One of the most heavily marketed features in Elden Ring is its co-op mode, wherein the host player can summon two other players to help them in their adventures and defeat the game's challenging bosses. Elden Ring co-op functions like a more convenient version of Dark Souls co-op, and while it can be a great deal of fun, it also represents one of the game's greatest missed opportunities to do something even better.
Elden Ring co-op is designed in a way that essentially allows players to play through the entire game together, just in a more inconvenient fashion. Elden Ring co-op players could start off at a Site of Grace, progress with their friends all the way to the area boss, defeat the boss, and then simply summon their friends back into the world immediately after they're kicked out. Kicking co-op partners out at all just adds a needless extra step to the proceedings.
What's more is that Elden Ring co-op players can't get true progress in their worlds like the host player can. Only the Elden Ring host players can touch Sites of Grace, which act as checkpoints and fast-travel spots on the game's massive open world map. Co-op players do get credit for defeating enemies and playing in co-op is still a great way to level up, but not letting co-op players touch Sites of Grace and progress the story seems like an unnecessary restriction, especially since Elden Ring already allows players to basically play through the whole game together anyway.
If a group of three decided to play Elden Ring together from start to finish, they pretty much could. The only thing is that they would have to do everything three times for everyone to make progress. This can make Elden Ring co-op somewhat repetitive, though the bright side is that it's a great way to farm for runes and level up one's character.
Maybe if developer FromSoftware ever decides to move forward with an Elden Ring sequel, it could really let loose with co-op. Imagine a FromSoftware Soulslike that truly embraces co-op play by doing away with the restrictions to really let players enjoy the entire experience together. It may never happen, but it could very well take an already incredible, landmark gaming experience to even greater heights.
Elden Ring is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
