The mischievous history of Elden Ring’s Patches, FromSoftware’s eternal scamp

For the previous 15 years, I’ve been repeatedly tricked by Patches, the lovable scamp of FromSoftware’s Souls video games. Regardless of him leaving me for lifeless a number of instances and usually being a sniveling little shit, I by no means need him to go away. He’s turn into one of the best long-running joke in FromSoftware’s video games since his debut look in 2009’s Demon’s Souls, and he made a really memorable look in 2022’s Elden Ring.

Whereas Patches is a staple of recreation director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s Souls video games, his history traces again additional, to FromSoft’s Armored Core collection. And based on one idea, Patches might have been secretly plaguing FromSoft video games even earlier than that.

Patches in Armored Core

Within the 2008 recreation Armored Core: For Reply, Miyazaki’s second recreation as director, Patches is launched as Patch the Good Luck, pilot of the AC “No Count.” Patch’s mech is supplied with a long-range sniper rifle and digital countermeasures, that means he prefers to combat from a distance using stealth somewhat than partaking in battle instantly.

Gamers battle Patch and a handful of different enemy AC pilots in an early mission, and when issues begin going badly for Patch, he’ll beg for mercy. “Wait, wait! I give up!” Patch says, his mech (one way or the other) visibly shaking and cowering. “H-hey, I’m just following orders here.” Upon realizing you aren’t going to kill him, Patch will retreat.

Patch’s sneakiness and cowardice in battle is presaged in a mission briefing: “His favored combat strategy is to snipe from the air or from concealed locations to catch his opponents off guard.” That description units the tone for his dishonorable, opportunistic conduct in Demon’s Souls and subsequent video games.

Patches in Demon’s Souls

The character’s first actual look is available in Demon’s Souls, the place he’s generally known as Patches the Hyena. Gamers encounter him twice: as soon as within the underground mining space of Stonefang Tunnel, the place Patches will lure them right into a lure, and once more in a darkish temple within the Shrine of Storms, the place he’ll greet the participant and promise them riches… if solely they’ll peer right into a gap that results in a dungeon beneath. If gamers do observe the trickster’s instructions, Patches will boot them within the ass and ship them to their presumed demise. Ought to they survive and confront Patches, he’ll cross it off as an enormous misunderstanding.

After being duped by Patches and sparing his life, gamers then discover that he’s returned to the sport’s hub world, the Nexus, the place he’ll function a service provider. On this capability, Patches acts like he’s doing you a favor. Demon’s Souls establishes Patches as a infamous gaslighter.

Patches in Darkish Souls

Picture: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco by way of VaatiVidya

Patches returns in Darkish Souls. Gamers can meet him in two places, the Catacombs and Tomb of the Giants — each darkish underground areas, a recurring thematic residence for Patches. He’ll introduce himself, amusingly as “Trusty Patches,” and one of the primary issues he does is lure the participant into (you recognize the place that is going) a lure. When gamers survive and return to Patches, he’ll as soon as once more dismiss his treacherous conduct as a prank. No huge deal. Water beneath the bridge!

Patches’ flip in Darkish Souls is remarkably just like that of his look in Demon’s Souls, maybe partially as a result of FromSoft’s follow-up was now reaching a a lot wider viewers.

Patches in Bloodborne

Picture: FromSoftware/Sony Interactive Leisure by way of Polygon

Gamers subsequent noticed Patches in a really totally different type in Bloodborne. He returns to his previous methods, luring gamers right into a lure by promising them treasure and kicking them off the aspect of a cliff. However in Bloodborne, Patches seems to have lastly obtained his comeuppance: He’s been remodeled right into a ghastly spider from the neck down.

Patches the Spider takes deception to a brand new degree in Bloodborne, masquerading as different characters as a way to trick the participant into taking the Tonsil Stone, a tool that sends them to a spot known as the Nightmare Frontier and grants them an viewers with Amygdala, a fearsome boss. What’s extra, the revelation that Patches is a spider-man — a element that’s obscured to the participant as a result of he’s hiding behind a door — provides a brand new twist to his third look in a FromSoft recreation. As soon as once more, after the participant confronts Patches the Spider about his misdeeds, he’ll beg to be spared, and later he’ll return as a uncommon spawn in Bloodborne’s Chalice Dungeons.

Patches in Darkish Souls 3

Picture: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco by way of Polygon

Maybe essentially the most layered deception Patches devises is available in Darkish Souls 3, the place he’s generally known as Unbreakable Patches. In that recreation, Patches wears the onion-shaped armor of the Catarina knights, evoking gamers’ reminiscences of the beloved NPCs Siegmeyer of Catarina and his daughter Sieglinde from the unique Darkish Souls. Buying and selling on their good names (and utilizing Siegmeyer’s acquainted “Hmmm…” to bolster his disguise), Patches units one other lure for the participant, sending them to sure doom on the foot of a large.

When confronted, Unbreakable Patches blames his dangerous conduct on his armor, which he implies is cursed. (In actuality, he stole that armor from one other NPC, Siegward of Catarina, who’s clearly supposed because the true callback to Siegmeyer.)

