The 4 most absurd "controllers" you can play Elden Ring withHardcore gamers look for new challenges in Elden Ring and beat the game in unusual ways. For example, with completely crazy controllers that you normally wouldn't even think of.

Games from developer FromSoftware are known for their crunchy difficulty, and Elden Ring is no exception. But for some fans of the series, the challenge isn't enough and after the credits roll, they look for new ways to play through the game.

For example, speedruns come about or mods that turn every enemy in the game into the hardest boss. Other players look for the challenge in the controls and play Elden Ring with really crazy controllers. Here are 4 of them.

Harp

Musician Anna Ellsworth has been playing the harp professionally for many years and has participated in major gaming concerts such as The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses. She is now transferring her passion for her work to gaming.

In a video on her YouTube channel, she shows how she converted her harp into a controller. With it, she beats up bosses like Margit, who was hated by many for his difficulty just at the release of Elden Ring, on level 1 and naked.

The harp is connected to the PC via a pickup and the individual strings act as "keys". The "key assignment" is controlled by special software, with Anna assigning her strings the functions for auto-run, different directions, dodging, and healing.

Drawing tablet

There's an old saying that the pen is mightier than the sword. Elden Ring fan TheSGTTaco has decided that the pen is also mightier than a controller and has unceremoniously converted his drawing tablet.

In several videos, he showed how he defeated various bosses in Elden Ring using the drawing pen and the touch controls of a tablet. These included Margit on New Game +7 difficulty and Margott. The movements of the pen indicated the direction of movement for the character, dodging is actuated by one of the control buttons of the tablet.

In a comment, the reddit user explained that controller remodeling is not new territory for him. He does it regularly to help people who can't play with normal controllers due to disabilities, for example.

Electric guitar

Guitars used as controllers have been widely known and accepted at least since the popular Guitar Hero games. However, Guitar Hero is specifically designed for this type of control, while Elden Ring is not.

But that didn't stop YouTuber LT_Tom from using his electric guitar as a controller for the game. In the video, you can see on an overlay which buttons on the Xbox controller are pressed while he plays the guitar. The guitar controls take "minimal" getting used to, however, and so every now and then there were involuntary actions such as sudden jumping or using healing at full HP.

LT_Tom composed a song at the end of his adventure in Elden Ring from the chords and riffs created from the rhythm of the battles.

Bananas

Even though it may sound strange, bananas have become almost one of the more traditional controllers in SoulsBorne games. Even Dark Souls 1 was played through with this crazy control. It is therefore no wonder that YouTuber SuperLouis64 also got his bananas out for Elden Ring.

Using a setup of 12 bananas in total, he shreds his way through the game, noting in the video that this controller is "very weird and smells very bad." Each banana occupies a button on the PS5 controller:

On the right side are the movement bananas, i.e. forward banana, backward banana, etc.

On the left side you can find the actions like the jump banana, attack banana or dodge banana.

Louis confesses that he would actually need 24 bananas for the complete PS5 setup and he is missing some keys. Still, he managed to play through Elden Ring completely with it. That's more than many people manage with real controllers.

What do you think of the absurd controllers? Do you know of even stranger ways to play games, or have you even tried them yourself? Post your experiences and opinions in the comments.