Why Can't You Pause In Elden Ring? (April 2024)

Wondering why can’t you pause in Elden Ring? Let’s take a look and find out!

Pausing online games has become a running joke in the community since it’s generally not possible. You’re playing with millions of players in real-time. Therefore, having the ability to pause the game for everyone is too much. But why does a mostly-offline game restrict your ability to pause?

The main reason why Elden Ring cannot be paused is that your world can be invaded by online players in its most vulnerable state. Therefore, the game needs to sync with the servers in real-time. So any and every pausing activity is not allowed.

Needless to say, there are a couple of ways in which pausing could’ve become an integral part of the game. However, there are just as many reasons why that wouldn’t be a good idea.

In this article, we will analyze just how pausing Elden Ring can be a big issue for developers and gamers alike. With that said, let’s get started!

Why Can’t You Pause In Online Games?

As mentioned, an online game is connected to millions of computers in real-time. Therefore, pausing your game means that those millions of players would have to be paused as well in order for the data to be in sync.

While that might not seem like a bit issue, just imagine a guy pauses the game for an indefinite amount of time. You wait in your chair for the pause to end. It stops after an hour or so, and suddenly, another one or two of those million players pause the game.

Well, you’re technically stuck in an endless loop of pauses now. Therefore, it’s better that this power remains sealed away for good.

Is Elden Ring Online Or Offline?

Elden Ring is mostly campaign, and campaign stories tend to be single-player – and are generally played offline since there’s no need to sync any immediate data. However, reality differs a bit from the proposed plan.

With the addition of the world vulnerability, a player has the option to raid any weakened world. Therefore, the system has to monitor the condition of your world. If a raid is possible, then it needs to sync your data with the server. Therefore, Elden Ring needs to be online.

Can’t Elden Ring Be Partially Online?

From a design standpoint, yes, that’s possible. The developers could’ve theoretically made the game sync and go into online mode only when a player has initiated a raid on your world. However, that introduces an entirely new set of variables that the game needs to take care of.

How much server resources will such a big sync take? What is the current state of the world? Is the world even vulnerable anymore? There are an awful lot of questions that can be stemmed from this move. Therefore, it’s better to save oneself from the hassle and just make the game fully online.

Can You Play Elden Ring Offline?

Yes, Elden Ring does feature an offline mode. However, it’s more of a toggle that can be turned on and off in the settings. If you’re playing the offline mode, then your progress will be stored locally. Consequently, foreign players won’t be able to raid your world.

However, the game will run just fine for you. In fact, it might feel even smoother since those periodic background syncs will be removed from the equation.

Conclusion

All in all, Elden Ring cannot be paused because it’s a partial online game. It needs to sync with the internet from time to time. However, this is a toggle-based mode. Therefore, it’s only a matter of preference. Besides, being able to pause amidst teamfights sounds pretty unfair.

Looking for more Elden Ring guides? Here’s some more:

Elden Ring is available to play on Steam here.