The Venn diagram of weebs and FromSoft fans is more or less a circle, and modder Hotbite over on the Elden Ring Nexus (opens in new tab) has just made their dreams come true. Hotbite has successfully implemented the moveset of Sekiro’s infamously tough final boss, Sword Saint Isshin, in a playable form in Elden Ring.
Wolf might have been FromSoftware’s coolest protagonist, but even he looks like a chump compared to Isshin, another classic FromSoft “tragic boss guy who’s way cooler than you’ll ever be.” Isshin was the heroic, almost mythic champion of Ashina, a charismatic warrior-king who managed to cling to life long enough to see the decline and fall of his kingdom.
In three of Sekiro’s four endings you face off against the souped-up “Sword Saint” Isshin, returned to his prime with dark magic, and that version of the boss forms the basis of Hotbite’s project. By equipping the Nagakiba, heavy crossbow, and pike in Hotbite’s specified order with the mod installed, your character adopts the Isshin moveset, reminiscent of how the two-weapon “power stancing” of the base game works.
The new moves are something to behold, with acrobatic Way of Tomoe lightning slashes, wide sweeping attacks with Isshin’s spear, and regular strikes that look like more of a fit for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance than Elden Ring. Hotbite even implements Isshin’s absurd little Tanegashima flintlock that he uses like a machine pistol. As Souls series YouTuber Zullie the Witch put it, who gave this old man a gun (opens in new tab)?
This whole thing is, in short, pretty sick. It’s a little drastic for my personal use, and requires fully offline play and careful save file/install directory juggling to avoid the Easy Anti-Cheat Eye of Sauron, but if Elden Ring’s divisive, überstrong katanas don’t quite fulfill that bushido fantasy for you, Hotbite’s work here might just do the trick.