Elden Ring Reveals Which Item Made The Game Impossible

No one ever said games by FromSoftware were easy. The developer and originator of the Soulsborne video game sub-genre is known for crafting truly challenging and chilling action RPGs that push players to the limits of their capabilities. "Elden Ring," the latest smash hit from the developer and game director Hidetaka Miyazaki, is no exception. While comments by Miyazaki leading up to the game's release made people question just how difficult "Elden Ring" would be, it still proved to be tough enough to be worthy of its genre, filled with lots of horrible ways to die and one boss that is practically impossible. 

As if all that weren't enough, new patch notes for "Elden Ring" have revealed that some fans have been playing with an unintentional spike in difficulty all along. This added challenge — the result of a bug that has now been fixed — was formerly brought on by wearing a dress associated with a certain mysterious character.

In the latest "Elden Rings" patch, released August 8, FroSoftware fixes a major issue with the Deathbed Dress that many players likely didn't even notice. This piece of armor is worn by the games' deathbed companions (like Fia) and is said to be "exceedingly soft, so as not to harm even the most withered corpse." The armor provides bonuses to resistance and defense while healing allies. While these buffs are quite good, it turns out wearing the dress could actually make the game almost impossible.

It seems that, until the latest patch, the Deathbed Dress armor was harming player's attempts at stealth. Wearing the Deathbed Dress made characters more noticeable to enemies regardless of whether they were crouching or not. Further, the dress essentially enabled friendly fire in some circumstances, causing flail charge attacks to injure companions. The armor set's healing effect on companions certainly wouldn't make up for that kind of damage.

These issues have now been resolved and gamers can once again wear the armor safely. Though more masochistic "Elden Rings" fans may be disappointed to have this hidden difficulty spike removed, others will likely breathe a sigh of relief. The game is tough enough as it is and FromSoftWare seems to know where to draw the line. After all, the infamous boss Malenia was even tougher during development, but the decision was ultimately made to nerf her slightly.

Along with the aforementioned fixes to the Deathbed Dress bugs, the new patch brings a host of other fixes and gameplay tweaks that promise to make for a more balanced experience. "Elden Ring" players will need to download this latest patch before diving back into the Lands Between.