After The 2022 Game Awards Arrest, Elden Ring Has A Hilarious New Mod

The Game Awards 2022 was full of wild moments, including a lengthy speech from Kratos voice actor Christopher Judge, surprising celebrity appearances, and the awkward nomination of a former US President. After Hidetaka Miyazaki and his associates from FromSoftware accepted the award for Game of the Year, another person – who didn't appear to be with the developers – approached the mic, saying, "I want to thank everybody and say that I think I want to nominate this award to my reformed Orthodox rabbi, Bill Clinton. Thank you, everybody." It wasn't clear why he wanted to nominate Bill Clinton, or what he had to gain from the bizarre prank, but the stage crasher was arrested shortly after the event for his troubles. While the moment was confusing for viewers, the incident almost immediately inspired modders to do what they do best.

That's right, players can now see what it would look like for the 42nd President of the United States to journey into the Lands Between and take on brutal bosses. While gamers can't quite play the mod yet, modders treated "Elden Ring" fans to a vision of what it might be like to play as Bill Clinton in the game, tweeting a short clip of footage that appears to be captured in-engine. Here's what we know about the hilarious new mod, and how the clip has taken "Elden Ring" meme-ing to a whole new level.

Spanish modder Arestame_Arkeid's Twitter bio explains that they make mods in Unity, focusing specifically on games in the FromSoftware canon like "Sekiro," "Dark Souls 3," and "Elden Ring." In an even smaller niche, they create customized skins for these games that players can then use as their avatars – or Tarnished, in the case of "Elden Ring." While Arestame doesn't seem to tweet all too frequently, they did appear to enjoy the memes that came out of the surprise "nomination" at The Game Awards. They retweeted one meme that cast the awards crasher as an invader at the real-life Game Awards.

The day after The Game Awards aired, Arestame tweeted, "We're proud to announce the collaboration between #EldenRing X #BillClinton that was announced at #TheGameAwards!" The tweet included a video that followed a recreation of Bill Clinton in "Elden Ring," fighting his way through the Lands Between until he encounters one of the game's most deadly enemies: a guy with a torch. In the clip, Clinton fights valiantly with a club, dressed in a full suit and tie combo, but ultimately falls in battle. The video then shows a lengthy pan across the virtual Clinton's prone body, emphasizing his defeat. However, Arestame showed some restraint by not showing the famous "You Died" message after Clinton fell.

It doesn't appear that the presidential skin is actually playable, and Arestame hasn't released it for download, despite their experience in modding. It seems that the mod might be one step too far to release into the world, and that the creator wants to share it for comedic purposes only. For many "Elden Ring" fans, that's enough, though, and the short clip ended up inspiring other memes in turn.

For the most part, players seemed pleased with Arestame's joke mod. One viewer wondered how the modder created the skin so quickly after The Game Awards, while another added that FromSoftware modders appear to work nearly as fast as "Pokémon" fanartists. Some Twitter users argued for skins of other political personalities, like Bob Dole, to be included in the game, or suggested that Clinton receive a custom saxophone weapon instead of that normal old club he carried in the brief video.

Other viewers chose to focus on the statement at The Game Awards referring to Clinton as a "reformed Orthodox rabbi," explaining that the mod should include a sweeping orchestral version of "Hava Nagila." The jury was out on whether Clinton is just as maidenless as the Tarnished.

Gamers still don't know much about the person who crashed the night's biggest award speech, but Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier tweeted that he spoke to the teen, that his name is Matan, and he allegedly understands Hebrew. While Schreier didn't seem to get to the bottom of the issue, alleging that Matan "stayed in character" throughout their conversation, the meme potential of the incident remains.

Meanwhile, it's a good time to be an "Elden Ring" fan. While celebrating the game's Game of the Year win, fans could immediately take comfort in knowing that the Colosseum DLC was rolling out for them. It's even possible that "Elden Ring" and FromSoftware could still dominate the gaming world again in 2023 with more DLC. As modders, fans, and the developers themselves have proven, the possibilities are endless.