By Jacob Miller | Nov 02, 2026
What Players Are Missing
Both games are mainly single-player experiences, yet their online side has always been a big part of the appeal. Players can summon strangers to beat tough bosses, invade other worlds for PvP, and leave cryptic messages that offer advice or deliberately mislead. Bloodstains and wandering phantoms remind everyone that thousands of others are working through the same dangerous places, probably just as frustrated. Even when playing alone, the games feel eerily connected, so the loss of those systems is easy to notice.
In an October 30 announcement on social media, FromSoftware confirmed that the online servers for both games are temporarily disabled on PC, PlayStation and Xbox. The developer blamed an unspecified "server issue." Cooperative multiplayer, invasions, player messages and other network features are unavailable. FromSoftware apologized and promised more information once a restoration timeline exists, but no return date has been given yet. Both games can still be played offline, so single-player runs can continue. The outage appears limited to these two titles, with no sign that Dark Souls Remastered or Elden Ring's multiplayer has been affected.
Not the First Outage
This isn't the first long interruption for the series. In January 2022, FromSoftware disabled multiplayer on the PC versions of the original trilogy after a serious security vulnerability was found. Fixing it took months. Dark Souls 3 came back online in August, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin in October, and Dark Souls Remastered in November.
This time is different in some ways. The shutdown is much wider, hitting consoles as well as PC, and FromSoftware hasn't suggested a security flaw is behind it. No other details have been shared, though the timing looks suspicious given The Duskbloods' delay after a poor network test.
A Mod Offers a Workaround on PC
PC players who don't mind tinkering have an unofficial option that just arrived. Community developer Yui, best known for the Elden Ring Seamless Co-op mod, has made a similar mod for Dark Souls 2 and Dark Souls 3 that appears to get around the outage. The mods run independently of FromSoftware's servers to avoid bans, so compatible players can keep exploring together. They also add shared progression and remove many of the annoying limits of traditional summoning. They aren't full replacements for the original multiplayer, and console players can't use them.
More than a decade after release, both games still draw fans with tough combat, memorable bosses and distinctive multiplayer. Losing the online side doesn't make them unplayable, but it removes some of the unpredictability and sense of community that made them special, along with the PvP scene that remains active. Hopefully FromSoftware fixes the problem before this temporary shutdown turns into the kind of long absence players endured four years ago.
