When Elden Ring was first announced at E3 2019, FromSoftware gave a cryptic reveal of what would soon become one of their most extraordinary creative and newly popular games. With, at the least, nearly four years of development, there was an incredible amount of love and time put into the making of what has become many Souls fans' favorite game.

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Elden Ring's wide open world offers us a lot to explore, and it's no doubt that such a flourishing world has a plethora of development behind it, a few facts being somewhat niche. FromSoftware's hard work on Elden Ring is incredibly apparent, and with fans spending greater than 100 hours on the game, it's fantastic how much more there is to uncover --- alongside all the potential lore that we could've dived ourselves into.

10 Giant Charred Heads Seen In The Distance

Charred Head from Elden Ring

There's a lot that's unknown about why giant heads, with seemingly hot lava coursing through them, were placed within the world. Only seen during the Closed Network Test, these giant heads certainly bring out a lot of questions --- making us curious about the lore and significance behind these statues (or people).

However, of course, these simply could've been assets to make the game appear more full and less empty, or even possibly act as landmarks. But, with them not making the final cut of the game, it seems we'll never know what it could've all meant.

9 Some NPCs Had Cut Dialogue

Melina from Elden Ring sitting down

While it is a small tidbit behind the ultimate development of Elden Ring, some NPCs had dialogue cut from a few cutscenes/encounters before the final release (and, later on, patches) of the game.

These cut lines of dialogue weren't too significant; however, some moments captured the essence of Elden Ring's story, to say the least. Luckily, Souls Youtuber Sekiro Dubi has a plethora of videos with these cut dialogues that preserve these past events perfectly --- not allowing the fascinating development of Elden Ring to be lost completely.

8 The Bats Used To Sing In Ainu

Chanting Winged Dame Elden Ring standing

In the Network Test files, there is an unused animation where the bats (also known as the Chanting Winged Dame) in the game would stand up and sing a seemingly tragic lament in a nearly dead language called Ainu. However, the bats' songs would later be changed to be sung in Latin in the final release of Elden Ring --- the Ainu song seemingly as only a placeholder.

Regardless of the language, it's evident that there is saddening lore within the lyrics of the bats' songs --- their haunting, siren-like voices ever-so sticking with us.

7 The Devs Used A "Buddy System" With NPCs

Summon with player in Elden Ring

Using the Spirit Ash system, Elden Ring developers created NPCs from their summoning system --- naming it "The Buddy System." This system hinted that there were unique NPCs that could be used for summons, each of them a temporary companion as you call to them to get through a combative encounter.

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On top of this, they didn't limit their roles to only being summons, as these Buddy NPCs served as enemies in a few areas. Alongside this, there was also lore added to each of the summonses as well, ultimately adding more depth to the game and the system as well.

6 The 50-Hit Illusionary Wall

Entrance to 50-Hit Illusory Wall Elden Ring

Among the many iconic fake ghostly walls that any Souls fan would enjoy finding, there was an illusionary wall in Elden Ring that caused us to question why it took nearly 50 hits to break through it.

Whether this wall was just a bug or a joke by Miyazaki, it's interesting to see how it had to be destroyed manually. There weren't too big of secrets behind them; the only main interesting aspect was the nearly unbeatable Snake Snails in the paths behind the wall that would follow you into non-hostile areas.

5 Bonfires Instead Of Grace Points

Rennala near Bonfire Elden Ring

If you played any Souls game before Elden Ring, you'll be familiar with the save points being sacred bonfires; and, when Elden Ring was released, these beloved bonfires turned into glowing grace points. But, interestingly, these graces weren't always there.

During the initial creation of Raya Lucaria, the developers had originally used the same assets for Dark Souls III bonfires rather than the iconic grace points that we see in the game today. This hints that Raya Lucaria was the first area to be developed, as these bonfires are now only invisible assets that are hard to restore.

4 The Potential Boss Fight At The Divine Tower

Crucible Knight potential fight Elden Ring

Hidden inside the code of Elden Ring, there is a string of text within the Divine Tower of Limegrave map that hints there was a boss fight intended to be at the top of the Divine Tower. More specifically, it suggests that this boss would've been a Crucible Knight; however, since the name ID was set to 0, we're unable to know the boss' name.

Fascinating enough, this anonymous boss overall hints that there was potentially more lore to the world of Elden Ring and that we could've had so much more to uncover.

3 The Night's Calvary Purpose Was Changed

Night's Calvary from Elden Ring in combat

The mysterious and imposing knights that roam specific areas are reoccurring mini-bosses that were initially supposed to play a more active role in the game rather than their currently passive ones.

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Being reminiscent of the Black Knights from Dark Souls and The Pursuer from Dark Souls II, the Night's Calvary was supposed to serve as a "wandering enemy" of sorts. But, later on, they were reduced to being an enemy that you could encounter only in specific areas. And, while knowing where they are, it would have been interesting to see them randomly gallivanting about and catching us by surprise.

2 Torrent Has More Than Meets The Eye To Him

Torrent from Elden Ring on a cliff

Torrent, your horse, initially had a lot of animations and useful actions during early development. As seen in the Network Test, paired with Torrent's actions, the test suggested that he could exist by himself when the player was separate from him.

The main notable unused animation is his backward kick, which still does work in the game, but it has barely any effect on enemies. This kick would launch enemies away from you, making horseback combat feel entirely useful. The reasons behind why it was cut are unsure, but it likely had to do with lining up the attacks correctly.

1 Red Wolf Of Radagon Was An Unused DS3 Boss

Red Wolf and Old Wolf Farren Elden Ring Dark Souls 3

The Red Wolf of Radagon is a Great Enemy Boss that many of us struggle defeating on our own. In this fast-paced fight with aggressive magical ranged attacks, the Red Wolf is reminiscent of other Souls wolf bosses.

Thanks to Souls Youtuber Zullie the Witch, we know why this fight feels so familiar. In the game's code, Zullie found that assets from an unused Farron Wolf Dark Souls III boss were pulled into Elden Ring and re-appropriated in the form of the Red Wolf's curved sword attacks, which feel like a loving callback to The Great Grey Wolf Sif.

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