Elden Ring, like its Soulslike predecessors, is loved for many reasons. It can be the uniquely melancholy feel of a decaying world or the lore that’s deeply ingrained in every facet of the game. Often it’s the simple, exhilarating feeling of running headfirst into a boss-shaped wall over and over again.

The issue is that once a boss has been defeated, there’s no way to have a rematch unless players start a new game or a New Game Plus playthrough. Fortunately, Hollow Knight is one Soulslike that added a solution to this conundrum: a series of bosses in side activities known as Pantheons. Plus, Hollow Knight's Pantheons are arguably the most difficult boss rushes.

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Boss Rush Modes Crank Up Replayability and Longevity

Hollow Knight’s Godmaster is Peak Challenge

The last piece of free DLC added to Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight was Godmaster. Hollow Knight is a challenging game, but Godmaster’s Pantheon mode took that, for those who wanted it, to a whole new level.

All the bosses featured in the base game made a return, sporting new stats and moves, making the experience of fighting them familiar, but still refreshing. Alongside the refurbished bosses, players can also activate a wide variety of special challenges called Bindings, comparable to Hades’ Pact of Punishment. These impose severe restrictions, such as lowering damage or limiting healing, and increase the difficulty further.

FromSoftware’s First Foray Into Boss Rush Modes

A similar mode to Godmaster was the Reflections of Strength and Gauntlet of Strength in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the only FromSoft game to feature a boss rush mode. Reflections of Strength enabled players to fight most of the main bosses again, at any point in the game—after they defeated them the first time, of course.

The two modes also complemented each other perfectly. Sekiro's Reflections of Strength provided training where players could hone their skills against particular bosses, before taking up the Gauntlet challenge and testing their limits.

FromSoftware Should Experiment More with Boss Modes

Elden Ring Already Has Good Foundations It Could Build on

Elden Ring recently added a dedicated PvP mode with the Colosseums, enabling players who just want to beat each other up to circumvent the invasion mechanics and join up at the press of a button. It would be a boon to players who enjoy fighting bosses more than other players, to have a similar mode to those previously featured in games like Sekiro and Hollow Knight.

An Elden Ring Pantheon mode would go far in boosting the longevity of the game itself. Players who don’t want to go through the whole of Lands Between again just to battle Morgott once more could have their rematch in a dedicated mode similar to the Colosseum.

Add to that optional conditions, such as limiting Flask uses or the number of certain items one can use, and the replay value soars without players getting tired of the massive open world. It also doesn’t have to be said that the game boasts a robust number of unique bosses, which would make different boss rush combinations possible, testing the limits of player skill and character builds.

More Choice Benefits Everyone

Elden Ring showers its players with choice, whether it's builds, summons, items, or rune level, and players can approach the daunting task of claiming the title of Elden Lord in any way they want. Enabling players to fight bosses for fun or challenge on their own terms would simply be keeping in line with the design philosophy FromSoftware has already demonstrated, and it would incentivize players to spend even more time with the game.

Sekiro’s boss rush mode was a free update after all, added without much fanfare, so an Elden Ring Gauntlet isn’t that far-fetched. With the recent reveal of Shadow of the Erdtree, audiences are raring to take another dive into the Lands Between.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Platform(s)

PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series S , Xbox Series X , PC , macOS , Linux

Developer(s)

Team Cherry

Genre(s)

Metroidvania

Publisher(s)

Team Cherry

Franchise

Hollow Knight