Summary
FromSoftware games have often had incredibly memorable opening sequences. ThefirstDark Souls' Undead Asylummay be short, but it’s also iconic, throwing players in at the deep end in spectacular fashion. WhileDark Souls 2’s intro is a little more forgiving, it’s just as memorable, with its Majula reveal still being breathtaking a decade later. And this is something that FromSoftware has continued to knock out of the park ever since, withElden Ring’s opening being one of the developer’s most impressive.
After an intense boss fight where the player is expected to perish, players wake up in a mysterious cave. After making their way through the cave, learning some of the basics of combat along the way, players will come to a gigantic door that swings open to revealElden Ring’s vast open world, marking one of the most memorable “stepping-out” moments in gaming. But if a recent datamine is to be believed, then that moment could have been extremely different.
Elden Ring’s Alternate Opening Explained
About a month ago, a renownedElden Ringdataminerby the name of Sekiro Dubi posted a video to YouTube entitled “Elden Ring - New Melina and Torrent Cutscene Restored.” In this 7-minute video, Sekiro Dubi reveals that they’ve managed to find an alternate version ofElden Ring’s opening sequence, along with some accompanying lines of unused dialogue. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this video is that, according to Sekiro Dubi,Elden Ring’s opening was originally going to take place on a beach as opposed to inside a Limgrave cave.
In the final version ofElden Ring, after players aredefeated by the Grafted Scionor fall off the floating island to their death, their character mysteriously appears inside a dark cavern, and they’re treated to a cutscene that introduces now-iconic characters Melina and Torrent. However, in Sekiro Dubi’s datamined opening, the player-character lands on a beach under the Seaside Ruins, where Torrent and Melina soon appear.
According to Sekiro Dubi’s video, this beach location was discovered by matching upElden Ring’s opening cutscenefile name with the beach’s file name in the 2021 network test version of the game. Sekiro Dubi explains thatElden Ring’s cutscene file names are often named after their map location, with the cutscene’s file name being “s60_43,” and the beach’s file name in the network test being “M60_43_35_00,” which makes a lot more sense than the Stranded Graveyard’s “M18_00” file name.
It’s unclear when FromSoftware decided to change the location ofElden Ring’s opening, but it does allow the game to have its iconic stepping-out moment, which wouldn’t have been present in the datamined version.
Elden Ring’s Opening Cutscene Could Have Featured Alternate Dialogue
In the final version ofElden Ring’s opening,Melina’s first line of dialogueis “Don’t worry Torrent, fortune is on their side,” while Sekiro Dubi’s datamined version has her first line of dialogue as “You think this is the one, Torrent?” leaning much more into FromSoft’s usual concept of a chosen one. The next line in the datamined version is very similar, with Melina saying “He/She is sure to seek the Elden Ring,” which was slightly changed in the final version to read “One of their kind is sure to seek the Elden Ring.”
But the final line of dialogue in each version is very different. In the datamined version, Melina ends with “For that is their curse,” which feels as though it could have been ripped right out ofDark Souls, while the actual cutscene ends with Melina saying “Even if it does violatethe Golden Order,” which gives some nice teasers to one of the game’s overarching points of lore.
Elden Ring
WHERE TO PLAY
ELDEN RING, developed by FromSoftware, Inc. and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set within a world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin. Danger and discovery lurk around every corner in FromSoftware’s largest game to date. Hidetaka Miyazaki - President and Game Director of FromSoftware Inc. Known for directing critically-acclaimed games in beloved franchises including Armored Core and Dark Souls.George R.R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire - A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows, and A Dance with Dragons. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with the lovely Parris in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
