Elden Ring players have been sharing some of the unsavory things conducted by their Tarnished warriors, and it seems that Patches' influence is rubbing off on them. FromSoftware offers much to do and explore in its most recent release Elden Ring and like prior games, players can role-play as monsters.
The Lands Between is far from a bastion of morality, with Tarnished first introduced to the world of Elden Ring by an artistic montage that depicts successive acts of betrayal, murder, and war. Traversing the hostile, war-torn environments that are littered with ruins and signs of a once better time, players are known to find solace in the characters that behave kindly towards them. Dark Souls perfectly encapsulates this world-building approach that is now so synonymous with FromSoftware. The community lifted Solaire of Astora to a near mythological status, merely because he was the first NPC to greet players warmly, rather than seek their death or laugh maniacally at them. On the contrary, the recurring character Patches represents the deceit and trickery that permeates FromSoftware's titles which on occasion will push players past their breaking point.
Although Elden Ring is more colorful than the Dark Souls series and features several characters genuinely capable of affection, that does not mean players cannot join Patches in committing dastardly sins. After all, if one visits Volcano Manor they can quite literally join Patches in hunting other Tarnished. A thread started on Reddit by timecoyote invited players to "a safe space" where they could "share any naughty behavior you engage in while playing Elden Ring."
With over a thousand comments in half a day, it is fair to say that players were more than happy to oblige. The most up-voted comment described how they were once so frustrated "with one of the ballista operators in Stormveil Castle" they decided to pummel the enemy to death with bare fists. It took five minutes, all Flask of Crimson Tears charges, but the drive to be vindictive was just too strong. Another explained how they "invade people dressed up as the predator," stalking them with invisibility for a significant amount of time before finally attacking, a more brutal version of similar antics players have got up to in Elden Ring's PvP.
One comment claimed to "wake up at 4am sometimes" so that they have time to play before their child wakes up, which replies pointed out was in no way bad and simply a reality of being an adult with responsibilities. Others detailed less wholesome activities, such as writing crude messages nearby every Seedbed Curse location.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.