Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-04-28 12:37 JST)

In Elden Ring, a wall that looks normal at a glance has been confirmed to inflict players with poison status.

*Mild spoiler warning: The following article contains information regarding locations in Elden Ring.

Elden Ring is the latest action RPG from FromSoftware, and it’s filled with a variety of different location types to explore. This includes plenty of poisonous and putrid swamps which may not be a surprise considering what Hidetaka Miyazaki, the game’s director, previously said in an interview with Game Informer. “When making the game 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. It just happens.”

But on top of poisonous swamps, Elden Ring players have even discovered a poisonous wall within the game. While it may sound like an easter egg from the poison swamp loving Miyazaki, it seems that isn’t actually the case. To get to the wall, leave the front entrance of the Temple of Eiglay site of grace and it’s located on a foothold below the cliff. No matter how you look at it, everything will seem normal, but when you approach it, poison damage will stack on your character as they turn green. Why does this happen? Zullie the Witch, known for uploading Elden Ring and Dark Souls analysis videos set out to investigate and has released their findings.

Zullie hypothesizes that the poisonous wall was a small development slip-up. According to Zullie, Elden Ring contains a property called “Hit Material.” In addition to this property setting how things like rocks, ground, or water sound when hit or walked across, it can also put status effects on players for environments like poison swamps or lava. Zullie explains that this Hit Material defines the properties of terrain in the game. For example, Hit Material gives poison swamp terrain its poison properties and makes your footsteps sound like walking through water.

So what would happen if the poison Hit Material was applied to just regular terrain? The ground or wall would still look the same, but it would now act as if it had poison properties. Zullie suspects that this is what’s happening with the mysterious poisonous wall. When I (the original author of this article) went to confirm for myself in-game, not only was I poisoned when I touched the wall, but it made a splashing sound just like a poisonous swamp, bolstering Zullie’s theory.

Furthermore, the wall is on a foothold below a cliff, so it’s likely not a place you would visit often, making it unlikely to cause trouble for players. But when you throw yourself into it, you do turn a lovely green color which is interesting. It’s also not far from a site of grace, so pay it a visit if you’re curious. Maybe there are even more places scattered across the Lands Between with incorrect Hit Material.