When Elden Ring first launched at the start of 2022, many people swore up and down that it was the toughest recreation ever, although others claimed that it was extra approachable than prior From Software program titles, since gamers might proceed to discover the sport and develop robust elsewhere in the event that they ever hit a wall. In protection of the previous, it does characteristic a number of the harder boss fights I’ve ever encountered. Then again, I’ve all the time felt like Elden Ring was a fairly malleable expertise, and that it supplied plenty of instruments to help you energy by the sport and finally come out the opposite aspect. To that finish, I’ve maintained that this recreation isn’t that selective about who can take pleasure in it, and the years since have typically confirmed me proper.
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You see, loads of individuals who play FromSoftware’s famously troublesome video games like to make issues even tougher for themselves. Soulslike gamers froth on the mouth for a great problem run, and that’s why you’ll typically see blindfolded showcases or hitless boss gauntlets at occasions like Summer time Video games Finished Fast. With Elden Ring’s immense recognition, that scene type of exploded and moved past simple challenges like level-1 runs, the place the participant isn’t allowed to stage up for the whole thing of the sport. As a substitute, these challenges bought exponentially weirder.
I’m speaking about utterly other ways of taking part in Elden Ring. As a substitute of taking part in the sport with a controller or mouse and keyboard, some have taken to modding the sport to help enter from musical devices. Others have used dance pads, and a few have even used their mind to simply have a look at the sport and talk inputs by way of mind waves. The Elden Ring neighborhood has confirmed how constantly ingenious it’s, and has managed to rise to completely ridiculous challenges in weird and even byzantine methods, so I assumed it could be enjoyable to rattle off a number of the most spectacular strategies gamers have used to beat Elden Ring bosses over time.
Dance pad
Arguably the preferred of the alternate options, dance pads have been a staple of Soulslike problem runs for a protracted whereas, however they’ve by no means been larger. That’s largely resulting from MissMikkaa, a streamer who’s taken it upon herself to try to beat Elden Ring by way of too many alternate strategies. Her most well-known runs have been ones the place she’s aided (or hampered, relying on the way you see it) by a dance pad. Within the years for the reason that launch of Elden Ring, her runs have solely grown more and more extra unhinged. At one level, she even took on Elden Ring’s hardest boss battle twice concurrently, controlling one character together with her dance pad and one other with a typical PS5 controller. I might hardly beat Malenia as soon as on a controller, and Kai Cenat spent greater than 24 hours attempting to defeat her with out summons, however certain, exhibit.
Donkey Kong bongos
Little identified reality: the Donkey Konga rhythm collection are a number of the most interesting video games of our lifetimes. I maintain this to be true, despite the fact that I’ve by no means performed them. Why then, would I make such an assertive assertion? As a result of they gave us the most effective controllers ever: the Donkey Kong bongos.
I like a great rhythm recreation, and taking part in them impressed me to select up the guitar at an early age, however Rock Band’s plastic drums don’t have shit on the DK Bongos. These completely ridiculous controllers have been round for rattling close to 20 years at this level, and in that point, they’ve change into a beloved little bit of memorabilia and one other widespread various for problem runs. If you happen to don’t consider me, try the bongos’ Wikipedia web page, or check out this video.
If you happen to’re going to make a tough recreation much more troublesome for your self, you could as properly have some enjoyable and look ridiculous whilst you’re at it, and nothing captures that fairly like wailing on a bongo to do a leaping heavy assault, y’know?
An precise musical instrument
Now should you’re a fairly well-rounded particular person, you might have picked up an precise instrument in some unspecified time in the future in your life, moderately than some plastic bongos. If that’s the case, congratulations, you’re expert in ways in which some individuals by no means get round to. Now, simply think about should you might harness that potential and channel it again into video games. That’s what some individuals have managed over time as they turned their favourite devices into controllers and triumphed over Elden Ring’s quite a few challenges.
