2 years later, Elden Ring dataminer finally uncovers the RPG's original starting location and restores an alternate opening that makes slightly more sense

An Elden Ring dataminer has uncovered an alternate start location and unused voice lines that were present in an early version of the game. 

When Elden Ring launched two years ago, players were immediately thrust into a tough boss fight with Grafted Scion near the Chapel of Anticipation, but whether you win or (more likely) lose, your character falls down the cliffside and wakes up in a cave regardless. That doesn't quite make physical sense since you can't, you know, fall into a cave. But it's not just FromSoft's dreamlike logic - there is another explanation. 

YouTuber and dataminer Sekiro Dubi recently discovered that the opening cutscene - where Melina and Torrent find the player in a cave - was originally set on the sandy beach under the Seaside Ruins, which makes more sense after tumbling off a cliff. 

In the video below, Sekiro Dubi restores the original starting point and stitches together a more fitting opening cutscene using leftover audio clips. The YouTuber even finds a route from the beach back to the Chapel, since an early network test version of the game featured a teleporter close by. 

A map inscription from the pre-release network test also reveals that a port was planned to be near the beach, with the video speculating that it was "perhaps the place the Tarnished used for arriving from 'Across The Sea Of Fog.'"

While players are still excavating Elden Ring's past, the studio is gearing up to release its next chapter with the upcoming expansion Shadow of the Erdtree on June 21. The DLC area is supposedly bigger than Limgrave and also denser than anything in the studio's back catalog. 

Need a refresher before Shadow of the Erdtree? Here's Elden Ring's story explained.