Can You Pause Elden Ring‘s Ruthless World When Playing Solo?
As a veteran Souls player and content creator, one of the most common Elden Ring questions I see is "Can you pause the game when playing offline?" And the disappointing answer I have to give is: no, there is no true way to pause Elden Ring, even offline.
The Truth Behind Elden Ring‘s Lack of a Pause Feature
Since Demon Souls‘ debut in 2009, FromSoftware has resisted adding a pause feature in their critically-acclaimed Souls games. They view pausing as antithetical to the tense, demanding gameplay experience they craft.
In a 2010 interview, Demon Souls‘ creative director Hidetaka Miyazaki explained:
"No pause purposefully, because I want players to experience tension."
This sentiment persists over a decade later in Elden Ring, with Miyazaki doubling down, saying a pause would:
“…break the game balance as well as…ruin this tension that we want players to experience."
The debate rages on whether this "mandatory tension" should continue in modern gaming. And based on community reactions, it seems the majority of Elden Ring‘s 13.4 million+ eager fans tolerate lacking a pause:
| Elden Ring Sales | Steam Reviews |
|---|---|
| 13,400,000+ | "Overwhelmingly Positive" (96% recommend) |
However, users still plead daily on social media and forums for FromSoftware to allow pausing, at least offline. Next we‘ll analyze online versus offline considerations.
Analyzing Elden Ring Online vs. Offline Mode Differences
Playing offline lets you explore the full Elden Ring quest solo without multiplayer features. But stepping away safely is still not permitted by Miyazaki and team!
Online dynamics like messages and bloodstains disappear when offline – which filters out the shared community experience intended by FromSoftware.
Conversely, online opens your world to hostile invaders. So avoiding unwanted PvP fights could be an incentive to play offline.
Below I compare the key impacts of playing online versus offline:
| Online | Offline | |
|---|---|---|
| Read/Leave Messages | ✅ | ❌ |
| Bloodstains Visible | ✅ | ❌ |
| Coop Summoning | ✅ | ❌ |
| Enemy Invasions | ✅ | ❌ |
| Can You Pause? | ❌ | ❌ |
Notice the core question that brings us here – can you pause Elden Ring – sees NO change between modes.
The Genius Secret Pause Trick Elden Ring Players Discovered
Despite Miyazaki‘s wishes, ingenious Tarnished players discovered a legitimate way to halt Elden Ring‘s action by abusing the menu‘s help feature.
By opening your inventory and selecting Menu Explanation, you trigger a continuous popup explaining the inventory system. With this obscurity open, the entire game pauses in place indefinitely!
Of course only pausing offline sidesteps balance concerns. But either way, we‘ve outsmarted FromSoftware‘s anti-pause agenda to let us breathe (and rage) in peace while playing one of 2022‘s finest games!
Now I‘ll share my personal thoughts on why players deserve OFFLINE pausing…
A Plea From a Passionate Gamer – Please Let Us Pause Offline!
As someone who creates Elden Ring content daily, I face constant pressure producing video guides, build recommendations, lore deep dives, and more for my loving audience.
Sometimes I need to handle an urgent distraction like delivering a package or putting out a kitchen fire(!). In those desperate moments, I‘d give ANYTHING to pause my game session rather than force-quit and lose progress since my last Site of Grace…
And candidly, the tension FromSoftware demands gets exhausting after hundreds of combined hours across their catalogue. Occasional breaks prevent player burnout, especially for content creators and completionists targeting NG+7 or 100% quest lines.
I propose offline pausing as an optional toggle in settings called "Iron Will Mode" where MANUAL SAVES also become disabled. That keeps the spirit of Miyazaki‘s vision intact for those craving that hardcore, unbroken experience!
As proven with the menu trick, players left wanting standard pausing etiquette will find creative workarounds anyway.
Why not meet us halfway by letting solo Tarnished sheathe our swords occasionally? After all, we remain captive in the Lands Between either way!
I await the day when my fellow warriors and I can rest easy between attempts to become Elden Lord…Even just long enough to grab a porcelain flask of electrolyte-restoring coconut water!
