Enormous mod Elden Ring Reforged refreshes and rebalances every inch of the game, works with Seamless Co-op, and even throws in a Crackdown orb-style scavenger hunt

Stripped every last bit of meat from Elden Ring's bones? Finding even Shadow Of The Erdtree a bit familiar these days? Nightreign not quite hitting the same high notes? After sinking dozens of hours into long-running, ever-expanding overhaul mod Elden Ring Reforged I've been reminded just how much I loved FromSoftware's sprawling, hostile open world. It might be just what you need, too—especially now that Reforged has its own private multiplayer servers, the headline feature of its recent 2.0 update.

Even more ambitiously than the popular Seamless Co-op mod (which is also fully supported here), Reforged bypasses the original game's anti-cheat systems while retaining bloodstains, phantoms, summons and invasions. Helpful, as there are more than 1,200 collectible stat-boosting rune fragments hidden throughout the entire game like Crackdown's irresistible agility orbs, many of which you'd never find without other kindly players placing glowing, tongue-in-cheek hints. This mod understands that even playing solo, Elden Ring is a shared experience. It just wouldn't be the same without people declaring that every single turtle is actually a dog.

So, what does Reforged change? After years of updates, it's easier to list what it doesn't do, as even Reforged's official Wiki isn't comprehensive. If you're after a completely reworked world you might be better served by mods like Convergence or the recent grim n' gothic rework Graceborne. While Reforged does add a couple new areas and new encounters (see boxout), that's not the focus here. Instead, the mod focuses on refreshing and rebalancing almost every mechanic in the game.

Graceful combat

The combat's been reworked so dramatically that the mod opens with a brand new tutorial. Precisely timed combos increase attack power and save on stamina. Defence involves more than blocking with the biggest shield you can find, as Sekiro-like timed deflections make it possible to no-sell even the biggest attacks shieldless, if you're good enough. Getting guard-broken now hurts you, further discouraging turtling. The seldom-used backstep has been replaced by a snappy duck button, with fewer I-frames than a dodge but much faster recovery.

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Spellcasting sees a similar rework, with lighter, rapid-fire spells regenerating FP instead of draining it, so the wizarding-inclined can start blasting immediately and constantly. Reforged tries to balance every weapon, armor piece and Ash of War to be viable, admittedly at the cost of eliminating some overpowered options (spellcasters can't deal quite the same ferocious burst damage anymore). On top of all that, there's a new subclass system called Fortunes, unlockable sets of perks and penalties to really personalize your build.

I set out to play an agile sword-saint, blasting with holy magic at range while fighting with fast two-handed weapons up close—a build I could never successfully pull off in the original game. And by jove, it works! Especially once I re-learned the timing of the early game bosses so I could sassily deflect each combo hit before countering with a full stamina bar. Mistakes were costly due to my low armor, but being able to outright negate damage with well-timed blocks is thrilling.

That's the heart of Reforged, really. Over the years, the Elden Ring 'meta' has become ingrained: Players have optimized routes and builds to a science. Reforged's stated goal is making the game every cave, ruin and dungeon freshly rewarding, and even basic combat encounters unpredictable again.

Enemy groups tend to cover each other more aggressively, will chase you much further, and will remain challenging for longer thanks to partial level-scaling that extends well into New Game Plus, ensuring you'll not outgrow the world even when it becomes familiar again.

There are even some new areas to see. Redmane Castle (previously just passed through for Radahn's festival) is reworked into a full-on dungeon with a multi-phase, fire-breathing end boss based on the giant lion enemies, making Caelid feel a bit more complete. Later, Mt Gelmir hides a new path into The Serpentine Depths, a proper subterranean dungeon full of frenzy-inducing enemies (including the Jailers visiting from Dark Souls 3) and with some tricky platforming over lava. Were I not familiar with DS3's enemy roster, I could have believed this area had always been lurking undiscovered under my nose. That's a true testament to Reforged's quality.

Suffering is optional

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Reforged isn't obsessed with being "hardcore" like so many FromSoft mods; quite the opposite. Combat is a little tougher than vanilla Elden Ring, but this mod features—brace yourself—difficulty settings. Loads of them, including separate modes balanced for larger parties if you're running Seamless Co-op. Lower settings still pose some challenge, but a forgiving one with zero death penalties. Higher difficulties give bosses more aggressive AI and even some nasty reworked attacks.

Beyond difficulty changes, Additional Enemies is a toggle that adds some fiendishly placed new encounters to every single dungeon and cave in both the main game and DLC. Adventure Mode heavily restricts fast-travel, making you really live out in the wilds. Most creative of all the extra modes is Eternal Return, which has you trapped in a Majora's Mask-like time-loop, giving only 72 in-game hours to level up and unlock permanent, powerful boosts through completing NPC quests before the world resets again.

Elden Ring Reforged earns my highest recommendation as a mod. It's polished, professionally produced and brings back that first-playthrough magic all over again without sacrificing Elden Ring's offbeat online features. Plus, it's incredibly easy to install. Just download, unzip it to its own directory and click to play.