Hidetaka Miyazaki’s Elden Ring has enough content and elements in the game to explore. In spite of the fact that the game was released almost two years ago, it still has a range of secrets waiting to be uncovered. Be it new caves, illusory walls, or secret bosses, players have plenty of things to find in FromSoftware’s masterpiece.
Notably, some of the secrets cannot be found by playing the game alone. Seems like Elden Ring also has some hidden cut content buried deep within its files. These were recently dug out by a YouTuber and data miner.
Unused maps from Elden Ring leaked
The YouTuber ‘Sekiro Dubi’ had previously uncovered an alternate opening within Elden Ring’s files. This time, upon more digging, they have found some unused maps and assets in the game. Earlier, Dubi had discovered a lot of hidden assets stacked away in the game’s files.
The data miner Sekiro Dubi posted a video on their YouTube channel taking the viewers through some unused maps, including Deeproot Depths and Consecrated Snowfield. The maps can be seen running through a large, light-blue textured terrain that ultimately leads to an elevator with the player moving into the snowfield area.
Towards the end of the path, one can spot a cut NPC named Rhico. The NPC would tell the player that a passage had been opened resulting from the player’s actions. Given that these maps and areas are left unfinished in the game files, there is a lack of proper lighting or enemies found in there
Elden Ring was supposed to have a Cataclysm system
Among the other assets they discovered included questlines, huge objects such as big heads, cutscenes, as well as an entire game mechanic called the Cataclysm System.
According to the data miner Elden Ring was meant to have a Cataclysm system. Dubi posted another video on YouTube explaining this cut system in more detail. This system was designed to include areas that would open up or close based on the player’s actions in the game.
Some areas could burst with snow, or have a meteor hit. It would then open up an underground path in the game’s massive map. For example, the current meteor that hits Limgrave after beating Radahn was once part of this massive cataclysm system. Sadly, the system was never implemented in the final game by Hidetaka Miyazaki.
Besides, each dungeon was designed to have its own overworld map having a pre-cataclysm and post-cataclysm version of itself. An example of this seen in the current game is some flying rocks, and a crater for Limgrave and Mistwood in a post-cataclysm state.