Being a FromSoftware title in the same vein as Dark Souls, Sekiro, and Bloodborne, Elden Ring is a very difficult game that doesn't teach players everything they need to know, at least at first. While tutorial screens pop up every so often to show players how certain items work or mechanics, there's still so much to know, like how tosave in Elden Ring, for example. With there being lots of items to collect, enemies to defeat, and Runes to take from enemies, making sure progress is being saved is crucial for Elden Ring players to become the Elden Lord.
Updated on November 14, 2022: Elden Ring is coming close to its 1-year anniversary, and many people have been talking about it again due to it being one of the nominees for Geoff Keighley's Game Awards Game of the Year for 2022. Not only that, but rumors of a potential Elden Ring DLC or expansion are still being thrown around, so there's hopefully lots more for fans to do in the post-game. However, for the players out there that have just jumped into FromSoft's open world for the first time, this guide will cover how to save in Elden Ring.
How to Save in Elden Ring
For players that are used to FromSoftware's recent titles, then they probably already know that there is no way to manually save game progress in Elden Ring. The game will auto-save every few minutes when players do anything of importance, whether collecting an item or getting Runes from defeating an enemy. The game will also save when players visit one of the many Sites of Lost Grace, similar to the Bonfires in Dark Souls.
Sites of Lost Grace are essentially the checkpoints in Elden Ring, and once players sit down at one, a few things will happen: Health and FP(Focus Points) will be restored completely, Sacred Flasks will be refilled, and defeated enemies will respawn.
In the Site of Lost Grace menu, Elden Ring players have several options to choose from. They can pass the time to change the time of day; they can level up their character using collected Runes; they can sort through their chest; and there are other options, too.
To ensure that players' Elden Ring progress is saved, the best thing to do is go to a Site of Lost Grace and then quit the game using the menu. Just head to the System tab, and then use the bumpers to go to the Quit Game option. This will save the game and boot players back to the title menu, where they can load up a different character profile or mess around with the game's settings.
Can You Pause Elden Ring?
There is no official way to pause Elden Ring. If players sit at a Site of Lost Grace, they should be safe from being attacked, but it's worth noting that players cannot sit down at a Site of Lost Grace while enemies are attacking them --it needs to be safe first.
Even if players attempt to play Elden Ring offline, they will still be unable to pause the game in any way. Players can either hang out at a Site of Lost Grace or just find a safe location to chill at --just make sure no enemies are nearby. It's best to just quit the game and save instead of having a character stand in a random spot on the map.
Elden Ring is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
