A dataminer has discovered files that show an Elden Ring bestiary may have been considered at one point in the game's development.
Elden RIng has been out for a good few weeks now. To the surprise of pretty much no one, it's proved to be a massive success and crossed 12 million sales in a fairly short time.
#ELDENRING
— JesterPatches (@JesterPatches) March 27, 2022
Looking through the game files I came across a few icons making me believe that a bestiary was planned at some point.
There are 128 icons showing different NPCs. Each NPC shown has 2 icons, one greyed out and another one filled in, so it could be not found and found. pic.twitter.com/9b0Tj6ckm3
What We Know About the Elden Ring Bestiary
As highlighted on Reddit, Twitter user @JesterPatches discovered what looks like a cut Elden Ring bestiary in the game's files, indicating that this feature was likely cut at some point during development.
A total of 128 icons -- 2 icons per NPC -- were discovered in the game's code according to @JesterPatches. Aside from representing a number of monsters, these icons also cover several iconic NPCs, too.
Unfortunately, we don't know why the Elden Ring bestiary never made it into the game. That said, it may be possible for this feature to be added back into the game at some point as a post-launch patch. The work was already done to make the icons, so FromSoftware may still find some kind of use for them -- it has already added an NPC tracker feature in a post-launch update, although a proper pause feature is still missing in action.
This wasn't the only discovery reported by @JesterPatches; he also shared a Discord post showing was is claimed to be the icon of an item that collects Dream Mist, a crafting resource that never made it into the game. You can experience this fantastic Soulslike by buying Elden Ring for PC and consoles starting at $59.99 or your regional equivalent.
