Seems like a strange topic for an article, right? How to pause Elden Ring. Well, while most games allow that option by default, FromSoftware sees things differently. All of the studio’s Souls-like titles – with the exception of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – prevent the player from pausing the game. If you stop playing even for a moment, you run the risk of being attacked. Elden Ring is no different. Well, until now, that is.

A pause function in Elden Ring isn’t presented to the player as an option. Accessing the menu simply places an interface on the screen, while everything in the world remains in action. You can even continue to control your character while the menu is up. However, if you’re playing in offline mode on PlayStation 5, you can put your console system into ‘suspend mode’ and it will effectively “pause” the game. As soon as you jump back in, you’ll be able to pick up right where you left off. However, there’s always a chance your console will update something and refuse to return to the game, thus potentially risking your unsaved progress.

Elden Ring screenshot

This method has been known for some time. However, a new discovery provides a much more immediate – and reliable – solution.

Players looking to pause Elden Ring need to bring up the inventory screen, then press the help button and select ‘menu explanation’. This will task the game with explaining the minutiae of the menu, and pause the game world action.

Of course, this won’t help you in the face of a huge enemy only a few feet in front of you. But it can allow for a few moments of respite after downing said huge enemy, at least!

Has the Elden Ring pause trick worked for you? Let us know in the comments below!

Categories: Games