I can’t believe that after several Fromsoft Soulslikes, including all of the Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne, and finally Elden Ring, people are still frustrated about the lack of a pause button. Folks, I’m not here to clown or make fun of you, because everyone has the right to an opinion. But given that Fromsoft has yet to add this inclusive option in any of their Soulslikes, it should be a sign that they simply aren’t going to do so.
It’s not just Fromsoft either. Countless other developers who have either attempted to emulate or blaze a new path with a Soulslike title have also decided to forgo the addition of a pause button. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t quite understand why the pause button isn’t an option in any of the Soulslikes. Sure, I can understand that if you’re playing online, you’re susceptible to several things such as being whisked away to help someone in co-op if you put your summons down, being brought in to help someone who was invaded, or being invaded yourself.
Still, when you’re offline, there definitely should be an option to pause the game since you’re the only one in those game worlds that matter. There have been plenty of times when I’ve needed to pause the game, such as when my kids are trying to tear each other apart, my food delivery is here, or when my wife is screaming bloody murder. Of course, I could just walk away and leave my character just sitting there.
The downside to that is that I’ve come back multiple times and found my character dead. Why? All because I couldn’t pause the game. Annoying? Yeah, just a tad bit. And I used to complain about why Fromsoft just didn’t give us the ability to pause the game so I could tend to stuff that needed tending to.
Except, they sort of did give us the ability; it’s just not the conventional pause.
You see, with every Soulslike from the company, those games are constantly saving your progress and keeping track of you. Which is what I eventually started using as both a pause button and a get-out-of-jail-free card. If I’m smack in the middle of Limgrave and there’s a mob coming towards me and I just don’t want to worry about them as I have to go eat dinner, I just quit the game. Or if I’m fighting a boss and I know that it’s about to land a killing blow, I quit the game. It doesn’t matter if it’s a graceful save by going to the menu and quitting to the title screen or desktop, turning off my console, alt-F4, or powering off my PC. Either method works.
And you know what? It works. When I return, I’m back to where I was. If I was standing in a castle, I’d be right back there with no damage done to my character, with my souls intact. In boss fights, you’ll find yourself standing outside of the fog gate, completely intact. It works in a pitch when you need to take care of something that’s vastly more important, like tending to a child or something else. But, I do have to ask, that if you know that these sorts of games don’t have a pause button, why play them if that bothers you?
Sure, there’s no pause button, but quitting or powering off your console or PC will do what you need in a pinch. I know it’s not the same as pressing a button to pause the game, but, it’s better than nothing. Still, I do have to ask, that if you know that these sorts of games don’t have a pause button, why play them if that bothers you?
