EverySoulsgame appears as though it’s trying to one-up the other when it comes to enemy design and creepiness. ComeElden Ring, the enemies are no longer skirting the boundaries of horror, they have fully embraced it both in behavior and in appearance. In hindsight, the design is quite clever.
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If players thought they were safe since they’re not facing WWE-height knights, then they’re sorely mistaken since they’ll be confronting grotesque vandalisms of flesh and bone instead. Some creatures inElden Ringare not just there to chip away at players' HP bars, but also whatever is left of their sanity, courtesy of these following enemies.
10Albinauric
Seeing Albinaurics for the first time inElden Ringwas one of the mostdeceptively threatening experiencesin the game. These grunts can’t be that tough, their heads are bigger than their stomachs, right? But then they start cartwheeling all over the place and backstabbing players.
Before the players know it, a whole murderous squad will start rolling up behind them to reinforce their offended comrades. By then, players are left with no choice but to find a friendlier neighborhood to wander into.
9Fingercreeper
Leave it to FromSoftware developers to turn even something as mundane as a hand into one of the most disturbing enemies in gaming. Of course, regular human hands can be creepy as well if they wiggle their fingers simultaneously, and that was probably the prime inspiration for Fingercreepers inElden Ring.
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They don’t even have to do much to announce their wickedness, simply moving around signals their unholy intent with hand gestures (or foot gestures?). Whatever the case, players will have to get their hands dirty, especially when fighting the Fingercreepers hand-to-hand.
8Grafted Scion
As far as insults to the humanoid form go, the Grafted Scion is theworst offender inElden Ring. It’s less of a person thanks to Godrick the Grafted’s experiments and more of a ball of flesh with several limbs attached to it in an attempt to collect the combat prowess of whomever once owned the limbs and other body parts.
It was such a horrific sight that the developers deemed it was the perfect representation of the game’s shock value since they literally sicced the Grafted Scion on fresh newbies. Thankfully, they opted to give the creature some clothing because the Grafted Scion without the torn robe is even more traumatizing.
7Basilisk
The Basilisk took a page straight out of nature’s insect design playbook where large eye decoys are made to dissuade and distract potential enemies. Those large blobs are just for show, the real eyes are regular-sized windows to its evil soul because once players see them, the Basilisk is somehow even scarier.
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In any case, this import from the previousDark Soulsgames has the same attack pattern and ability that adds to its notoriety. The Basilisk can petrify or just outright kill players if they linger enough in its bad breath. That’s why everySoulsplayer, no matter the level of veterancy, always treads lightly around these things.
6Monstrous Dog/Crow
Even dogs and crows weren’t safe from FromSoftware’s nefarious artists. Just look at whatElden Ringtransformed them into. They have space rabies thanks to Scarlet Rot and nowroam around Caelidaimlessly, picking at the festering carcasses of the red wasteland’s gaping wound.
And for some reason, the dogs appear to have been genetically-spliced rejects ofJurassic Worldwith the T-Rex frame. The crow is just a giant bird that is difficult to fight but in other locales, they love to bathe in the rotting blood of their victims, giving a new and more literal meaning to the murder of crows.
5Abductor Virgin
Elden Ring’s concept designers took one look at Iron Maiden torture devices and thought that those would make for awesome enemies. But instead of making them immobile death coffins similar to Mimics of theSoulsgames, they gave them wheels, chain axes, and cuddly tendencies.
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The result was one of the most alarming and most difficult enemies in the game. If the external shell wasn’t imposing enough, players only need a closer look at the Abductor Virgin’s spiky innards, which it will gladly put on display. Turns out they were built in Volcano Manor to abduct or fend off Rykard’s enemies, which explains the twisted design.
4Kindred Of Rot
Centipede monsters, shrimp-men, albino Xenomorphs, whatever they’re called, players will hate them regardless. These things love to abuse one of the most annoying attack moves in the game. It’s also best for players to know less about them since they only get creepier.
They worship the Scarlet Rot and seem to be immune to it to a certain degree. And if players look closely at their corpses, they’ll discover that those shrimp legs are actually human arms growing out of their bodies like fungi. So despite having a more intact form compared to the Grafted Scion, fans can all agree that this one is on another level of macabre.
3Malformed Star
Speaking of alien enemy designs, the Malformed Star is a literal alien who fell from space into the Lands Between. It looked like it came straight out ofBloodbornewith the Lovecraftian appearance and generally an unfathomable composition. Was it once a living giant that turned into an undead or was it voluntarily monstrous?
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They could also be a link toBloodborneor just a telltale sign of asset reuse. Luckily, players don’t have to suffer this one too much unlikeits boss variants(the two Astel bosses). Once they see it hanging from a cave, they can easily run in the other direction and not bother with this anomaly.
2Giant Land Octopus
Yet another Lovecraftian monster inElden Ring, the Giant Land Octopus barely resembles an actual, healthy octopus. These creatures look like a half-digested whole octopus whom someone bigger tried to swallow, and whoever that it, it’s best that it didn’t exist inElden Ring.
Even real octopuses are cuter than this thing. Sure enough, they are as unpredictable as their creature design and can unleash random attacks that can catch players off-guard. It’s a good thing they’re slow because they can either be too easy or surprisingly violent.
1Wormface
The middle basin-shaped land in Altus Plateau is likely not a popular area for players to visit. Despite the calm canopy of the tall trees, the area is infestedwithElden Ring’s grossest enemy, the Wormface. Actually, the regular enemies are called the Lesser Wormface, but there’s nothing “less” about them; they spit death at the players.
And if players disregard their slimy tuberculosis spits, it’s off to the Site of Grace for them. Their curiosity towards the concept of death has transformed them into abominations, never mind the fact that they also looklikeElden RingPvPinvaders who lived off a box of pizza for three days without a bath. Quite the cautionary tale.
Elden Ringis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
