Three ideas struck me after my first encounter with Shadow of the Erdtree‘s electrifying Divine Beast Dancing Lion boss: “WHAT?”, “Ouch“, and, dimly, “What is happening below there?”. And one kindly modder has now helpfully answered that final query by derobing the factor and giving us all a peek at how the sausage is made (spoilers: no sausage is concerned, however there are some Dancing Lion-related spoilers forward so proceed with warning).
For the uninitiated, the Divine Beast Dancing Lion is among the Elden Ring DLC’s earliest main boss encounters and is discovered hanging out on the prime of the Belurat tower settlement. It is a powerful sight too; a twirling, hovering, gnashing creation impressed by (as its title strongly suggests) the normal Chinese language lion dance, through which two performers – one controlling the top, the opposite the tail – mimic the actions of a lion.
Eager-eyed Tarnished have likely already noticed the human legs poking out from beneath the lion’s cloth-covered physique – one pair on the entrance, one other on the rear – however the flapping, flailing materials makes it arduous to see a lot else whereas it is in movement. Because it seems, although, developer FromSoftware has gone a bit additional than simply giving the Dancing Lion legs; two absolutely shaped and (principally) animated human performers are each tucked away below the fabric, and each will be seen thrashing round to regulate the beast when the quilt is eliminated.
We all know all this because of the sterling work of Youtuber BonfireVN (cheers PC Gamer), who instantly learn everybody’s thoughts and whipped that material straight off. And what a sight it’s too! The performers themselves are each largely bare save for a loincloth, a protecting armour skirt, and, within the case of Mr. Rear, filthy bandages masking his face. Each, too, are correctly animated – when their limbs contact the bottom not less than – Mr. Rear spending just about all of his time scrambling round on all fours.
Admittedly, the phantasm fairly hilariously falls aside when the Dancing Lion performs a few of its extra extravagant strikes – its corkscrewing, airborne ahead lunge for example – the pair whipping and flopping forwards and backwards with not possible, physics-defying acrobatic abandon. However nonetheless.
After all, this is not the primary time FromSoftware has gone the additional mile to create one thing fantastic gamers would not ordinarily see in Elden Ring – who may presumably overlook the dreamboat face-reveal of everyone’s favorite masked prawn man? – but it surely’s at all times good to get a peek on the craft backstage. Even when the curtain is hurtling towards you at 100mph, jaws gnashing and lightning bolts popping out of its bum.
So, if you happen to’re discovering the Divine Beast Dancing Lion boss a bit too intimidating, why not comply with that basic bit of recommendation and (now precisely) image it with no garments on? Or, if that does not work, there’s at all times Eurogamer’s Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree guide.
