Dark Souls players are underestimating the true power of Demon’s Souls best poison swamp
Picking the best poison swamp in the Dark Souls series is like choosing whether to jump out of a burning building into a dumpster, choosing between medical or general waste. Either way, it will cause pain and smell bad, but there is a preferable choice.
Any fan can tell you their war stories of playing FromSoftware games. Be it Dark Souls, Bloodborne or Elden Ring, playing these games changes a person, and some of the most memorable points in these games are often the infamous poison swamp areas that occur in every title.
In a recent survey on the FromSoftware subreddit, fans voted on the best parts of the games, prompting votes on very specific points of the FromSoftware series. Thus, the best parts of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring all get their day in the sun. However, their pick for “Best Poison Swamp” leaves much to be desired.
While fans generally agree with these results, I disagree with the pick for “Best Poison Swamp,” as the fans have voted Blightown from the first Dark Souls game as the winner. My personal vote would go to the Valley of Defilement from Demon’s Souls.
Blightown is accessible through The Depths, a sewer system that acts as the basin for all waste from the kingdom above. Blightown itself isn’t much to write home about, with the most memorable part being the large open poison swamp you need to slog through instead of the treacherous descent into it.
The Valley of Defilement is a massive area you can get lost in; descending into a tight makeshift road full of deadly creatures and wading through the enormous bog gives us a genuine sense of progress and dread. It’s a large area that forces you to go through it slowly or pay the price of a “YOU DIED” screen.
At the centre of it all is the graceful Maiden Astraea, a light in the darkness who doesn’t even try to fight you, trying her best to soothe those suffering from the valley’s inflictions. It is a poison swamp, so its length can work against it, but it certainly wins points for the environmental storytelling of plague and negligence.
One can argue that, like most of Demon’s Souls’ worlds, Blightown is extremely linear compared to the more open area to explore. However, I’d stand on the fact that most veterans purposely avoid taking the long way through Blightown, opting for the Master Key starting gift, which significantly cuts the trek through the swamp down to an elevator ride. Here, you haven’t got a choice but to go straight through the pain.
At the end of the day, it’s a poisonous swamp where everything is trying to kill you, and you’re often forced to walk at a snail’s pace despite wanting to rush through it, so it’s not everyone’s favourite point of the game. Players usually dread the inevitable poisonous swamp, but it’s a FromSoftware signature area at this point.
Only time will tell whether or not the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC will contain another poison swamp. My money is on it will but it’s a wonder if it’ll top any of the several Rotting Lakes in the base game.
