Apart from a wasted hour or so dabbling in Dark Souls, Elden Ring was my first soulslike, and so I think it's understandable that when I found myself standing in the muck in the middle of Caelid, my immediate reaction was, "This is bullshit." I was surprised to find out later that it was also tradition: Director Hidetaka Miyazaki has been throwing these things in since the very first Dark Souls because, apparently, he just can't help himself.
Big surprise, then, that the Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree has its very own poison swamp—something Miyazaki confirmed earlier this year, in case there was any doubt. But it may not be quite as big and bullshit as Elden Ring's Swamp of Aeonia and Lake of Rot: In an interview with CNet, Miyazaki acknowledged that he "went a little too far" with Elden Ring, and he's "trying to take some lessons from that."
