Elden Ring's Easy-To-Miss Tutorial Is Now Much More Obvious

Elden Ring's previously easy-to-miss tutorial, the appropriately titled Cave of Knowledge, is now basically impossible to miss.

The change comes as part of Elden Ring patch 1.04, which in addition to balancing a number of weapons, spells, and addressing various bugs, has also added a mandatory prompt towards the beginning of the game to make sure players know about its optional tutorial.

As confirmed by Eurogamer, shortly after dying to (or defeating) the game's first enemy and reawakening in a cave, a prompt appears that reads "Jump into the hole ahead, and you will find the Cave of Knowledge. There, you can learn more about game controls and basic actions, as well as other tips that may be helpful during your adventures in the Lands Between."

Some players and critics have lambasted the fact that the Cave of Knowledge tutorial was optional and so easy to walk right past, as unless they interacted with the environment to learn more and took a leap of faith, it wasn't entirely clear what awaited players at the bottom of the hole. Based on Elden Ring's sales numbers, there are likely a huge number of new players journeying through the Lands Between who maybe aren't familiar with some of the quirks of previous From Software games, like Dark Souls, from which Elden Ring heavily borrows. With that in mind, it makes sense that the developer would want to make sure new players start on the right foot by exploring the tutorial instead of wandering around Limgrave struggling to figure out basic game functions.

Patch 1.04 is the second major balance patch for Elden Ring following the game's launch. The previous patch 1.03 nerfed the fan-favorite Ash of War Hoarfrost Stomp and the popular Mimic Tear summon, along with other changes. Patch 1.04, on the other hand, seems to make dozens of spells and weapon abilities better, either through decreasing their cast time, reducing the amount of stamina or FP they consume, or even outright increasing the damage they deal.