FromSoftware’s 2022 epic Elden Ring is a near-perfect video game in the eyes of many. It won several Game of the Year awards, and defined the year in gaming. However, that doesn’t mean the game can’t be improved. That’s what mods are for after all! Fans with enough technical know-how can tweak, improve, or add any feature they want. A new mod seeks to rectify one of the biggest omissions FromSoftware made when working on Elden Ring— That’s right, the game has capybaras now.
The mod, officially titled Capybara Island, was released on mod site Nexus Mods on May 4. Developed by user Delemain, it does exactly what you think it does. Unlike more involved mods that can entirely rebalance the base game, Capybara Island doesn’t touch Elden Ring’s already wonderful gameplay and narrative. Instead, it replaces its goats, deer, and boars with capybaras. Even better, the mod turns your trusty steed Torrent into a huge, rideable capybara, so you can take the delightfully cute rodents everywhere you go. To acknowledge the game’s newest residents, the mod also changes Limgrave’s location name to Capybara Island.
But if you thought this mod was just some silly fun, you are so wrong. It’s also educational! Loading screens in Elden Ring are replaced with cute pictures of capybaras and accompanied by interesting, fun facts about the cute critters. Without the help of this educational Elden Ring mod, how else would you learn that other animals, such as birds and monkeys, often use capybaras as furniture? Now every time you fall off a cliff, get poisoned to death or inevitably die trying to face off against Malenia, you can take solace in learning a little more about the largest living rodents in the world. It can be dark and depressing wandering the Lands Between, but now you get to see these adorable creatures while you do it. You’re welcome. I know the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is set to release in June but let’s hope FromSoftware has enough time to take a page out of this mod’s book and incorporate some capybaras.
Between Capybara Island and Honkai: Star Rail’s sentient capybara, I’m hoping that the video game world is starting to understand something that I’ve always believed. Every game would be made better by including a capybara.
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