Elden Ring is the latest game by FromSoftware, a developer famous for including recurring Easter eggs throughout all of its games. FromSoftware exploded in popularity after the release of Dark Souls in 2011, but the studio was already an industry veteran by this point, as its first game released in 1994. The first FromSoftware game was the cult classic King’s Field, and a nod to this first game has endured through many of FromSoftware’s dark fantasy RPG’s including Elden Ring.
The first King’s Field game tasks players with seeking out the powerful Moonlight Sword in order to defeat the game’s main antagonist. This sword has since become an iconic staple of FromSoftware games and often appears as a variation on the original Moonlight Sword’s design, with a glowing pale blue blade and some connection to the moon in either its name or the game’s lore. These Moonlight Swords are fan favorites and are highly sought after in games like Elden Ring.
The Moonlight Sword variant found in Elden Ring is named the Dark Moon Greatsword, and the player will receive it as a reward for finishing the NPC quest line for Ranni which lasts almost the entirety of Elden Ring's story. Like many of the unique weapons in Elden Ring, the Dark Moon Greatsword also comes with its own distinctive weapon skill called Moonlight Greatsword. The latest 1.05 patch for Elden Ring has fixed a bug that was affecting this weapon skill, and a Reddit user named EducatedFool has shared a comparison clip that shows just how useful this fix will be for Dark Moon Greatsword users.
The Moonlight Greatsword skill allows players to cast a ranged magic attack with every swing of the Dark Moon Greatsword. However, a bug was causing this spell to be cast directly forward rather than at a locked-on enemy when the target was down an incline from the player. The 1.05 patch for the Elden Ring appears to have fixed this problem along with several other weapon skill bugs, such as a bug which caused the Golden Vow weapon skill to reduce the attack power of some other weapon skills.
FromSoftware games feature many other reoccurring weapons and characters from previous titles, including the treacherous yet lovable character Patches. However, perhaps no other recurring reference is as symbolic of FromSoftware as the Moonlight Swords. Not only is the sword a call back to the studio’s first game, but the weapon is also often worked into the story of each game it appears in, which is emblematic of Fromsoftware’s meticulous, though often abstruse, brand of world building.
Recurring Easter eggs and callbacks in games are often just for returning players to notice, while the game’s lore ignores it. But each of FromSoftware’s Moonlight Swords are completely distinct from each other in both design and lore connection, while also serving as a recurring through line for the developer's games.
Elden Ring is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.