What does applauding a message do in Elden Ring?

A staple of FromSoftware games is the ability to leave messages in the world for other players to find. The developers have brought this feature back in Elden Ring, much to fans’ delight. While players will have a solo or co-op experience, they can use the messages in a multiplayer fashion. This starts with either applauding or disparaging a message in Elden Ring.

As soon as you begin your journey in Elden Ring, you will likely see several glowing tablets on the ground. If you approach these, you have the ability to read the message that’s written. This message can contain words from a pre-selected list of phrases and words. After you read it, you can simply leave it be, applaud it or disparage it.

Below, you can see what happens if you applaud the message and also how to leave your own message.

Applauding a message in Elden Ring

When you choose to read a message in Elden Ring, you will see three different options: Cancel, Applaud or Disparage. If you choose to cancel, nothing happens. If you choose to applaud it, though, you will replenish the person’s health that left the message. So if you happen to find the message humorous or informative, then you might consider applauding it to reward the player that left it for you.

To leave your own message in hopes of getting health replenished, all you need to do is go to the menu screen of Elden Ring. From here, select the “Messages” icon halfway down the left side of the screen. Here, the game will explain the messages system and allow you to create your own.

You can select several different starting phrases and then an extra word or two after that. You can choose to be funny or leave a detailed message that lets players know of an upcoming boss battle or if there’s a treasure chest nearby. Once you’re done with your message, your character will place it on the ground and it will be sent to the Elden Ring servers. Then, random players in their own playthrough will stumble upon across the message and choose what to do with it.

It’s wise to leave many messages, as this just increases your odds of getting free health in your adventure.