Elden Ring mod that never makes you say goodbye is almost here

polygon.com:

Recently, YouTuber and modderLukeYui posited that Elden Ring — already a pretty great video game — might be even better with one straightforward tweak: Limitless co-op. In a few days, that mod will be out in the wild, putting that idea to the test.

The news comes from LukeYui’s YouTube channel, in the form of a groovy new video showing off what folks can expect should they take the mod for a whirl when it becomes available for public beta testing Friday, May 27. For those who aren’t inclined to mod their games, or those who don’t game on PC, there’ll also be a collection of Twitch streams with a set of bug-hunting alpha testers to check out.

The seamless co-op mod is an unofficial work-in-progress and likely to run into issues, but the idea behind it is neat: As Elden Ring players know, playing with others in co-op means that other aspects of the game, like horseback riding and resting at bonfires, are unavailable during a co-op session. This is in addition to Elden Ring’s strict co-op boundaries, which limit the summoning of cooperative partners to certain areas and automatically dismisses them when the nearby boss or den of enemies is cleared out.

All of these restrictions exist for sensible game balance reasons, as the developers at FromSoftware likely want there to be some challenge still present when summoning help. But playing with others isn’t always just for beating games — sometimes it’s simply about experiencing them, and that’s always better with company.