Elden Ring will see the return of an environment that fans utterly loathe

techradar.com:

If there's one environment that FromSoftware fans almost universally groan at, it's the poison swamp. The controversial biome has made an appearance in almost every Soulsborne title to date, including the Dark Souls' Blighttown, Dark Souls 3's Farron Keep and Demon's Souls' dreaded Valley of Defilement.

The poison swamp, then, is the bane of many a Souls player's existence, but it turns out the toxic environment is one that director Hidetaka Miyazaki is eager to have back in Elden Ring, as he revealed in an interview with Game Informer.

Miyazaki, who also directed Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, admitted that: «While making [Elden Ring] I rediscovered my love for making poison swamps.»

«I know how people feel about them, but you know, suddenly I realize I'm in the middle of making one and I just can't help myself,» he told the publication. «It just happens.»

If Elden Ring will be your first time exploring FromSoftware's particular brand of action RPG, then it's worth knowing in advance the kind of fresh hell the developer's infamous poison swamps have in store for you.

Yes, Soulsborne poison swamps certainly do poison you — slowly draining your health over time — but they're so much worse than that. They'll usually also greatly hamper your ability to move. 

Nowhere is this more exacerbated than in Demon's Souls and its PS5 remake, where attempting to dodge roll in the swamp will instead play a unique and excruciatingly long animation of your character struggling to maintain their footing.

At least Elden Ring's take on the poisonous swamp seems to deviate slightly from the Soulsborne norm. 

«In terms of Elden Ring’s story and setting there is something that is especially horrible that exists