That’s what Anna Ellsworth did a number of years in the past when she beat Margit the Fell Omen by plucking the strings of her harp. It’s additionally what CZR did when he beat the identical boss with a modded drum set. Or what Omunchkin pulled off by beating the sport with a piano. And it’s what Dr. Doot completed with an electrical saxophone! Elden Ring has a protracted legacy of proficient musicians who’ve managed to trounce the sport, and you possibly can be the subsequent one.
“Thoughts management”
We’ve featured the streamer Perrikaryal on the location earlier than, however she’s price mentioning this many instances as a result of her setup continues to be astonishing. One other streamer who relishes unorthodox problem runs, Perri most lately beat quite a few Shadow of the Erdtree’s bosses together with her thoughts. Using an electroencephalogram that principally reads her mind exercise, in addition to some eye-tracking know-how, she has been capable of decimate Elden Ring’s gallery of godly rogues with little greater than her ideas and the blink of an eye fixed. Discuss placing these bosses of their place.
Morse code
Although I’d heard of a lot of the different problem runs featured right here, that is essentially the most stunning one I hadn’t heard about till I began doing analysis for this piece. The Spanish streamer Silithur managed to beat Elden Ring a number of months in the past with Morse code! That’s proper, a single button and approach too many dashes and dots to depend, however the man fucking did it. He even snuck in a dunk on Elon Musk within the course of. How do you faucet out, “Holy shit, you’re a legend” in Morse?
A fish
I’m unsure what I might write that correctly captures what a feat that is. This goldfish is simply constructed completely different. Higher than most of us, even. We might all stand to study a factor or two from them.
Full-body movement controller
Generally you play a recreation so good you simply need to stay in it, perils and all. Nicely that’s what the streamer Luality type of completed by turning her complete physique into her Elden Ring controller. With the assistance of some movement controls, the streamer turned Elden Ring right into a full-body expertise. If she wished to dodge, she would bob in that course and if she wished to assault she would make a swiping movement together with her hand, as if she was truly armed. She even sure the therapeutic flask to her making a consuming movement with one in every of her palms. The outcomes are as chaotic, irritating, and humorous as you may anticipate.
Ring Match Wheel (and all the opposite wild methods this man modded the sport)
Whereas doing a little analysis for this listing, I got here throughout one YouTube channel that has, over time, put plenty of effort into taking part in Elden Ring with more and more weird controllers. Tremendous Louis 64’s complete factor is definitely that he appears to like gimmicky controls and makes a bunch of distinctive ones from scratch. Boy, has he discovered plenty of other ways by which to play Elden Ring, people.
I’m most acquainted with his Ring Match Journey arrange, the place he makes use of that recreation’s distinctive wheel-like controller to train whereas additionally dodge-rolling and plugging away at bosses in Elden Ring. His contraptions don’t finish there, although. Only a month in the past, the man discovered how you can make a totally useful bow and arrow controller from a youngsters’ toy. Earlier than that, he actually constructed a greatsword from Elden Ring and turned it right into a controller. He’s additionally famously performed the sport with a controller customary from bananas. I don’t perceive how or why he does this stuff, however the level is that there’s somebody on the market doing it, and that’s fairly neat.
A mouth controller
Whereas most of those entries are cool non-obligatory problem runs that folk have opted into, my favourite is that this one from a disabled participant who can’t use commonplace controllers. A tetraplegic participant—which means they’re paralyzed from the neck down— shared a video of themselves overcoming Shadow of the Erdtree’s motherfucker of a closing boss with a mouth controller. I don’t find out about you, but it surely’s perhaps one of the vital spectacular issues I’ve ever seen.
I’ve but to get to the top of the enlargement, however I’m certain that battle’s going to take me a whole lot of tries to beat until I exploit a really busted construct. Among the most seasoned Elden Ring gamers are totally abled and battle towards it. It actually both takes grit, full mastery of the sport, or an intense exploitation to do that battle with each palms, however right here’s somebody who can clear it with out using any. That’s a goddamn hero proper there.
