What is AllTheFallen? Elden Ring’s Brutal Challenge Mod

Remember that first time you stumbled into Caelid? The sheer, gut-churning terror? The overwhelming sense that everything wanted you dead? Now, imagine that feeling dialed up to eleven, permeating every single corner of the Lands Between, from the gentle hills of Limgrave to the very throne of the Elden Lord. That’s the visceral, unrelenting essence you confront when you ask: What is AllTheFallen?

It’s not just another “hard mode” mod where enemies hit harder and take more hits. Forget that. AllTheFallen is a complete, brutal, and meticulously crafted reimagining of Elden Ring, built from the ground up by dedicated (and perhaps slightly sadistic) fans. Born from a burning desire for a challenge that pushes even the most battle-hardened Tarnished far beyond anything the base game could conjure, this mod has forged a notorious cult following. Its reputation? Punishing, demanding, unforgiving… yet whispered amongst veterans to be fiercely, obsessively fair in its demand for mastery. Prepare to unlearn everything you thought you knew.

What is AllTheFallen? Beyond Just “Hard Mode”

So, what is AllTheFallen, fundamentally? It’s a massive, fan-made modification for the PC version of Elden Ring. Think of difficulty mods on a spectrum:

• Base Game: The intended FromSoftware experience (already tough!).
• Simple Hard Modes: Mods that primarily tweak numbers – higher enemy damage, more health, maybe less healing for you. Accessible, but often just amplify frustration without depth.
• AllTheFallen: A Total Overhaul. This lives in its own league. Its core philosophy isn’t just to make things harder, but to make them different and demand true mastery. It aims to replace random punishment with predictable, learnable, but incredibly demanding challenges that force you to evolve or perish. It fundamentally rewrites the rules of engagement.

The Pillars of Pain: Key Changes in AllTheFallen

Alright, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. What is AllTheFallen changing to create this nightmare? Buckle up:

• Enemy Overhaul (The World Hates You More):
  • Placement: Gone are predictable enemy positions. Expect vicious ambushes around every corner, clever traps, and enemies strategically placed to flank you the moment you engage. That cozy spot you used to snipe from? Probably occupied by three archers now.
  • New Threats: Entirely new enemy types lurk in familiar zones, often blending terrifying abilities from different factions. Surprise!
  • Smarter AI: Enemies don’t just rush. They coordinate. They feint. They dodge your attacks. They use complex combos and will aggressively pursue you. R1 spam is a death sentence.
  • Stat Buffs: Yes, they hit like runaway trucks and have health pools deeper than the Lake of Rot. Poise? Expect even basic soldiers to shrug off your lighter swings. Aggression is dialed to maximum.
• Boss Revolution (Your Worst Nightmares, Evolved):
  • Moveset Madness: Forget the boss dances you memorized. Every significant boss has radically redesigned movesets. Faster attacks, new delayed timings, extended combos, entirely new phases, and attacks that cover the arena in deadly effects. That move you used to punish? It might now flow seamlessly into three more.
  • Enhanced Aggression: Bosses rarely let up. They press the attack relentlessly, giving you tiny windows to breathe or heal. Hesitation is defeat.
  • Altered Arenas: Sometimes the battlefield itself changes, removing safe zones or adding environmental hazards.
  • Gank Fights: Get used to fighting multiple bosses or minibosses simultaneously. Fair? In the world of AllTheFallen, “fair” means “beatable if you execute perfectly.”
• Player Nerfs (You Are Not the Hero You Once Were):
  • Healing Gutted: Your precious Crimson Flasks heal significantly less per sip. You likely get fewer charges. Healing is a desperate, risky act, not a quick top-up.
  • Stamina Starvation: Every roll, block, attack, and spell costs more stamina. Poor management leaves you helplessly winded in front of a killing blow.
  • Dodge Changes: Reports often mention reduced invincibility frames (i-frames) on rolls, demanding pixel-perfect timing. Forget panic rolling.
  • Slower Casting: Spellcasters aren’t safe. Expect slower casting animations, making you incredibly vulnerable.
  • The Result: You are fragile. You are slow. You are weak. Survival demands constant tactical thinking, positioning, and resource conservation. Aggression must be calculated.
• World & Progression Tweaks (The Path is Twisted):
  • Item Relocation: Key items, spells, and weapons might be found in completely different, often more dangerous locations. Exploration is rewarded but perilous.
  • Altered Progression: The “intended” path might be blocked or require defeating specific, brutally enhanced bosses much earlier. Sequence breaking is often forced, not optional.
  • Locked Areas: Some zones might be gated behind defeating new, horrifyingly difficult encounters placed within earlier areas.

