How to pause Elden Ring

There’s no pause button in Elden Ring, but there is a trick that lets you pause the action. In this Elden Ring guide, we’ll show you how to pause the game so you can hit the bathroom, get some more coffee, or scream into a pillow out of sheer frustration for a little while.

Elden Ring pause trick

While you can’t technically pause Elden Ring, you can get all the action (and attacks and running enemies) to stop by opening up a couple menus.

1. Start by opening the Main Menu with the Options (PS) or Menu (Xbox) button — the one that pulls up Inventory and Item Crafting — and choose one. Equipment is the default, so it’s the obvious choice.
2. Hit the Help button — the touchpad on a PS controller or the View button on an Xbox.
3. Pick the Menu Explanation option — the fastest way to do this is by hitting up on the D-pad — and select it with X/A.

As long as the explanation tip box is open, the world of Elden Ring is paused — everything and everyone stops moving so you won’t get attacked. (There’s a similar Menu Explanation prompt in the map menu, but since you can’t open the map when an enemy is aware of you, it’s less useful.)

It’s a lot of buttons to press in a series when you’re in the middle of a fight (as you can see in the video above), but it is a good way to make sure you don’t die while you’re afk without having to travel to a site of grace.