One Elden Ring player wondered "what kind of goofy controller would be packaged" with the RPG if it had been released in 2005, the heyday of weird and wonderful peripherals, and the ever-important question led them to create a 7ft Greatsword that cost $114 to make and turns real-life swings into in-game attacks.
"That means every heavy swing my character does in-game is activated by a heavy swing that I do in real life," YouTuber SuperLouis64 explains in his video. "And y'all, I'm not going to lie, my arms are hurting."
"When I was a kid, video games used to come with some really bad and some really cool peripherals," the creator continues, referencing the fun ones (Dance Dance Evolution's pad) and the questionable ones (the Power Glove, 1989's hottest accessory for two whole days.) And he wanted to capture that novelty with FromSoftware's magnum opus.
- After 1,428 deaths, Elden Ring player literally beats the whole game using a real boxing dummy as a controller, and not even Malenia was safe
- Elden Ring streamer who beat Shadow of the Erdtree with her mind is already preparing to annihilate Nightreign in the most sci-fi way possible: "I haven’t touched a controller in ages"
SuperLouis64 describes how he 3D printed the heavyweight sword using an in-game model of the iconic weapon, attached the separate parts onto a wooden dowel that could barely support the weight, and then hammered away at the hardware that would make motion controls possible.
Using an Arduino Nano to enable motion controls and gyroscope, the creator calls the weapon "a very complicated Wiimote." But its layout was actually inspired by the deep-cut PS2 Katana controller, with one side of the handle dedicated to two joysticks and the other to four buttons.
The Greatsword Wiimote can be seen in use in the video above, where its creator takes down early boss Margit by slashing about in his own home. Fromsoftware bosses already induce dangerously high heart rates, so please breathe deeply if you're planning on fighting Malenia with a peripheral the size of an actual human.
Believe it or not, a comically large Greatsword is far from the weirdest way Elden Ring has been played. One streamer channeled her inner Professor X and beat Elden Ring using her mind, another taught their goldfish Tortellini how to beat Godrick, and I'm sure there are plenty more wonderfully absurd ways to play the game out there.
