FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki has said the studio may consider including “beginning to end, total co-op” in future games.
Elden Ring’s co-op summoning system can be a lifesaver for tarnished in need of a little help to take down a troublesome boss. However, its design leaves some pretty significant barriers to players hoping to enjoy a sustained co-op experience. For example, players are booted back to their own world rune arc in hand the moment the area boss is defeated, or as soon as they unceremoniously bite the dust. Summoning also prevents you from riding atop your trusty steed Torrent, which can make Elden Ring’s expansive open world seem a little too expansive on occasion.
To get around these limitations, Elden Ring’s modding community created the seamless co-op mod for the PC version of the game, which theoretically allows a band of up to five tarnished to complete the entire game from tutorial to conclusion in a single uninterrupted session. It's a pretty significant overhaul of FromSoftware’s vanilla Elden Ring co-op experience, which removes the fog walls that ordinarily restrict a party’s movement, while ensuring that the death of a boss, or player, won’t boot your compatriots back to their respective worlds.
In a recent interview with PC Gamer ahead of htis month’s launch of Elden Ring’s first and only DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, Miyazaki revealed that he has no hard feelings over the unsanctioned multiplayer overhaul, or its burgeoning popularity.
"It's definitely not something we actively oppose or want to downplay, wanting to go through the whole game together," explained Miyazaki. "In terms of where we were with Elden Ring, it was simply a case of wanting that more loose, casual style — drop in, defeat a boss, drop out. It doesn't put any technical restrictions on the player, it just sort of lets them complete this focus and then move on, so to speak."
During the interview, Miyazaki revealed that FromSoftware may consider taking a more comprehensive approach to cooperative play in subsequent titles, which would prove to be a popular decision among the over 3.7 million PC gamers who have already downloaded the unofficial mod. "That's not to say we won't consider other ways, like you and your friend played, from beginning to end, total co-op — that's not to say we won't consider ideas like that with our future games," said the FromSoftware president.
Shadow of the Erdtree is set to expand on Miquella’s story, and introduce a host of new enemies, bosses, weapons and fighting styles to FromSoftware’s hit RPG when it releases on June 21. Be sure to check out IGN’s comprehensive guide detailing how to get your tarnished warrior ready for everything that the DLC has to throw at you, and be wary of spoilers that have emerged online.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
