An early Elden Ring chest is sending players straight to hell

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There’s a handy feature in Elden Ring that helps guide players down a suggested critical path with beams of light shooting out of checkpoints. If you're new to Souls games, following that path is a lot safer than what my friend did. You see, my friend started wandering around carefree as soon as he was allowed to, opened up a random treasure chest, and then ended up in hell.

Mild Elden Ring spoilers ahead: This is a fun discovery to make on your own, but it's also a punishing area to arrive in immediately. Read on if you'd like to avoid it.

Seriously, there's a treasure chest just minutes away from Elden Ring's starting area that will literally kidnap you and take you somewhere else. Once you're there, you can't fast travel back to the comfort of Limgrave until you've fought (or ran) through a particularly nasty little cave. I decided to poke the bear and check it out myself, but I wasn't prepared for how freaking mean the enemies are here.

If you're wondering where this troublesome chest is waiting for you, it's a spot called the Dragon-Burnt Ruins. It sits just west of the first Limgrave site of grace submerged in some gross ankle-deep water. The ruins themselves are deceptively simple. The only enemies you'll find here are pushover zombies with torches, a few feisty dogs, and dumb rats. It presents itself as such an easy win that it feels like a tutorial for Elden Ring's many hidden dungeons.

Nestled at the bottom of some stairs, past a rat-filled room, is your «prize» chest. Open it and a cloud of smoke engulfs your