Elden Ring is far from being fully explored. It still has a lot of unknown content, even among those who dedicate themselves to dissecting every last detail. It’s part of its magic. It also helps that we have a DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, on the horizon. But that doesn’t mean that people who want to know everything are patiently waiting for its release.
A dataminer named Sekiro Dubi has discovered a lot of deleted content from Elden Ring within the game’s source code. Showcasing alternative maps of known areas, previously unknown areas, and mechanics that were not implemented, they have created a nearly 17-minute video full of information. One particular detail stands out for what it would have meant for the game if it had been implemented.
Perhaps the most striking is the Cataclysm mechanic. A system that would allow players to interact with objects on the map, causing different natural disasters to occur in the game. The two examples found are meteorites falling from the sky and snow avalanches causing dramatic changes in the topography of the map. These events would cause certain areas to become inaccessible now, and other previously hidden areas to become passable. Something that would have made Elden Ring even more massive and interesting than it already is.
If they decided not to do it, it was probably because of the cost involved. The most likely reasons for not going ahead with it were that it could generate confusion, make level design much more difficult, and could create situations where players would get stuck without the possibility of reversing the situation.
Is it possible that we will see cataclysms in Shadow of the Erdtree, the Elden Ring DLC? It doesn’t seem likely. This is deleted content from the game, abandoned in the source code, and there is nothing to indicate that they can recover it in the future. At least not for Elden Ring. That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t be excited to see what a studio like From Software can do with a mechanism like the cataclysm. That and, when Shadow of the Erdtree is released, they will surprise us in ways we can’t even imagine at this moment.
