Clarifying Info about how the Co-op works

[MisfortuneCookie]

The co-op doesnt actually have to be you "cooperating". They said that having a 'lone wolf' style of play will be possible, sharing runes will happen, and you can go off and do your own thing and will only be forced to come back together at the final boss of each in game day.
Its not a "forced to work with other players" game, besides the boss battles, which if you played co op in any soulslike you probably wouldnt mind and dont really need to work with others anyways.
Im saying this because people are already jumping to assume that a solo playstyle wont be possible in this game, which is outright stated to not be the case. You can do what you want at your own pace (as long as someone doesnt kill an enemy/complete a dungeon before you, im assuming) without any drawbacks, besides not helping someone who might request it, which is just another choice for you to make.

https://www.famitsu.com/article/202412/27477
(youll have to use a browser extension or something to translate the article. I used a browser extension to translate the whole page at once.)
From an interview with the director of Nightrein, Junya Ishizaki:

"It's fine to work alone, searching for items and leveling up, to avoid pinches by acting as a companion, or to gather only when it's time to capture a base. We leave it up to the players' choices.
Even if each person plays as a lone wolf, they will always gather together to fight the boss that appears at night. It may happen that an ally who was completely out of sight during the day appears in a very strong state at night... (laughs).
Also, the runes obtained when defeating an enemy are given to each member of the party, so even if you fight without cooperating, the whole party will benefit in the end. "

Additionally, you can choose to play with only 2 people or single player. Whether or not that will or should adjust the scaling to match how itd be with 3 players is up to interpretation.

"This game is designed to be played by three people. On the other hand, we have made it possible to play alone, since there are people who want to enjoy the game at their own pace and depending on their mood at the time. Ultimately, we prioritized the freedom of the user to enjoy the game, and we made it possible to have options. However, as I have said before, this game is designed to be played by three people, and is difficult enough to be challenging even with three people, so please bear with us on that point."

I will say, while it seems Ishizaki is adamant on prioritizing player freedom rather than enforcing a specific form of play, it will most likely be more challenging with less people, which you may like, dislike, or wont care about. Especially with his statement; "this game is designed to be played by three people, and is difficult enough to be challenging even with three people , so please bear with us on that point."
In the trailer you can see a Cerberus-esque boss monster that splits into 3 wolves, making it clear that each player is supposed to target one wolf, so while they do allow this freedom, its clearly designed for multiple people to fight..... But theres already so many fights in Elden Ring where it feels like you have to use spirit summons but can still be done (whether it feels fair is debatable) so im sure most ER players would not be shocked by it anyways.