Elden Ring Continues the Souls Series' Longest In-Joke

ign.com:

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Elden Ring’s first location.

Elden Ring has continued FromSoftware’s long running in-joke by once again including a character that Souls fans love to hate.

In Elden Ring’s opening location of Limgrave players can find Patches, the bald trickster who has constantly pulled pranks on players throughout the Soulsborne series of games.

This time around, Patches can be found in the Murkwater Cave. Should you wish to find him you’ll want to follow the river north and keep your eye out for a dungeon entrance. Once again he can be a valuable ally thanks to his collection of wares on sale (you might want to inspect his inventory before heading into Stormveil Castle) but he’ll prove a nuisance before offering you any help, naturally.

This is the sixth incarnation of Patches. He first appeared in Demon’s Souls as Patches the Hyena, and was later seen in Dark Souls (as Trusty Patches), Bloodborne (as Patches the Spider), and Dark Souls 3 and its Ringed City DLC (as Unbreakable Patches). Dark Souls 2 also features a Patches-style character, but was known as Mild-Mannered Pate.

For more, take a look at our Elden Ring review (which has contributed to it being one of the best reviewed games in modern history), as well as our stories on how a small change has made playing in co-op easier, and how a tutorial dungeon helps out new players.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.