FromSoftware's latest game Elden Ring took the traditional gameplay of Souls-style RPGs and revitalized it with new mechanics such as open-world exploration, horseback riding, and item crafting, but its DLC could improve one aspect in particular: co-op. The co-op and PvP invasion multiplayer mode of Elden Ring - barely changed from its first appearance in Demon's Souls - can be awkward for players who just want to explore the open world together. The current limitations of Elden Ring's co-op gameplay, which inspired fan efforts such as the Seamless Co-op Mod, could be addressed by FromSoftware in future DLC similar to the recent Colosseum update.
The core co-op and spirit-summoning mechanics of Elden Ring first showed up in Demon's Souls, the 2009 PS3 dark fantasy game that codified many elements of From Software's Souls RPGs. Players can inscribe summons signs that show up in other instances of the game. When a player activates a summon sign, they summon the other player into their game world to help them fight off enemies, navigate traps, and defeat major bosses. This optional cooperative multiplayer mechanic was very functional in Demon's Souls, the Dark Souls trilogy, and Bloodborne, games that were essentially networks of dungeons and linear paths. In Elden Ring, however, this multiplayer system limits co-op players in several ways.
Why Elden Ring's Current Co-op Mechanics Work The Best In Legacy Dungeons
When a prudent, non-panic-rolling Elden Ring player summons cooperators into their world (by activating a Furlcalling Finger Remedy and clicking on a revealed golden summon sign), three restrictions are applied to their playthrough. First, fog barriers appear over certain entryways in the game world. Second, neither player can summon Spirits using their Spirit Ashes. Third, neither player can summon and ride Torrent, the Spectral Steed that lets them zip through the open world of the Lands Between. This last gameplay restriction can be the most frustrating feature for players who want to explore the outdoor expanses of Elden Ring; without their spectral steeds, they're forced to move between landmarks on foot.
To mitigate this open world traversal issue when other players are summoned in Elden Ring's multiplayer mode, FromSoftware added an extra feature called Stakes of Marika - small cruciform statues that accumulate pools of golden summon signs from any players who use the Small Golden Effigy item. This feature lets Elden Ring summoners instantly locate summon signs when they need to challenge a boss or run a gauntlet of enemies, while the summoned can engage in attempts at "jolly cooperation" while still being able to explore the game's open world. As a consequence, Elden Ring's co-op works best with groups of players raiding Legacy Dungeons (where horse-riding is disabled anyway) or gearing up to fight a big boss together.
Elden Ring DLC Could Add New Multiplayer Key Items
If developers do try to expand their game's co-op multiplayer functionality in future Elden Ring DLC, they'll be faced with several challenges, the biggest being that they can't significantly change their game's current established multiplayer system. For better or worse, the gameplay of Elden Ring has been fine-tuned so that co-op summons and Spirit Ashes make certain encounters easier without trivializing them. The Seamless Co-op Mod available for Elden Ring on PC - which lets five players ride on horseback and teleport between checkpoints in the same world - innately shakes up the RPG's balance (and tries to rectify said imbalances with features such as post-death player debuffs and increased boss difficulty).
FromSoftware developers, instead of re-building Elden Ring's multiplayer like the Seamless Co-op Mod, would probably be better off adding extra features to their multiplayer system that compensate for its current weaknesses. In the context of an Elden Ring DLC, the most straightforward way to augment co-op summoning would be to add a new key multiplayer item. These hypothetical items would be similar in form to the Tarnished's Furled Finger, Small Golden Effigy, or Taunter's Tongue, but unlock brand-new ways of summoning co-operators, sending summon signs out to other players, and making it easier for friends to rendezvous in specific regions of the Lands Between.
One theoretical new multiplayer item could let players set up a mobile, temporary Stake of Marika in the Elden Ring DLC's open world areas (specifically, any place that's not a Legacy Dungeon or underground area). This kind of item could let players call co-op partners into their world without needing to backtrack to an existing stake, and quickly speed up the re-summoning of a friend who died during combat scenarios. To balance such a multiplayer item, FromSoftware could make it a crafted item like the Furlcalling Finger Remedy or disable its use during PvP invasions. Alternately, this multiplayer item could only summon cooperators who know the player's multiplayer password or belong to the same multiplayer group.
Elden Ring DLC Could Introduce New, Co-op Friendly Spectral Steed Whistle Items
The biggest draw of the Seamless Co-op PC Mod for Elden Ring's PvE gameplay is how it lets players actually summon their horses and ride around the Lands Between while in the same game world, making it much easier for groups of friends to roam around at random and enjoy searching for secrets in the open world. FromSoftware developers probably disabled horseback riding during Elden Ring co-op to keep players in the same instance from accidentally getting separated or stranded on completely opposite sides of the game world. Alternately, the game's developers may have been worried about summoned players abusing their spectral steeds to troll host players or trigger glitches.
One possible multiplayer fix FromSoftware could add to Elden Ring's next DLC (or a new Colosseum mode) is giving players a brand new Spectral Steed Whistle, one that summons a steed completely different from the horned horse named Torrent. The form this new spectral steed takes would be secondary to its function - specifically, to ferry a host player and their co-op partners to different parts of Elden Ring's open world. If this steed took the form of a chariot or large-shelled turtle, both the host player and their co-op partner could ride it together, motorcycle and sidecar style. Alternately, this Spectral Steed Whistle could summon small steeds for each friendly player, said steed following directions from the host player alone.
Source: Bandai Namco - YouTube