I had a strangely enjoyable time in
Elden Ring just acting like I was a
citizen of the world. I picked up a
torch and followed along behind one
of those zombie processions. I
wandered around the swamp and
looked at those horrifying crabs up
close. I spent some time in Caelid
watching those giant crows pecking
at corpses and poking my head into
caves without being eviscerated by
whatever was hiding inside. I rode
my horse right alongside the
imposing Tree Sentinel, acting like I
was a Junior Sentinel in training.
Clearly this isn’t the way you’re
meant to play Elden Ring, but it’s a
wonderful chance to appreciate the
dark beauty of the world and its
inhabitants without anyone having to
die an inglorious death.
TAKE IT EASY
Being invisible to enemy eyes is about
the easiest mode you could ask for,
but there is a legitimate easy mode
mod if you’re finding Elden Ring a bit
too difficult for your tastes. The mod
is called, aptly enough, Easy Mode for
Elden Ring, created by modder
odashikonbu, and it has several
different difficulty options to choose
from depending on what you’re
looking for. The first version is simple
enough: it reduces enemy attack
damage by 5 0%, and makes your own
attacks 25% more deadly. The second
version adds a bit more help for
struggling Tarnished, using those
same damage and attack multipliers
while also increasing the amount of
runes earned by a factor of ten, and
doubling the healing of the Crimson
and Cerulean Tears.
And finally, if you really want to
remove a lot of the difficulty baked
into Elden Ring, the third version of
the Easy Mode mod does even more
to swing the odds into your favour. It
adds ten to every starting attribute,
lets you craft items without needing
to gather the required materials,
removes the focus point costs for
magic and the weight from weapons
and armour, and does a lot more to
make Elden Ring much easier to
battle your way through.
Not everyone is looking to make
Elden Ring easier, though. If you’re
looking for more of a challenge (I
know plenty of players are gluttons
for punishment) try the Prepare to
Die (Hard Mode) mod by
Silentverge02, which the modder
describes as “extremely difficult but
fair”. The mod is a revamp of enemy
AI and stats, so it does more than just
increase enemy attack damage. The
hit points of enemies have a 1.5x
multiplier, their stamina is increased
by 1 .25x, and their senses have been
improved. Now enemies will detect
you from further away, they’ll spend
a greater amount of time looking for
you, and once they’ve spotted you
they’ll chase you for longer distances
before giving up. Their hearing has
improved a lot as well – if you try
creeping up behind someone for an
easy backstab, you’ll need to be quick
about it because they’ll hear you
when you get right up behind them.
Even activities like smashing boxes or
other bits of scenery will alert
enemies from a good distance away
and send them to investigate the
noise. Keep quiet, Tarnished!
One of the more startling changes
is to the Sites of Grace, which
function as fast-travel points in
vanilla Elden Ring. Say goodbye to
most of that convenience – in the
mod you can only fast-travel to
churches and cathedrals, which
means much more traditional travel
and more time spent crisscrossing
the world with enemies on your tail.
But it’s not all designed to be
punishing, it’s also meant to be more
realistic. Yes, enemies can see you
from further away, but at night, or if
you’re hidden in darkness, they’ll
have a harder time spotting you.
Bows are now more useful with
twice the range as in the vanillaversion, so they’re viable choices for
ranged combat or good for
distractions – if you aim at a wall, the
arrow will make a noise when it
strikes, which can distract the enemy.SPELL CHECK
If you’re a magic user in Elden Ring,
this next mod should be of interest.
Magic Overhaul – Sorceries by Tellah9
creates some new spells for you touse based on existing spells from the
game, giving your staff a whole bunch
of exciting new options. Stars of Ruin,
for example, lets you send a swarm of
projectiles at an enemy, but the mod
adds a sorcery called Founding Rain
of Stars that creates a dark cloud
above the enemy, then rains
projectiles down upon them like a
targeted storm. A sorcery called
Blizzard functions a bit like the
vanilla Freezing Mist, creating an icy
cyclone at the target’s position. If you
prefer something hotter, Magma
Burst creates a huge explosion of lava
that engulfs your opponent.
If you’re not looking for major
changes to Elden Ring, you might still
be interested in a few new weapons
or skins, and there are plenty of mods
that add some. Like, say, maybe just
replacing the fearsome Tree
Sentinel’s horse with Thomas the
Tank Engine? In what has become a
modding tradition, the storybook
train can be imported into Elden Ring
with the Tree Sentinel Thomas mod
by skymoon. If that feels like a bit
much, how about some new swords?
The Master Sword mod by
MrMorritos3D lets you swing around
Link’s famous blade from the Zelda
series, which replaces Elden Ring’s
usual uchigatana.
To use the mods listed above, keep
in mind that you’ll have to play Elden
Ring in offline mode – if the game
detects mods it won’t let you play
online, and there’s always the
possibility of a ban if you do. A few of
the mods require a file that disables
Elden Ring’s anticheat, too, so tread
carefully, backup your game files,
read each mod’s instructions
carefully, and don’t ever try to use
these mods in online mode.MAGMA BURST
CREATES A
HUGE EXPLOSION
OF LAVA
LIKE A BOSS
Our favourite scary bossesFALLOUTTHE MASTER
The neat thing is, you don’t have
to fight him. With high charisma
you can talk him to death.ARKHAM CITY MR FREEZE
Batman’s tricks only work one
time each, so Freeze constantly
makes you try new strategies.ARTOTIAS DARK SOULS
Not the slow, lumbering bosses
you’re used to. He’s fast, nimble,
and fights like the player does.DUNGEONS OF DREDMOR
MONSTER ZOO
Not sure if a room can be called a
boss, but this one comes close.