Patches additionally seems as a separate character within the second add-on for Darkish Souls 3, The Ringed Metropolis. Additional sooner or later, on the finish of the world, Patches has gone hole — mad, in Darkish Souls parlance — and misplaced his reminiscence. He thinks he’s a knight named Lapp, and seeks to get better his identification. Because of the participant, he does handle to regain his reminiscences and, shortly after pledging his timeless friendship, reverts to his previous methods, luring the participant to treasure and kicking them right into a pit. It’s a becoming finish for Patches on this planet of Darkish Souls, however seems, his journey has not ended.

Patches in Elden Ring

Picture: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco by way of Polygon

Elden Ring gamers meet the person generally known as Patches the Untethered early within the recreation in the event that they discover his underground dwelling in Limgrave’s Murkwater Cave. For the primary time in a “Souls” recreation, gamers meet Patches in fight. He’ll assault the participant for attempting to pilfer his belongings, however he’ll plead for mercy and try to de-escalate the combat when he’s at half well being.

Patches will then resort to his previous methods, tricking the participant into opening a trapped chest that may teleport them to a far-off location the place they’ll face a large enemy. After this, Patches will as soon as once more turn into a pleasant service provider for gamers ought to they revisit him, and in the event that they progress his quest line far sufficient, they’ll be handled to a traditional Patches ruse that ends with the participant getting kicked off a cliff’s edge.

Maybe Patches’ most amusing show of cowardice in Elden Ring comes within the boss battle with Starscourge Radahn. In that memorably epic combat, gamers can summon a protracted record of NPCs to combat with them, together with Iron Fist Alexander, Blaidd, and — surprisingly — Patches. However whereas different NPC allies will battle Radahn to the demise, a summoned Patches will run away simply moments after being known as to combat.

Is Patches immortal?

Picture: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco by way of VaatiVidya

Patches’ story arc in Darkish Souls 3 will surely suggest that, on condition that the grave-robbing trickster seems to have survived from the unique Darkish Souls to the tip of the trilogy’s world.

In an interview for the unique Darkish Souls, Miyazaki mentioned Demon’s Souls’ Patches the Hyena and later variations of Patches in Darkish Souls video games and Bloodborne had been totally different folks. “Officially, it’s just a ‘coincidence’ that they look alike,” Miyazaki said on the podcast Game no Shokutaku, although the host implied Miyazaki was being facetious (or attempting to not get into hassle, giving that FromSoft has labored with totally different publishers throughout titles).

Miyazaki later mentioned in an interview for Bloodborne, “As [Patches’] creator, I can’t help but feel a sense of pride that he’s made it this far,” implying that the character has survived throughout a number of centuries and the world-ending occasions of his video games.

With the not too long ago launched Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, there are hints that that recreation’s world connects to the Darkish Souls universe, maybe serving as a precursor to these video games. A brand new merchandise in Shadow of the Erdtree vaguely references the Lordvessel, an vital merchandise within the first Darkish Souls.

However Patches might have existed in some type within the FromSoftware recreation catalog even earlier than Miyazaki joined the corporate in 2004. In a video from 2023 about Patches’ “true origin,” YouTube creator Blinge theorizes that FromSoft’s Japan-only PlayStation 2 recreation Shadow Tower: Abyss might have given us the earliest model of Patches, though the character on the coronary heart of this idea doesn’t bear that identify. Shadow Tower: Abyss encompasses a anonymous trickster who lures the participant right into a treasure room that homes a lethal lure. That proto-Patches additionally drops gamers into monster-infested waters by knocking a bridge out from beneath them, simply as “Trusty Patches” does in Darkish Souls.

Shadow Tower: Abyss pulls all of these methods on the participant as they pursue a strong spear. And it simply so occurs that Patches’ weapon of alternative all through Darkish Souls, Darkish Souls 3, and Elden Ring is a spear.

Different recurring Patches themes

Along with pulling principally the identical trick on gamers over and over within the Souls video games, Patches has one other recurring trait. He provides gamers numerous emotes that mirror his supposed repentance for attempting to kill the participant. In Darkish Souls, gamers earn the “Prostration” emote. In Bloodborne, it’s “Beg for Life,” and in Elden Ring, it’s “Grovel for Mercy.”

British actor William Vanderpuye has lengthy voiced Patches (and “Lapp” in Darkish Souls 3), beginning with Demon’s Souls. Japanese actor Naomi Kusumi has assumed the function simply twice, in 2008’s Armored Core: For Reply and within the 2020 Demon’s Souls remake, a brand new connection for the character. Exterior of these two video games, Patches has solely been voiced in English.

Patches has solely ever appeared in video games directed by Miyazaki himself. That’s nearly actually why he doesn’t seem in Darkish Souls 2, which was co-directed by Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura. Patches’ closest analog in that recreation is Gentle-Mannered Pate, a spear-wielding trickster who’s voiced by actor Peter Serafinowicz. Patches additionally doesn’t seem in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice or the VR journey recreation Déraciné, which had been led by Miyazaki.

What’s subsequent for Patches isn’t clear; FromSoftware hasn’t introduced any initiatives past the not too long ago launched Shadow of the Erdtree. In interviews, Miyazaki has expressed concern about overusing Easter eggs and cross-game references, like FromSoftware video games’ trademark moonlight swords which were featured throughout a number of franchises. However Patches’ tenacity and survivability nearly ensures FromSoft followers will see him once more sometime.