Elden Ring will have poison swamps, be difficult, FromSoftware boss says

Elden Ringwill be surrounded by a toxic swamp. That’s because toxic marsh enthusiast and player-poisoning sadist Hidetaka Miyazaki, president of developer FromSoftware and director of Elden Ring, simply “can’t help” himself. This guy insists that everyone has a specific flower or medicinal plant in their inventory. He then makes his fans wait for their hit points to slowly decrease as they face the FromSoft games.

In a new interview snippet from Game Informer, Miyazaki says he “rediscovered [his] love for making poison swamps.” I’m not sure at which point he purports to have lost it, given the the poison swamp situations in Demon’s Souls’ Valley of Defilement, Dark Souls’ Blighttown, Dark Souls II’s Harvest Valley, Dark Souls 3’s Farron Keep, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’s Ashina Depths, and Bloodborne’s very cleverly named Poison Swamp. This screenshot, which is full of huge ants and large egg sacs may be from the Poison Swamp. Elden Ring’s poison swamp. This place certainly exudes the right vibe.

“I know how people feel about them,” Miyazaki told Game Informer, “but you know, suddenly I realize I’m in the middle of making one and I just can’t help myself. It just happens.”

The “love” Miyazaki appears to have been reawakened by new levels of cruelty, because he hints that there’s something “especially horrible” in Elden RingScarlet Rot, a condition he calls Scarlet Rot. He claims it is not poison or toxic status effects like his other games. Great! Simply amazing. If it’s anything like Dark Souls’ notorious curse effects (which From had to nerf at one point, because it was pure evil), Elden RingThe game will be a challenge for players when it launches next month.

So yes, Elden RingIt appears that the game is just as difficult as previous FromSoftware titles. In a separate interview with the PlayStation Blog, Miyazaki said that the studio has “not intentionally tried to lower the game’s difficulty,” but noted that Elden RingIt might be simpler to complete than some other Souls Games.

“[T]he player’s level of freedom to progress through the world or return to a challenge later are all elements that I feel will help people get through the game at a more leisurely pace,” Miyazaki said. “Also, there isn’t a focus on pure action. You have more control over how you approach the bosses and stealth when they are in different situations. We’ve even reduced the number of hoops that you have to jump through to enjoy it in multiplayer. We hope players will embrace the idea of getting help from others. And we feel like the overall clear rate will go up this time because of these things.”

All this is contingent on the number of players who tap out after learning about Scarlet Rot. We’ll know more on Feb. 25, when Elden RingIt is expected to arrive on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows PC.