Six Years Later, CouchJockey’s Dark Souls Mod Takes on Elden Ring in The Convergence

Six years ago, CouchJockey was a small-time Twitch streamer, playing Hearthstone in an attempt to gain recognition. Today, he is the creative director of The Convergence, an acclaimed Elden Ring mod that introduces new bosses, spells, and overhauls controversial aspects of the game. This journey from streaming to modding has been a remarkable one for CouchJockey, and it all began with a simple “magic mod” for Dark Souls 3, which grew into something far more ambitious.

The Beginning of The Convergence

During his early days of streaming, CouchJockey drew inspiration from no-hit runs of Dark Souls 3 by mavens such as HappyHob and Distortion2, who popularized the concept. Over the next few months, he completed several magic-focused hitless challenges, gaining a large number of fans in the process. However, it was during a stream where he expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of spell options in a particular mod that a fellow player named TigerG92 suggested they create their own spells. This marked the beginning of The Convergence.

The Rise of Souls Modding

The Souls series on PC has come a long way since the infamously broken Dark Souls 1 port. Each game in the series now has a dedicated modding community, with well-known mods for every entry. The Convergence is one of the most highly-regarded mods for Dark Souls 3 and has gained significant recognition for its polished quality, earning the praise of From Software themselves. However, the Elden Ring version of the mod is gaining even more attention, despite still being in development.

The Magic of The Convergence

Magic has always held a unique place in the Souls games, with many players either avoiding it entirely or feeling that the base game lacked sufficient options. The Convergence opens up a new world of spellcasting possibilities with its wealth of new spells. It introduces schools of magic not typically seen in the Souls games, such as Cryomancy, Aeromancy, Geomancy, Druidism, and Dark Miracles. Players can specialize in a specific school or create a versatile mix. The mod also enhances the viability of spellcasting by continuously regenerating the player’s mana, known as FP, removing the need for constant refilling. This design decision allows for larger and more impactful spells without penalizing players. The Convergence also goes beyond magic, adding new paths, enemies, unique boss battles, and even ultra-hard versions of existing bosses.

Transitioning to Elden Ring

The decision to create an Elden Ring mod was a natural choice for CouchJockey and his team, and they had planned to wait for the modding scene to mature before starting development. However, after experiencing the game themselves, they felt compelled to begin sooner. Elden Ring presented its own set of challenges due to its size, and the Convergence Elden Ring version is still in the alpha stage of development after a year of work. Despite this, CouchJockey is proud of its progress, and the mod will continue to expand with more weapons, armor, spells, bosses, quests, and “legacy dungeons.”

While there is no set release date for the finished mod, it is expected to extend beyond the release of Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. CouchJockey and his team are excited about what they have achieved with Convergence ER and plan to establish a new game studio once the mod is complete, so their creative journey can continue.