Elden Ring might not be officially categorized as a horror game, but in true FromSoftware fashion, it contains a lot of lore and details that are unsettling, disturbing, and downright creepy. With a DLC on the horizon, let’s dive into 10 creepy details that make Elden Ring feel like a horror game.
10. Deathbed Companions
Fia, an NPC at Roundtable Hold, is a Deathbed Companion. This is an honorable duty in her hometown, but she ended up exiled after the Grace of the Erdtree awakened her. As a result, she found herself in the Lands Between. While being a Deathbed Companion is viewed as a sacred act by some, it’s kind of creepy when you think about it.
Basically Fia, and other Deathbed Companions, steal life from champions who willingly embrace them. Once she siphons off enough life, she lies with a corpse to transfer those bits of life to the deceased in order to revive them. It’s an interesting take on the power of resurrection, but it also involves cuddling a corpse.
9. Dancing Ladies
Upon arriving at Dominula, Windmill Village, we see a bunch of ladies dancing in circles. Compared to other locations, it’s a pretty festive greeting, and it turns out that this is, indeed, a type of festival they celebrate. The creepy part is that this festival seems to involve skinning at least one person. We find this information by talking to the Stranded Soul in the area who’s afraid of the sound of festivities, then starts begging for mercy against skinning and insists that their hide is filthy. Since this area leads to the Godskin Apostle, it’s likely that the dancing women are holding a festival related to skinning people.
8. Chanting Winged Dame
Chanting Winged Dames are in multiple locations, usually with Giant Bats. When you find them, they’re singing a song in Latin. Attacking them interrupts the song and leads to them retaliating. The lyrics for the song have been translated, and they talk about the land losing its blessing, becoming tarnished, lamenting that nobody consoles them, and wondering at whom the Golden One is angry. Overall, it’s an eerie situation and a reminder of how much the residents of the Lands Between suffered because of Marika and the Greater Will.
7. Shabriri Grapes
Hyetta is a blind NPC who requests that you give her Shabriri Grapes so that she can better see the light that will guide her to the Fingers, because she’s going to become a Fingermaiden. However, reading the item description reveals that Shabriri Grapes are eyes from the infirm. That’s right, we’re feeding Hyetta eyeballs, as per her request. And yet, it feels rather normal given everything going on in the Lands Between. Which only adds to the eerie horror vibes of Elden Ring.
6. Limgrave’s Screaming Pit
This one’s rather mysterious. There doesn’t seem to be a lore explanation for why it’s in Limgrave or its purpose. While there’s screaming from the crucified Tarnished in Limgrave at night, there’s also a strange pit where you can hear screams coming from. I wouldn’t recommend trying to investigate it, because jumping into the pit sends you straight to a death screen. Could it be that some Tarnished were thrown into the pit instead of crucified?
5. Grafted Scion
The Grafted Scion is an optional boss, but it’s also creepy. I would even consider its design as a core horror concept. It’s a creature that’s made out of a bunch of bodies pieced together. So, you could consider it as a type of creature similar to Frankenstein’s monster. But this raises some horrifying questions like how the bodies were acquired or how and why they pieced the bodies together. Who made this monstrosity? Also, how aware are the people meshed into this creature?
4. Godskins
I mentioned the Godskins a bit with the dancing ladies at Dominula, but now I’ll expand on them in general. The Godskins wear outfits made out of smooth skin, presumably from the gods they hunted and killed when they were led by the Gloam-eyed Queen before Maliketh sealed their power. While they’re no longer at their full power, it doesn’t stop them from continuing to wear the skin of their enemies. You can also get their outfit as equipment and wear skin if you want.
3. Sellen Sphere of Faces
You could help Sorceress Sellen and learn magic from her, but that leads to a terrible fate for Sellen. After completing her questline and learning the last spell from her, you leave the area to move on. But if you happen to return after that point, you find that Sellen has been turned into a giant sphere of faces. At this point, killing the creature she became is the most merciful action you can take for her.
2. Scarlet Rot
Scarlet Rot is a disease in the Lands Between that likely stems from a goddess made of rot that was sealed away by the Blind Swordsman who taught Malenia. Malenia is the most notable NPC to suffer from Scarlet Rot, which she was born with. This disease rots away your body, and it caused Malenia to lose her limbs. So far, the best way to slow its progression was found by Miquella using an unalloyed gold needle. However, the idea of being afflicted by a disease that tears your body apart and causes you to lose limbs until you eventually die is horrifying.
1. Godwyn’s Body
After death was removed from the Lands Between, Godwyn was the first to bring death back. Although, not intentionally. Godwyn happened to be Ranni’s choice of sacrifice in her plot to divest herself of her flesh, severing any connection her body had to the Greater Will. To do this, she had to kill her body and Godwyn’s soul at the same time using two halves of a specific rune.
But Godwyn’s soulless body corrupted the roots of the Erdtree. And you can see this through his face appearing in the roots. Plus, the effects don’t end there. His body and the rune of death led to the creation of Deathroot and Those Who Live in Death. In death, Godwyn became a plague that spread through the roots of the Erdtree as a body without a soul.
And those are 10 creepy details that make Elden Ring feel like a horror game. With how massive the Lands Between is, there’s no shortage of details that you can dig into for lore. But for more content, check our guide hub for topics like how to get the Night Comet or where to find the Grave Scythe.
