I Need Elden Ring Multiplayer, But Not Nightreign

Elden Ring Nightreign is an upcoming multiplayer spin-off of Elden Ring, and one that has gathered a ton of hype and showed a lot of promise just in its early previews. It isn’t hard to see why, either, as the promise of a cooperative Elden Ring campaign is something that has a lot of players excited. However, Elden Ring Nightreign is not the multiplayer Elden Ring I, and dare I say, we, needed, forgoing the exciting fantasy of playing through Elden Ring together with friends and instead delivering an entirely different, albeit still co-op, spin-off game. Exciting though it may be, Elden Ring Nightreign still fails to truly deliver on the multiplayer Elden Ring experience, a promise players can still fulfil through a free, unofficial expansion.

There is an almost romantic feeling behind the idea of sharing the Elden Ring world with someone else, something FromSoftware surely knew when they released the Elden Ring Nightreign playtest on Valentine’s Day.

Elden Ring itself isn’t completely devoid of multiplayer elements, allowing players to hop in and take on bosses together or even invade other worlds with PVP. What it is missing, however, is a means to play the game seamlessly with a friend or partner, allowing players to experience the open world of Elden Ring from start to finish in a co-op campaign. While this may sound like a tall order, it’s something players can already do unofficially, with the help of Elden Ring Seamless Co-op, a fan-made mod that allows for a perfect, seamless multiplayer playthrough of the entire Elden Ring game.

The mod simply allows up to 5 players to share a world together, with cooperative play that is not interrupted by a player dying, resting at a bonfire, or other such inconveniences included in default Elden Ring multiplayer. The world and NPC dialogue all synchronize, fog barriers and zone restrictions in default multiplayer are removed, and progress made together carries over outside of multiplayer. While the mod is in Beta and players can face an occasional bug, you can theoretically play the entire game, from tutorial to finish, uninterrupted with friends.

RELATED: Elden Ring Nightreign Is Removing One of the Franchise’s Most Popular Features

The best part is that the mod is designed in such a way that you won’t be banned from playing it, a risk that can come from some Elden Ring mods. The mod also comes with adjustable difficulty options to compensate for the addition of another Tarnished, and even features support for invasions in your co-op world. This is great because, as of right now, the mod is the only way to truly experience the co-op Elden Ring fantasy as many players have imagined it.

Elden Ring Nightreign, despite being talked about like a multiplayer version of Elden Ring by plenty of excited fans, is actually more of a roguelike spinoff where players take on the role of pre-built characters, gather procedurally generated loot, and take on a powerful boss together. It certainly isn’t a bad idea for a game; in fact, a roguelike Elden Ring totally makes sense. I would never try to tell you that Nightreign is going to be a bad game, especially since it’s one I plan on picking up. It just isn’t the Elden Ring multiplayer I need.

Although the Elden Ring Seamless Co-op mod exists to fill that need and works incredibly well, it simply is not the same as having official support for a truly cooperative Elden Ring from FromSoftware. Mod authors, who work for free and with limited access to the game’s code and development tools, can only be expected to do so much, and the fact that they were able to create the Elden Ring Seamless Co-op mod is something of a miracle already (especially with how buggy co-op mods for other single player games.) Many players who wish they could play through Elden Ring with friends or family are also unlikely to even find the mod, as it isn’t available on consoles and is likely to be overlooked by the subsect of players who aren’t put off the hassle that can come with modding, even though the Elden Ring Seamless Co-op mod is a relatively simple install. If nothing else, this mod proves that cooperative Elden Ring gameplay is possible, though still unlikely to be added to the game in an official capacity.

Although we have no promises for Elden Ring 2 any time soon, I can only hope that FromSoftware includes some real cooperative multiplayer in future Soulslike titles. Until then, players with enough patience to watch a short instructional video can download and support the Elden Ring Seamless Co-op mod and go on a breathtaking adventure together with friends, family, or loved ones.