This unusual information about Elden Ring comes from a interview obtained by Game Informer. As you may know, every major game from the studio since Demon’s Souls has poison swamps in one form or another, and that goes for Sekiro and Bloodborne too. There were even some already in their ancestors, the King’s Field. Sometimes adversity isn’t in the form of a boss, but a harsh environment that forces you to change your playstyle. In these games, swamps don’t just poison you, they also reduce mobility greatly, to the point of blocking the saving roll in some of these titles. Add in a dark environment and fearsome enemies, preferably with additional afflictions like petrification, or toxic damage, which is like poison only worse, and it makes for a memorable combo for the player. There are various viable strategies to counter all of this, but usually the first solution is to consume your poison foam stock and healing items. Hidetaka Miyazaki confesses to having rediscovered his love for creating these dastardly environments. Maybe that explains why he doesn’t play his games after they come out.
A new affliction is therefore confirmed for Elden Ring, named Scarlet Rot in English (Pourriture écarlate, or something similar in French). How it differs from poison and toxicity isn’t specified, but apparently it’s referenced several times in-game, and there could well be a whole infested area waiting for you. She could be the reason why many characters wear a mask according to the interviewer, in order to hide the rot and deformities on the face. This is just a guess on our part, but it might be fun (for Miyazaki at least) to have this affliction persist after death, which would force the player to lose life on a loop continuously while he desperately searches for an exit and a solution, until he finally finds the cure.
There are several poison swamps in Elden Ring, you’ll have the dubious pleasure of having to walk through them under various conditions, such as having to hold a torch to see something in them, the game’s maximum brightness technique might not be enough. It is also almost certain that one or more of these swamps will be considered indoors, which will prevent you from using your horse. The image above shows what appears to be a giant, dark anthill, combined with a swamp and what could well be purple rot.
All this suffering in perspective awaits you on February 25th with the release of Elden Ring on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series, PS4 and PS5.