straight. Rolling behind him is
advisable, but keep an eye on that tail.
Margit is an pushover, however, if
you summon another player. Bringing
allies to bossfights in FromSoftware
games has always been equivalent to
dropping the difficulty a few notches- even if your mates can’t tell one end
of a halberd from the other, they’ll
take some of the heat off – and I’m
eager to learn if there are any bosses
in Elden Ring designed specifically for
groups. Multiplayer follows the same
strokes as Souls: you can invade other
players or be invaded by them,
leaving friendly or hostile summon
signs and equipping items that match
you automatically under certain
conditions. But there are some
quality-of-life adjustments. You can
invite friends to your session by
setting a password, and summon
signs can be remotely deposited near
area-opening statues for quicker
discovery. In keeping with a story
about a magic ring, online players are
known as Fingers – as ever with
FromSoftware, multiplayer is as
much an elaboration of the narrative
as it is a feature.
If your friends are weary of
playing meatshield, you can also
conjure the ghosts of NPCs using
magical ash. One minor boss, the
Grave Warden, feels like an advert for
this: deploy the Northern Mercenary
ash you find in the same tomb, and
you can pick at the boss from a
distance while your over-muscled AI
accomplice holds his attention. The
same goes for Agheel, a dragon
whose job is to teach you the finer
points of fighting from horseback. It’s
possible to defeat this towering beast
on foot, given a blade long enough to
reach its head, but it’ll swoop away at
intervals and bathe the ground in fire,
making speedy strafing (and a
distracting ally) vital.ASH-KICKING
The bossfights help clarify the point
that this is still an experience for fans,
much as the open world stretches
might seem more receptive to
newcomers. Elden Ring isn’t really anElden Ring
COVER FEATURE
Sometimes all it
takes is one creep
with a flail.