Shadow of the Erdtree has been out for less than a week, yet dataminers are already hard at work unravelling the DLC’s secrets and revealing what lies beneath the armor of the NPC characters and bosses that inhabit the land of shadow.
Warning: mild spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree follow:
To that end prominent Elden Ring dataminer and YouTuber Zullie the Witch recently put out a short but information packed video peeling away the armor to reveal the likenesses of no less than 25 humanoid NPCs, ranging from Redmane Freyja to the Ancient Dragon Man. With their outfits stripped away, the vast majority of the NPCs look surprisingly normal, albeit unique with some interesting scars and blemishes, even in the case of the Hornsent, who is entirely hornless underneath his unorthodox headwear.
Shadow of the Erdtree added a couple dozen new player model NPCs, and it seems they’ve kept up the habit of giving even the masked ones unique facedata, so there’s a slew of new faces to see.https://t.co/FIla7VKz9q
— Zullie (@ZullieTheWitch) June 24, 2024
“I love how even if you’ll never see their faces, they keep giving an original appearance to each NPC,” wrote YouTube user R4v3nB14ck in response to Zullie the Witch’s video, which included all of the character creation values needed to perfectly remake every one of the NPC’s faces.
Elsewhere, Elden Ring dataminer BonfireVN took a good long look under the imposing costume of the Divine Beast Dancing Lion boss, which players encounter earlier into the DLC while exploring the Belurat Tower Settlement. This fearsome opponent is capable of unleashing a dizzying combination of lightning, ice, and physical attacks while displaying a swiftness of movement that makes it a challenging boss to evade.
In BonfireVN’s video, the outer layer of the Divine Beast Dancing Lion’s cloth outfit is removed to reveal two humanoid figures cosplaying pantomime horse-style as the head and rump of the monster. The footage also displayed that the entire bodies of the duo – not just the legs – are fully animated throughout the fight, perfectly accounting for the frenetic movements of the uncanny beast.
O nível de perfeição da From Software.
Primeira vez que vi esse boss, achei o design foda, mas nem imaginava que eram DOIS caras perfeitamente animados debaixo de tudo. Detalhes de animação tão complexos por baixo da fantasia toda.
Creditos: BonfireVN pic.twitter.com/r9shmCVHmK— Fabricio Lima (@hellofabs) June 24, 2024
Of course the existence of the hidden duo beneath the beast’s fabric won’t come as much of a surprise to any FromSoftware fans who have fought the boss. After all, humanoid legs were clearly visible during the intro cutscene to the fight, and the Divine Beast Head item that drops after defeating it makes it clear that it was a headset worn by the sculpted keepers during ritual dances. That said, this is Elden Ring we’re talking about, the game that gave us Godrick the Grafted and the serpentine mass of Rykard, the Lord of Blasphemy, so basically anything could have been under there.
Be sure to check out IGN’s extensive guides and interactive maps to ensure that you get the most out of your time with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, and to read up on our ranking of the hardest bosses found throughout the land of shadow.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
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