The Soulsborne games have always had some sort of PvP mechanic in the form of invasions, where a player enters another’s instance to find and duel them. This activity has a dedicated following across most of the FromSoftware games, including the latest entry Elden Ring. This new game is also adding a free update that caters solely to this crowd, fittingly called the Colosseum update. This differs from, say, Dark Souls 3 and its Hollow Arena, which was only accessible to those who own the Season Pass, Ashes of Ariandel or The Ringed City DLC.
As the trailer description reads, “The Colosseums of Limgrave, Leyndell and Caelid will open their gates”, adding all sorts of PvP modes to Elden Ring. This includes one-on-one duels, free-for-alls, and even team battles. The trailer shows that you can also use summons via Spirit Ashes for an even more chaotic experience.
If you’ve been keeping up with all the developments of Elden Ring, this probably doesn’t come as a surprise to you. After all, modders have already found arena-like structures in the game files all the way back in March of this year. Speculations at the time already pointed at such an addition; one that’s completely focused on PvP. The fact that there are three separate modes added via this update adds flexibility, letting players pick and choose their flavour of PvP.
The Elden Ring Colosseum update goes live today, on 7 December, and it’s a free update for all players of the game. If you’re looking to take part, then it’s more than likely that you already have a build set up, and probably more importantly, have decided on a level bracket to participate in. Though being a dedicated arena, this will probably not allow for Fight Club-esque free-flowing participants, which you’ll still have to either manually organise, or stumble upon.
(Source: Bandai Namco / YouTube)