Vanilla Elden Ring vs. AllTheFallen: Core Differences at a Glance

Why Embrace the Suffering? The Allure of AllTheFallen

Okay, this sounds like pure, distilled misery. What is AllTheFallen’s appeal, then? Why would anyone subject themselves to this? It’s not just masochism (though, let’s be real, that’s part of the Soulslike DNA). For the right player, it’s transformative:

1. The Ultimate Mastery Test: You beat Malenia hitless? Great. Now learn her AllTheFallen version, which makes her Waterfowl Dance look like a gentle warm-up. It’s like mastering Chopin, then being handed a complex, avant-garde symphony. The depth of combat mastery required is staggering and deeply satisfying to achieve.
2. The Thrill of the Impossible Overcome: That moment when you finally topple a boss that killed you 50 times? In the base game, it’s euphoric. In AllTheFallen, it’s transcendent. The odds feel genuinely insurmountable until they aren’t. The victory highs are unmatched.
3. A Truly Fresh Experience: Even if you know every nook and cranny of the Lands Between, AllTheFallen makes it feel alien and terrifyingly new. Enemy placements, boss behaviors, and the constant threat level force you to engage with the world completely differently. It’s Elden Ring 2.0 crafted by the most demanding dungeon master imaginable.
4. Community & Shared Struggle: There’s a unique camaraderie among those who dare. Sharing strategies, mourning brutal deaths, celebrating hard-fought wins in dedicated Discords or forums creates a strong sense of belonging. You’re part of an elite (and slightly crazy) club.
5. The Pursuit of “Fair” Extreme Challenge: While brutally difficult, the mod aims for patterns and challenges that can be learned and overcome with precision and strategy, not just cheap one-shots or unavoidable damage (though the line can feel thin sometimes!). It demands perfection, but theoretically provides the tools (if not the margin for error) to achieve it.

Is AllTheFallen For You? Honest Assessment

Let’s cut through the hype. What is AllTheFallen not?

• It is NOT for newcomers. If you haven’t conquered the base game multiple times, mastered core mechanics (dodging, parrying, stamina management, build optimization), and memorized boss patterns, you will hit a brick wall. Hard.
• It is NOT “casual” friendly. This demands significant time, patience, and an incredibly high tolerance for frustration. Expect to die. A lot. To basic enemies. Repeatedly.
• It is NOT always perfectly balanced. Some encounters might feel bordering on unfair until you discover the exact strategy. It pushes the boundaries of “tough but fair.”

Prerequisites:

• Absolute Mastery of Vanilla Elden Ring: This is non-negotiable.
• Zen-like Patience: Progress is measured in inches, not miles.
• Stubborn Perseverance: Giving up is easy. Pushing forward after the hundredth death is the test.
• Time Commitment: Finishing this mod takes significantly longer than the base game. Think hundreds of hours for most.

Potential Downsides:

• The “Cheap” Feeling: Early on, especially before learning new patterns, deaths can feel unavoidable or unfair. This lessens (but never disappears) with mastery.
• The Grind: Overcoming walls might require significant farming or optimization, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
• Technical Setup: Requires modding (see below) and playing offline.

Taking the Plunge: How to Install AllTheFallen

Convinced? Or morbidly curious? Here’s the bare bones of getting AllTheFallen running (ALWAYS check the specific mod page for the latest instructions!):

1. Essential Requirements:
   • A legal PC copy of Elden Ring (Steam or other legit platform).
   • Mod Engine 2: The essential framework for most Elden Ring mods. Download the latest version.
   • The latest AllTheFallen files (Typically found on Nexus Mods – be wary of other sources!).
2. Backup Your Saves: CRUCIAL! Modding can corrupt saves. Locate your Elden Ring save folder (usually in C:\Users\[YourUserName]\AppData\Roaming\EldenRing\[LongNumber]) and copy it somewhere safe.
3. Install Mod Engine 2: Extract the Mod Engine 2 files into your main Elden Ring game directory (where eldenring.exe is).
4. Install AllTheFallen: Extract the AllTheFallen files. Typically, you drag and drop the extracted folder (often named mod) into the mod folder created by Mod Engine 2. Sometimes files go directly into the main game directory – follow the mod’s specific readme!
5. Launch OFFLINE: THIS IS VITAL TO AVOID BANS. Configure your launcher (Steam/other) to start in Offline Mode. Launch the game via the launchmod_eldenring.bat file provided by Mod Engine 2, NOT the standard game executable.
6. Potential Extras: Some versions might require tools like Launchbox for easier management. Check the mod page.

