Many consider Elden Ring to be From Software’s most approachable game. It gives players plenty of ways to tackle its many fearsome foes, and some players utilize Spirit Ashes during boss fights to take aggro away from them. Elden Ring is also filled with quality-of-life features that make the overall experience extremely user-friendly.
Despite being more approachable than other games of this type, Elden Ring follows the same design philosophy. Players will have to be careful while exploring the world, especially in Elden Ring’s legacy dungeons. The levels are filled with traps, with enemies waiting to ambush unsuspecting wanderers. Also, it's extremely common to get hit from off-screen or through walls in Elden Ring. This is where the unique messaging system comes in handy, as many players will leave messages on the ground that warn others of such attacks. Outside of a few select areas, nowhere is truly safe in the world of Elden Ring, and a player just experienced this the hard way.
A user named cuzls uploads a short clip of them exploring a late-game area in Elden Ring. Cuzls is on the roof of a building and seemingly wants to get to the area’s base. It looks like the fall will lead to death, but they drop down to a flag below, hoping to safely reach the bottom. In classic Souls fashion, cuzls gets hit by an arrow from off-screen, knocking them off the flag and probably resulting in their death. The user appropriately names the clip “Elden Ring in 6 seconds”.
Many players share their own stories of such encounters, where they got hit by an attack from off-screen and reset their progress, with Soifra River apparently being infamous for this mechanic. BT9154 states that they experienced more jumpscares in Elden Ring than most horror games, and other users are listing other terrifying areas from the game. The underground area beneath the capital and Carian Manor seem to the at the top of this list. Matssscheese also compares this feeling to getting hit with an RKO out of nowhere from WWE Superstar Randy Orton.
Elden Ring is a massive game, and it naturally has more traps than all other titles released by From Software. Even in the game’s opening area, players will come across some chests that transport them to different regions of the map. Thankfully, Elden Ring features an excellent fast travel system, so players can go back to the area they were previously exploring. However, players may sometimes be required to rest at a Site of Grace before using fast travel.
Elden Ring is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
