"Expand your Pokemon journey": Elden Ring mod introduces Scarlet and Violet to the Lands Between

When players think of the Pokemon franchise, the game Elden Ring probably isn't thought about in the same space. However, one Unity programmer on Twitter named Arestame sought to combine Game Freak's monster collection game with FromSoftware's brutal action RPG title.

By modding Elden Ring's game engine, Arestame implemented various Pokemon and features from Scarlet/Violet into Elden Ring's The Lands Between.

A trailer posted by Arestame showed players riding Koraidon, battling each other using Pocket Monsters in lieu of summons, and fighting different in-game species like Skeledirge and Oinkologne.

Players were excited at the prospect of Arestame's crossover, but many were worried that the mod would eventually draw the ire of Nintendo and The Pokemon Company.

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Twitter reacts to Arestame's Pokemon Scarlet/Violet x Elden Ring crossover mod

A player and Koraidon in Arestame's Scarlet/Violet X Elden Ring crossover mod (Image via FromSoftware)

While Arestame's crossover mod looks like a lot of fun, the official mod itself hasn't yet been released. The trailer debuted as an announcement, though many Twitter users were in disbelief that the mod could actually be released. Nintendo and The Pokemon Company tend to send Cease and Desist orders to modders and creators who use Nintendo IPs without consent.

However, all hope is not lost for fans who wish to battle Pocket Monsters in the Soulsborne title, as Arestame has a previous track record to fall back on.

Arestame, known as ArestameJoker on NexusMods, has released previous mods for Elden Ring. These include the Bill Clinton Orthodox Rabbi mod, which references the controversy surrounding Elden Ring's victory for Game of the Year at 2022's Game Awards. Five days after announcing the Bill Clinton mod on Twitter, Arestame made good on his promises to release the mod.

In addition, Arestame has released an Elden Ring mod that replaces three of the game's major bosses with Kaido, Shanks, and Whitebeard from the anime/manga series One Piece.

It remains to be seen if Arestame will release the crossover mod soon, but the gaming community will certainly be keeping an eye on the project.

Apprehension remains as to whether Nintendo will pull the trigger and threaten litigation, but some Pokemon mods have remained unscathed. Be that as it may, Nintendo's aggression towards the modding and emulation community using their intellectual properties is well-documented and has been a point of contention for years.

FromSoftware, meanwhile, has welcomed modifications for the Soulsborne titles as long as the balance of the game isn't threatened when players are online. A reskin like Arestame's crossover mod would likely not violate FromSoftware's terms of service since it doesn't actually change the core gameplay. Instead, it changes the aesthetic of creatures and character models.

Hopefully, fans will soon be able to mod their copy of Elden Ring to include some of the finest gameplay aspects from the Generation IX Pokemon titles.

However, until Arestame announces an update or the mod files are released on NexusMods, gamers will have to wait and hope that Nintendo doesn't drop the hammer on yet another member of the modding community.