Elden Ring Fan Seemingly Spots Winter Lanterns While Out Shopping

An Elden Ring fan has encountered an unexpected Soulslike boss out in the wild, spotting Christmas shopping mannequins that resemble Winter Lanterns. These specific enemies are known from the 2015 game Bloodborne, but Elden Ring’s Aging Untouchable monsters resemble the creatures’ bulbous form. Some Soulslike fans are so ingrained in these dark fantasy titles that they begin to see elements from the Lands Between or Yharnam manifest in the real world.

Elden Ring was first released in 2022 and found immediate success, and the same story applied to its Shadow of the Erdtree DLC that launched in June 2024. However, Bloodborne has gone nearly 10 years without a new DLC, a sequel, or an anticipated PC port. Elden Ring exists among Soulslike games that keep players busy for months, thanks to its sprawling open world and rich lore. Therefore, it’s understandable why players are easily consumed by its world, so much so that Christmas mannequins begin to look like enemy encounters.

Posted by obi-juan-kenobee, a photo was shared on the Elden Ring subreddit showing two mannequins in a shop window. Both mannequins had their faces covered by a cluster of festive baubles in gold and red, and this bizarre headpiece triggered the fan’s encounter with two of the more disturbingly designed Soulslike bosses. Elden Ring’s Aging Untouchable has various similarities to Bloodborne’s Winter Lanterns, but the most notable design detail they have in common is the grotesque, bulbous heads, which the Christmas decorations managed to capture.

Elden Ring’s Aging Untouchable creatures also provide a callback to another Dark Souls boss in addition to the Bloodborne enemy, and it’s clear FromSoftware favors the bulging designs prominent in both. Soulslike Redditors noted the bauble mannequins gave them unwelcomed flashbacks to the Abyssal Woods, and another fan noted players’ instinct to panic and roll away from Aging Untouchables, instead of trying to hide and then rush the Winter Lanterns during Bloodborne combat.

The Aging Untouchable enemies are found in Abyssal Woods, a Shadow of the Erdtree location that Torrent is fearful of, while Bloodborne’s Winter Lanterns populate Nightmare Frontier, Nightmare of Mensis, and Fishing Hamlet. Elden Ring’s DLC does contain a more obvious nod to the Bloodborne creatures, as the heralds of the Aging Untouchable are named Winter-Lantern Flies. Additional trivia states the Winter Lanterns are named after a real-life plant in Japan, which is used as both a food and sedative, with its bright covering named after the Chinese paper lanterns.

ELDEN RING developed by FromSoftware, Inc. and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set within a world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin. Danger and discovery lurk around every corner in FromSoftware’s largest game to-date.Hidetaka Miyazaki – President and Game Director of FromSoftware Inc. Known for directing critically-acclaimed games in beloved franchises including Armored Core and Dark Souls.George R.R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire – A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows, and A Dance with Dragons. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with the lovely Parris in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Released

February 25, 2022

Multiplayer

Online Co-Op , Online Multiplayer

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Engine

Proprietary

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence

How Long To Beat

58 Hours

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Steam Deck Compatibility

yes

X|S Optimized

yes

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PS Plus Availability

N/A

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Cross Save

no

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Cross-Platform Play

PS4 & PS5 and Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S

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