'Elden Ring' Player Pretends To Be An NPC To Avoid Invader

An "Elden Ring" player recently did something clever to escape an invader within their game: by pretending to be an NPC and actually succeeding in the trickery.

GamesRadar reports that the said player of FromSoftware's latest "Soulsborne" shared a video of them putting on armor that looks almost identical to some NPCs. They also grabbed a torch for good measure and then started walking up and down like they were on a pre-programmed path.

Here is the video from redditor xdc_lis, which has earned 9581 upvotes at the time of this writing:

As you can see, xdc's ruse unexpectedly worked like a charm, with the invader passing by them numerous times being none the wiser. It's a funny video overall, considering how annoyed the invader might have been at not being able to spot the player no matter how hard they looked.

Commenters shared the same sentiment, with most of them praising xdc for the "mental fortitude" it required to act like an NPC. Most players will not have the patience to walk up and down the same path when they can run elsewhere, but this is perhaps one of the best examples of gamer-style patience out there.

However, the ruse might not have worked after all if the "Elden Ring" invader did just one thing: lock onto the player.

"Elden Ring's" multiplayer co-op works much like any other multiplayer mode out there: by putting player's names above their characters' heads to help people identify each other as friend or foe. However, xdc revealed that the names can only be shown if enemy players lock onto you. And since they looked like an NPC, the enemy invader didn't even bother locking on.

But what's even funnier is that the invader in xdc's game actually commented on the Reddit post, indicating that it was them showed running around in the video:

At the end of the day, it elicited a laugh from both "Elden Ring" players.

How 'Elden Ring' Invasions Work

Invasions is how FromSoftware does PvP multiplayer in "Elden Ring," and it has stayed the same over the course of its implementation in other "Soulsborne" games.

According to Dexerto, its premise is simple: other players can go into your game world whenever they want (you'll be warned when they do). Their singular purpose there will be to kill you and take all your runes. And judging how hard it can get to farm runes (the game's currency that players use to level up and buy items), these PvP battles can get pretty tense.

Surviving an invasion takes a lot of cunning and skill. That's because aside from the invader, the player must also deal with the game world's dangers which never "turn off" in the event of an invasion.

But the dangers aren't just limited to players being invaded. "Elden Ring" remains perilous to invaders as well, as proven by player NikWarlord during their first invasion which went horribly wrong:

As you can see there, NikWarlord's first time invading someone's game didn't pan out the way they hoped. After following their target into some sort of marsh, they were ambushed by two other players disguised as bushes close to a shack. The result was inevitable: the 3v1 battle ended with NikWarlord's defeat, and the loss of their runes (which they likely spent hours farming).

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Written by RJ Pierce