Infamous Dark Souls Hacker Is Now in Elden Ring, Says He Wants to Be Caught [IGN]

Malcolm Reynolds, who’s been hacking FromSoftware games since Dark Souls 3, invades worlds before killing players with hacked, practically undefeatable spells.

The overwhelming power isn’t the issue though. As Kotaku reports, these spells also add “illegal” items into the defending player’s inventory that were only intended to be used in the development process.

When the defeated player comes back to life, Elden Ring detects they have these illegal items and soft-bans them, meaning they can only play online with other cheaters going forward.

Reynolds said he’s forcing players into digital exile to make a point to FromSoftware. Telling Kotaku that he wants to get caught, he calls himself a “necessary evil” that the developer should use as a lesson to implement better anti-cheat software.

Despite claiming a noble cause, however, Reynolds has uploaded YouTube videos of his cheating, killing, and soft-banning while making jokes at his victims’ expense.

If Reynolds does invade a game, the best thing to do, according to a Dark Souls 3 Reddit post from six years ago, is disconnect or close the software, or suicide to avoid being killed by him.

It’s no surprise Reynolds has made an appearance again, given his history with other FromSoftware titles and the sheer popularity of Elden Ring.

It’s proven somewhat of a cultural phenomenon, with crazy adverts, a streamer’s Twitch chat playing while he swept, and someone using the Nintendo Switch’s Ring Fit Controller to beat a boss. It’s even got its own candy.

In our 10/10 review, IGN said: “Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path.”

To make those choices with the best available information, check out our guide that features everything you could ever hope to know about Elden Ring, including collectible locations, boss strategies, and more.

Ryan Dinsdale is a freelance writer at IGN