Elden Ring PC players are getting spoiled with a mod that allows for a full co-op experience. You'll be able to boot up the game and play with a friend from the tutorial right up until the credits roll.
The Elden Ring mod hasn't released just yet, though. The most we've seen are a couple of videos posted to creator LukeYui's YouTube channel. But given that he's previously knocked together a Sekiro co-op mod, it'll only be a matter of time before PC players can get their hands on it.
PS5 and Xbox Series X players meanwhile are stuck with the vanilla game that has zero mod support. And as someone who is on a different plane of existence to players like Let Me Solo Her when it comes to skill level, I am very jealous. Summons just don't cut the mustard.
Elden Ring co-op mod features
LukeYui uploaded a first look at the work in progress mod earlier this month in a lengthy 17 minute video. The shorter seven minute video above was uploaded this week and showcases some of the new features that have been added since. Given that Elden Ring – and FromSoft games in general – are all about the slog and difficulty, purists will be happy to see that if you die in a boss fight, you can't just drop back in immediately.
Instead, you'll enter spectator mode until the boss or the remaining players die. LukeYui says this "lets bosses keep their challenge while allowing you to stay together in a multiplayer session."
There are penalties for dying, so you can't just ride your friends' coattails through the game, dying willy-nilly. A stackable debuff called Rot Essence kicks in when you die, but sitting at a bonfire will purge it.
He expands on the debuff in the video comments, explaining that "the Rot Essence is to make up for the fact that, when you die, you will respawn and get the world information from the player who is still alive.
"This means that, in theory, if at least 1 player is alive at all times the enemies will never respawn and the world will never reset. It's there to encourage players to rest at sites of Grace to reset the world so that having respawning players in co-op doesn't completely trivialize the game's challenge."
There's also enemy scaling, and synced map waypoints for improved communication when it comes to picking a location to explore. On that note, players can fast travel together after a unanimous vote to warp elsewhere.
The mod should support up to four players, and everyone can ride their own Torrent.
Elden Ring co-op mod: release date
LukeYui hasn't given a release date or window for the Elden Ring co-op mod yet. He says he's being "purposefully vague" in case an update throws a spanner in the works. This happened with Elden Ring's latest 1.04 update which caused some setbacks.
"I don't want to get blindsided by a significant bug and end up missing a proposed release date. I've still got a fair amount of work to do in terms of stability and bug fixes. I'll keep everyone updated here, and once something playable is ready I'll let you know ASAP."
So keep an eye on his YouTube channel and Nexus Mods page.
Will the Elden Ring co-op mod get you banned?
In short, no. You'll be fine. But there are a couple of stipulations, like the fact you won't be able to carry over your characters from the mod to the vanilla version of Elden Ring. LukeYui explains:
"When using this mod you aren't running EAC [easy anti-cheat], and you're also not connected to FromSoftware's matchmaking servers. This mod also has isolated save files, so you can't bring characters over from this mod to vanilla servers. These points mean you can't get banned from using this mod.
"You can use whatever other mods you like with this one, so long as they don't interfere with the multiplayer aspect of the game. As mentioned above as well mods will work but everyone in the party must have them installed for everyone to use them."
