Elden Ring Player Discovers Cut Dream Mechanic
As fans continue to inch closer to discovering everything "Elden Ring" has to offer, some players have turned to trying to discover some of the things that almost made it into the game. YouTuber Lance McDonald, who was one of the first people to discover the potential DLC PvP arena, found that there was a pretty interesting mechanic cut from the game, along with a related side quest. In a YouTube video, McDonald talked about how in the network test version of the game there were some animals in a unique state of sleep, not seen in the final game. These sleeping animals would not wake up if you approached them quickly or bumped into them, only getting up if attacked. Instead, these sleeping animals were meant to be approached so you could collect their dreams.
McDonald said that this cut mechanic was meant to be for a side quest where an NPC found at Stormhill Shack would ask for help brewing a drink. This NPC isn't in the final version of the game, with Roderika appearing at the shack instead. The NPC would give the player a key item called St. Trina's Crystal Ball, which copies Dream Mist from sleeping beasts. This item would have allowed players to gather the necessary materials to continue down this side quest, but what would the quest have produced?
Using Dream Brew in Elden Ring
After McDonald collected enough Dream Mist in a modified version of the network test version of "Elden Ring," the NPC gave him a single serving of Dream Brew. The drink could be used to unlock new dialogue with other NPCs in the game by offering them the drink, as demonstrated in McDonald's video using a merchant, Kale. The Dream Brew is meant to give insight into an NPC's darkest secrets by showing players a hint of their dreams. The merchant falls asleep after drinking the potion, but wakes up because of a nightmare about the Frenzied Flame. This piece of information isn't that interesting, but it does show how the Dream Brew could have worked in the full version of the game, revealing some fears or insights from the other NPCs.
It seems as though the original plan for this feature was for there to be hidden sleeping beasts all across the Lands Between, so players could gather an abundance of Dream Brew to give to NPCs. It's unclear how much having this feature in the game might have impacted the storylines that made it into the final version, but based on McDonald's video, it seems like Dream Mist was going to be a pretty important mechanic. Other "Elden Ring" players also discovered the game almost had a Pokédex for its enemies, demonstrating that there was plenty of content left on the table for future expansions to the game.