Miyazaki went ‘too far’ with poisonous swamps in Elden Ring but promises DLC will be better

Across Hidetaka Miyazaki’s portfolio of games, there are numerous recurring themes: misty walls, bonfires, giant bosses, trick weapons, and phallic snake creatures. Yet, there is nothing more prolific and disliked as much as its many poisonous swamps.

In preparation for the DLC launch, the FromSoftware President has been very vocal with the press. Most recently with CNET, he lamented on Elden Ring’s obscene poison swamps:

“In terms of the poisonous swamp, I guess in the original Elden Ring I went a little too far. So I’m trying to take some learnings from that,” Miyazaki said.

Anyone familiar with the Lands Between knows how irritating the many poison swamps can be. You’re always a stone’s toss away from one, and if you’re not, you’re probably playing the game wrong. This is largely down to the fact that Miyazaki just can’t help putting them into his games, as stated in interviews back when Elden Ring first came out.

“And you can say the version that exists in the DLC, which I’ve already confirmed, applies a lot of those learnings,” Miyazaki continues. There’s a sense of awareness in Miyazaki’s words. He understands the mythic proportions of his swamp designs, and the infuriating impact it has on players too.

Shadow of the Erdtree will include much tamer poison swamps this time round as Miyazaki hopes to “curb expectations,” though he continues to state that “in between it existing and not existing, with this version, let’s just say I try to imagine different ways I want to die as a player or be killed. So that expression of myself has been imparted into the poison swamp.”

There seems to be some sort of heavy paradox in his words. I think despite Miyazaki’s best efforts to conceal the devastating nature of his poisonous swamps, they’re going to be just as terrifying as in the original game.

About the Author

Amaar Chowdhury

Amaar is a gaming journalist with an interest in covering the industry's corporations. Aside from that, he has a hankering interest in retro games that few people care about anymore.