Elden Ring offers players a variety of play styles to experiment with as they make their way through the open world FromSoftware has crafted in the Lands Between. While Elden Ring does offer the freedom to explore its world in any way the player chooses, including which side quests to follow and what dungeons to explore, there are some ways the game railroads the player into making certain decisions if they want access to all of the content possible. In the case of the NPC Patches, the game seemingly wants players to kill this character for the best outcome.