For many of the connoisseurs of frustration that roam the plains of Elden Ring, having a terrifyingly difficult time is all just part of the experience.
After all, when you’re aggressively trying to beat Malenia using only one hand and without rebalancing the game, no amount of humorous messages or tips from other players can really help matters. Neither does imagining that you’re fighting Danny Devito or Jack Black instead.
However, if you’re currently finding yourself getting a little too good at or growing a little tired of the vanilla Elden Ring experience and want a way to spice things up, a new mod might be just what you’re looking for.
What do you think of the changes this mod makes to Elden Ring?
The mod in question is called ‘Elden Ring - Shattered’ and is the work of a group of modders led by water_bear and bull04, the latter of whose previous work has given The Tarnished some killer martial arts moves to try out in battle.
This time, with some help from a bunch of other modders, they’ve delivered a massive overhaul to various aspects of the game, making changes to everything from weapon movesets to crafting and even difficulty settings.
In the case of the latter, the biggest new addition is an individual ominously named the ‘Difficulty Master’, whom you can visit at the entrance leading to Limgrave from the Stranded Graveyard in order to switch between five different difficulty settings ranging from ‘Cakewalk’ to ‘Masochist’.
Regardless of which of these options you go for, get ready to adjust your playstyle for speedier combat, courtesy of the ability to execute more running attacks and cancel dodges more easily, as well as the addition of some Bloodborne-esque movement animations.
That said, the health bars of foes will generally be slightly beefier regardless of which difficulty you’ve gone for, ensuring that you can’t just use your accelerated attacks to become the world’s greatest Elden Ring speedrunner.
While this might put off those looking for a slightly less punishing ride, the mod does make the game much more generous when it comes to crafting supplies and erdtree-based items, hopefully offsetting the tougher foes and making for a less grindy experience.
You can find a more detailed account of the mod’s huge array of adjustments in its description, but make sure to grab both mod engine 2 and TechieW’s ‘Elden Mod Loader’ before you download it, as both are needed to get the mod working as intended.
Regardless of whether you’ve just finished reading the mod’s gargantuan list of changes and are so shattered you’ll have to go and lie down for a bit, make sure to follow us for coverage of more great Elden Ring mods.