I spent an evening in the Elden Ring’s Fog Rift Catacombs and experienced the purest despair I’ve ever felt in a FromSoftware game.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree kicks players’ asses, but an optional dungeon called the Fog Rift Catacombs evokes a special kind of desperation. After spending some time trapped in this place, I can see why – this dungeon is simultaneously the best, worst, and funnest thing FromSoftware has ever done.

This post will of course include spoilers for this one dungeon. Once you head over the large bridge that leads away from the DLC starting area, the map can draw your gaze north to a path that appears to lead to a new Shadow of the Erdtree map fragment for you to collect. This is FromSoft’s first trick. After going through a fortress with hordes of enemies raining down literal fire on you and surviving a misty valley full of stealthy little goblins trying to backstab you, you start getting messages from other players along the lines of “no map ahead, oh more tears.”