Long-time fans of FromSoftware’s action RPG Soulsborne games are well aware of the unique co-op that is available in each title. Like many other mechanics in the games, the cooperative play is not exactly straightforward or traditional when compared to other co-op experiences, but the multiplayer in FromSoftware’s games fits perfectly into the gameplay.
That being said, with Elden Ring’s recent release, many players have commended the open-world approach to the traditional Dark Souls formula but want more freedom when it comes to cooperative play. However, if FromSoftware wants to keep the familiar essence of its titles, it may be in the developer’s best interest to keep the co-op limited.
How Co-Op Works in FromSoftware Games
Generally speaking, the co-op in FromSoftware games is fairly limited and is usually used to help players in desperate need of assistance. Starting with the original Demon’s Souls, players have been able to utilize other players’ summon signs in order to best a particularly difficult area or boss. The co-op has always come with risks, mainly the use of limited items, raised enemy difficulty, and the potential of hostile invasions while trying to play cooperatively.
Like other multiplayer games, FromSoftware has attempted to regulate the multiplayer experience by limiting the range of player summons and invasions with the host player’s level. Essentially, players can only summon cooperative partners, be invaded by players, or invade other players who have a similar in-game level. On paper, the regulations work fairly well, but in practice, many players have found exploits or certain character builds that are almost unbeatable against other players. In order to thwart these nuisance players, FromSoftware has included password protected multiplayer as well as the ability to turn off multiplayer altogether which keeps host players from getting unwanted invasions.
If players are able to successfully summon a co-op partner, they are rewarded with an extra set of hands to assist with the area boss. However, if the host player, co-op partner, or area boss is defeated, the co-op player is sent back to their own world and the multiplayer session ends. Additionally, if a player does join as a cooperative companion, the area enemies’ and boss’ health scales with the number of players joined, so more players fighting a boss might help the host succeed but defeating the enemies will still not be an easy task.
FromSoftware wanted to include co-op in an attempt to provide much-needed assistance to players but also wanted to make it clear that the mechanic could not and should not be used constantly, at the risk of running out of limited items or facing even more difficult enemies. Within the linear Soulsborne games, the co-op works fairly well with players able to put down summon signs outside boss arenas, but Elden Ring’s open-world experience changed the approach.
Elden Ring's Co-Op
Elden Ring came as a nice change of pace from the usual, linear-designed worlds of Soulsborne games as the open world provides more freedom and exploration, and allows for players to proceed through the world at their own pace. In addition to the changed world design, the co-op also had to get tweaked to better fit how the multiplayer operates.
Similar to previous games, Elden Ring continued to require players to use limited resources to create a co-op session, but the resource is fairly abundant and easily crafted. Additionally, players could still place summon signs before bosses or legacy dungeons, but Elden Ring also introduced the use of summoning pools that allowed players to easily find co-op partners or assist others within a given area of the game. However, Elden Ring still limited the area in which cooperative play could occur and had the same circumstances that would end the session.
Elden Ring has become one of the most accessible and approachable FromSoftware games and has thus had many new players who have never experienced the challenge of the Soulsborne series. Between an uninitiated player base and a vast open-world, Elden Ring seems like the perfect game to include a full-fledged co-op experience that was free of the limitations of its predecessors, but FromSoftware opted to keep its newest title as a single-player dominated experience.
With that said, the Elden Ring community saw the potential of co-op in the new game and created a mod that allowed players to experience the game with seamless cooperative play. Players were no longer limited to certain areas and were allowed to explore the Lands Between with a friend by their side the entire time. This mod helped many players finally complete the game by easing the tension and challenge that usually comes with a Soulsborne title. However, just because seamless co-op can be done, it does not necessarily mean it is how the game is intended to be played.
How Full-Fledged Co-Op Could Change the Series
Since every FromSoftware game has included co-op, the developers could have included the feature with no limitations, but the core gameplay experience is not geared towards multiplayer. The experience that players expect from FromSoftware is a convoluted and lore-rich story and difficult yet rewarding combat, and both of those key features would be more difficult to present if permanent co-op was an option.
Fans who are interested in the full story of the Soulsborne games must dive deep into each individual item, enemy, and area in order to gain the most knowledge and piece the overarching story together. Cooperative play tends to be geared more towards action and fighting together, which could take players out of the story and make one or all players miss key parts of the lore. Since the games are generally very open-ended with no specific missions or start points, it would be difficult for players to seamlessly continue the game in between co-op sessions.
Though co-op is supposed to make combat and boss fights easier, FromSoftware ensures that adding extra players does not always facilitate the experience. Since enemies have increased health with additional players, the fights remain difficult and fair considering the number have players attacking a single enemy has increased. Additionally, fans of the series are aware that including an extra player potentially makes fights more difficult, as it changes the way enemies react and could throw off usual rhythms. All that said, once players are able to master enemy reactions to multiple players, it can become easy to exploit co-op play and easily defeat enemies and bosses that are designed to pose a challenge.
Multiplayer and co-op have become a mainstay in FromSoftware games but not without their caveats. Even though some of the games feel like they would benefit from an integrated, seamless co-op experience, the game designers have decided not to include the feature for a reason. Given the major success and popularity of the Soulsborne series, the developers may be better off not altering the formula, for fear of it changing the experience too much. The option of player made-mods does provide a different perspective to the Soulsborne titles, but ultimately the games thrive as single-player experiences.
Elden Ring is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