Surviving the Fallen: Beginner Tips & Strategies

You’ve installed it. You’ve backed up your saves (right?!). You launch. Now what? Brace yourself and adopt a new mindset:

1. Forget Vanilla Tactics: Everything you relied on is weaker or ineffective. Aggression needs calculation, not button mashing. Patience is your primary weapon.
2. Observe Relentlessly: Treat every new enemy encounter like a boss fight. Watch their moves. Learn their patterns, their combo lengths, their delays. Dying is information gathering.
3. Embrace the Shield (Initially): While dodging is essential, a good shield (with high guard boost) can be a lifesaver early on while you learn the absurd aggression and new timings. Just watch that stamina!
4. VIGOR is Life: Seriously. Level Vigor aggressively early on. Surviving one extra hit can mean the difference between learning a pattern and reloading.
5. Resource Management is Key: Every Flask sip is precious. Use them only when absolutely safe. Stamina is equally critical – never exhaust it completely. Attack only when you know you have stamina to dodge the inevitable counter.
6. Start Simple: While flashy builds exist, starting with a sturdy Strength or Quality build focusing on reliable, poise-breaking weapons can offer more margin for error than a fragile mage or dex build. Experiment later.
7. Summons? Maybe…: Spirit Ashes are often rebalanced too. Some might be viable distractions, but don’t rely on them to win fights for you. They’ll likely die quickly to the enhanced onslaught.
8. Seek the Community: You are not alone! Join the AllTheFallen Discord (usually linked on Nexus Mods). Wikis might exist. Watch videos from masochists who’ve conquered sections you’re stuck on. Sharing the pain helps.

Conclusion: The Ultimate Test of the Tarnished

What is AllTheFallen? It’s more than a mod. It’s a gauntlet thrown down. It’s a complete reinvention of Elden Ring for those who found Godfrey too gentle and Malenia too forgiving. It demands absolute mastery, unwavering patience, and an almost perverse love for overcoming the seemingly impossible. It transforms the familiar Lands Between into a relentless, unforgiving crucible designed to break you, forge you anew, and offer triumphs that feel genuinely legendary.

It’s not for everyone. It’s brutal, time-consuming, and will test your sanity. But for the veterans who crave the deepest, most punishing challenge Elden Ring can possibly offer, AllTheFallen stands as the definitive, community-crafted answer. It’s the peak of masocore gaming. So, brave Tarnished, are you ready to see how far you can fall… and perhaps, rise again?

What aspect of AllTheFallen are you most terrified (or morbidly excited) to experience? Share your thoughts or war stories below!

FAQs:

1. Is AllTheFallen compatible with other mods?
   • Generally no. Due to its massive, sweeping changes that alter enemy placements, stats, behaviors, and game mechanics, it will almost certainly conflict with any other gameplay-altering mods (graphical/texture mods are usually fine). Always check compatibility notes, but assume incompatibility.
2. Will using AllTheFallen get me banned?
   • Play OFFLINE. Using any mods while connected to Elden Ring’s online servers carries a risk of receiving a ban. This is FromSoftware’s policy. Always launch in Offline Mode via Mod Engine 2. Back up your saves religiously before installing.
3. Is AllTheFallen actually fair, or just cheap and frustrating?
   • This is subjective, but the intent is fairness through extreme demand. It aims to replace randomness with learnable, albeit incredibly difficult, patterns. However, the sheer intensity, new enemy combinations, and player nerfs can feel unfair initially. Perseverance and pattern recognition are key. Many veterans attest to its underlying fairness once mastered.
4. Do I need to beat Elden Ring first?
   • ABSOLUTELY YES. Attempting AllTheFallen without complete mastery of the base game’s mechanics, boss patterns, areas, and build fundamentals is akin to jumping into a PhD program after kindergarten. Master vanilla Elden Ring thoroughly first.
5. Does it change the story or add new areas?
   • Primarily, no. AllTheFallen is focused almost entirely on gameplay and difficulty overhaul. The core story, lore, and major areas remain structurally the same, though enemy placement, boss fights, and progression paths within those areas are drastically altered. It doesn’t add entirely new regions.
6. How long does it take to complete AllTheFallen?
   • Significantly longer than vanilla Elden Ring. Expect progress to be glacial compared to the base game. For experienced players familiar with the mod, it might take 100+ hours. For most mortals tackling it for the first time? Easily 200-300+ hours is realistic, potentially more. It’s a massive commitment.
7. Are there different versions or variations?
   • The core AllTheFallen mod evolves over time with updates from its creator(s). Always use the latest stable version from Nexus Mods. Sometimes the community creates specific “sub-mods,” balance tweaks, or configuration files. Check the Nexus page and Discord for any variations compatible with the version you’re using.

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