things get even more disturbing when night falls. Several images taken on site show that The statue is illuminated with an intense red glowhighlighting the reliefs of bones and demons and reinforcing the feeling of standing before an entrance to the underworld. This interplay of nighttime lights has led many to visually associate the monument with franchises featuring a diabolical aesthetic.

Among the elements that have been most discussed are the large spider-eye with tentacles and certain motifs that some fans have linked to classic hell iconography: horns, sharp shapes, and a composition that seems designed to resemble an altar dedicated to demonic creatures.

The contrast between the tranquility of the desert landscape and the visual violence of the sculpture has transformed the place into a kind of impromptu pilgrimage for fans who live near California or who have decided to take advantage of the mystery trend to do some very particular gamer tourism.

Community theories: from God of War to a new dark project

With the statue located and confirmed, the next step for the players has been to try to guess which game or expansion could it be referring to?From the very beginning, social media was filled with interpretations, some more plausible than others.

One of the first theories to gain traction was that of a possible new God of War set in Egypt or other mythsThe presence in the sculpture of a wolf, a crocodile, and a certain sense of colossal deity led part of the community to imagine Kratos changing pantheons and facing creatures from other traditions.

Meanwhile, other users saw similarities with The Elder Scrolls VI or even with the universe of Fallout: New Vegaslinking the desert location with settings very recognizable to fans. There were also those who remembered DOOM, Gears of War or entirely new sagas that want to take advantage of the demonic aesthetic to carve out a niche among the year's biggest announcements.

Amid this deluge of proposals, some media outlets and well-known voices in the industry began to point in another direction: DiabloThe art style, the demons, and the infernal gate fit much better, according to these analyses, with the universe of Blizzard than with other franchises considered in the early days.

The theories spread rapidly through forums, X and Reddit, where they were dissected to unsuspected extremes. the horns, the tentacles, the shape of the portal, and the iconography of the sculpture to try to link every detail to a specific saga.

What has been officially ruled out and the leads that still stand

As speculation grew, some also arrived relevant denials from within the industry itself. From Windows Central It was initially suggested that the statue might be related to an expansion of Diablo 4But voices soon emerged that qualified that connection.

Journalist Jason Schreier He publicly confirmed that The sculpture does not serve to reveal the next expansion of Diablo 4However, he avoided specifying what its true purpose might be. His words dampened some of the theory, but didn't eliminate the idea that the monument might be somehow linked to the Blizzard universe.

Almost at the same time, Cory Barlog, one of the key names associated with God of War, intervened in a live stream hosted by content creator Luke Stephens to clarify another of the most talked-about bets: The statue has no relation to God of WarThis denial instantly shattered the fantasy of an immediate reveal of a new Kratos chapter.

However, the very nuance of Barlog's statements generated new interpretations: when referring to GOW In general terms, some fans began to toy with the idea that the mystery might be linked to Gears of War, now also present on more platforms and with a future that arouses considerable curiosity.

Meanwhile, commentators like jez corden They have discreetly fueled the intrigue on social media, responding to messages about the possibility that it is Diablo-related content with phrases like “Yes, but there’s something else too.”None of this constitutes official confirmation, but it does reinforce the feeling that behind the setup there is a complex and well-thought-out marketing operation.

A very calculated marketing move before the gala

Regardless of what game is really behind the statue, there's one thing few dispute: The campaign is working.In just a few days, the image of demonic monument in the Mojave Desert It has multiplied through social networks, specialized media and videos from content creators, who have found in this enigma a perfect topic for live streams and analysis.

The Game Awards organization has successfully capitalized on the format's popularity real-world teaserA tangible installation, located in an accessible location, with public coordinates and a direct link to the event, but without ever revealing the full message. In terms of visibility, the movement has significantly increased attention to a gala that already generated considerable interest.

This type of action is not entirely new for The Game Awards, which has traditionally been characterized by combine the awards ceremony with high-impact advertisementsFrom new AAA titles to unexpected expansions, the scale of this statue and the logistical deployment in an area like Mojave raise the bar compared to other typical hype campaigns.

For the European and Spanish communities, monitoring is being carried out primarily through social media, live broadcasts and media coverageSince the monument is located on the other side of the Atlantic, the viral effect has crossed borders, and the debate about the origin of the teaser is just as intense in Spanish-speaking forums as it is in American ones.

With the gala just days away, the consensus among analysts and players is that The mystery will be revealed during the ceremony, possibly as part of one of the main announcements, whether it's a new game, a major expansion, or a completely unexpected gamble.

The history of this infernal statue lost in the desert This illustrates the extent to which The Game Awards has become more than just an awards ceremony: it's a global showcase where even an anonymous sculpture can trigger theories about God of War, Diablo, Gears of War, or new IPs, keeping the community on tenterhooks until, on stage, the game that truly hides behind this enigmatic stone portal is finally revealed.