You Can Kinda Pause In Elden Ring, Kinda

Elden Ring was out for two weeks, and people are still shouting from it. rooftops how much they love the game – Game Informer gave it a rare 10 out of 10 – there are those asking for features found in other games. 

Elden Ring, for example, does not have a pause button. This is something that players want. This means that if your dog starts throwing up on the couch next to you mid-boss fight (can you tell I’m speaking from experience?), you won’t be able to pause. The choice is between continuing the fight and addressing the dog’s mess. Of course, a lot of Elden Ring is about quiet moments and simple exploration and in those times; it’s quite easy to find a safe place to put the controller down. 

In boss fights or legacy dungeons, that’s not the case. You’re left either frantically searching for a grace point or full-on quitting the game, which mind you, is low-key a very viable way to “pause,” if you will – something Soulsborne modder Lance McDonald cheekily jokedAbout recently, Twitter. Twitter users are not allowed to use this feature. Iron Pineapple has seemingly discovered a way to pause in Elden Ring, mid-whatever you’re doing. 

As you can see in the tweet above, it’s by no means as simple as pressing a single button, but it does appear to legitimately pause the game. To do it, you need to open up your menus, access the “Help” menu and then go down to “Menu Explanation.” For whatever reason, that seems to freeze the state of Elden Ring, pausing the in-game action. It is an official pause. No. Is it possible? Yeah. It is annoying to use, compared to standard pauses. For sure.

Alas, it’ll do for now. 

Learn more about this game Game Informer’s Elden Ring review to find out why we think it’s one of the best games ever made, and then check out this story about someone who beat Elden Ring in under three hours without dying. Find out why you should have one Game InformerEditor thinks that Elden Ring is more fun when played with friends than it is alone. 

Are you enjoying Elden Ring? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!