Leaked Elden Ring gameplay footage is once again making the rounds, this time showing off an encounter with a talking tree NPC. Interestingly, the NPC is a demi-human named Boc, who features in an edited version of Elden Ring's Closed Network Test. The testing phase kicked off in mid-November and only lasted for a weekend, yet it seemed to have exponentially heightened the excitement surrounding FromSoftware's next major project.
There were a few downsides to the network test, however, in that it didn't take long for leaked details to begin surfacing online. While teases about enemies and certain environments prove harmless enough, someone recently managed to hack into the test and unearth information regarding the story and endgame content. As such, those looking forward to Elden Ring would do well to be mindful of spoilers while the wait for the role-playing title persists. Now another gameplay leak has emerged, centralizing a single NPC that players may stumble across during their exploration of The Lands Between.
As spotted by Wccftech, YouTube channel ER-SA recently uploaded three minutes of Elden Ring gameplay taken from the Closed Network Test. The footage begins with the player character running along before they're stopped by someone calling out for help. It's not clear who's speaking at first until the user moves closer to a small tree - more like a bush - that just so happens to have a solid grasp of the English language. Things begin to make some sort of sense when the player rolls into the tree, effectively breaking a spell that reverts said tree back to its demi-human form of an Elden Ring NPC named Boc. As the strange circumstances would suggest, Boc is nothing if not an interesting character. See the encounter in the video linked below:
In a response to a curious viewer, ER-SA noted that Boc didn't appear in the Closed Network Test "normally." Rather, the encounter featured in the above video comes courtesy of an edited built of the test. It'll be interesting to see how exactly Boc's introduction plays out in Elden Ring's final version.
Originally unveiled during E3 2019, Elden Ring reentered the spotlight last year during Summer Game Fest 2021. Fortunately, FromSoftware faithful will finally have the opportunity to explore the new interactive world for themselves in just a few short weeks.
Elden Ring hits store shelves on February 25 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S platforms.
Source: ER-SA/Youtube via Wccftech