9 Scrapped Bosses Used In Other Video Games
The Resident Evil franchise has had killer dolls in the works for YEARS.
An enormous amount of effort went into designing and programming all those video game bosses we cherish so fondly, the result of dozens or even hundreds of team members coming together to deliver a truly unforgettable experience.
But game development also has a tendency to be highly fluid and variable, so it's not uncommon for planned boss fights to get scrapped during production, whether still in the embryonic stages or shockingly close to completion.
While many bosses get scrapped for creative reasons and are sadly never seen again, others are compelling enough that the developer decides to return to them in a sequel or spiritual successor.
After all, sometimes bosses are ditched simply for time constraints, so if the design fundamentals are solid and cohere acceptably with another game, why not throw it in?
These nine scrapped bosses all ended up seeing the light day one way or another, years or maybe even decades after their original coming-out party didn't quite go as planned.
And so when you sit down to play your next glossy AAA blockbuster, consider the many possible proposed bosses that didn't end up making the cut...
9. Dark Souls III's SnakeSoul - Elden Ring
Considering the many, many bosses featured in each and every FromSoftware game, it's little surprise that the likes of Dark Souls and Bloodborne left a number of tantalising bosses on the cutting room floor.
And given the design ingenuity of most every FromSoft boss, can you really blame them for recycling any of their discarded ones?
That's exactly what happened with the Ulcerated Tree Spirit from the developer's recent Elden Ring. Enterprising player Zullie the Witch dug into the game's code and discovered that it actually had the data name "SnakeSoul," which to hardcore Dark Souls fans is a moniker that should sound familiar.
Following the release of Dark Souls III in 2016, dataminers discovered references in the game's code to a creature called "SnakeSoul" which never actually appeared in the game itself.
Furthermore, the Ulcerated Tree Spirit even bears a strong resemblance to a mutated tree-like creature that was featured in leaked alpha stills of Dark Souls III yet never appeared in the game proper.
And so, we can freely deduce that the Ulcerated Tree Spirit is indeed the mysterious SnakeSoul, finally closing the door on a years-long mystery.