MMOEXP: It is possible to suspend Elden Ring
In the week and change since the Elden Ring Runes launch, conversations about its difficulty have run the same, boring course as those about the other FromSoftware predecessors. The most disputed issue is the player's inability to pause the game. However, it turns out that it is possible to suspend Elden Ring, no mods needed. It's all it takes is a bit of adjusting.
The irony of this is that Iron Pineapple who has a wonderful YouTube channel for Elden Ring, Dark Souls and other Souls-like games brave Tarnished who need an break but aren't able to through a checkpoint, they can just navigate into their inventory and ask what the game is explaining its menus. Much like the early Elden Ring tutorials, this freezes the entire world around you making sure you are safe from any the jerks in your life are trying to slice you into ribbons.
Elden Ring, for better or better, is a continuation of the tradition FromSoftware founded in 1994's King's Field and then officially made its whole thing with the release of Demon's Souls. Despite arriving amid the sea of tutorial-driven, open-world adventure, Elden Ring doesn't hold your hand. The game gives no clues of how things work but instead let players figure it out by yourself. Therefore, anyone who is new to the system is bound to bang their heads against its hard exterior.
The absence of a pause option however, is a little different. While most criticisms of FromSoftware's design make me chuckle I know where players are coming from when they say they'd love a way to stop immediately in the action. This isn't to say that FromSoftware does not support having such a feature the 2019 version of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is, in my opinion, the most challenging game in the studio's new lineup, allowed players to stop whenever they wanted to. It's possible to do it.
Of course, this all will be gone when multiplayer becomes involved, but come on, FromSoftware. Let players pause Elden Ring Runes buy without jumping through all these hoops. Your games -- and, in fact, life in general--are difficult enough to grasp just as it is.