Screenshot: Jake Peterson
Elden Ring, like other FromSoftware titles, is a multiplayer experience. You can summon other players to help you defeat a boss, and provide aid to other players (though I won’t be helping anyone myself, because I suck). Among other cooperatives tricks, one fun feature is the ability to leave signs around the game world, to help other players when they reach that area.
Be very skeptical of these signs.
Sometimes, they’re helpful. Other players might warn you about an upcoming boss, or give you advice on how to defeat it. Sometimes, they’re just jokes, which can give you a laugh between brutal deaths.
However, sometimes they’re straight-up trolls. They’ll tell you to jump off the edge of a cliff, knowing full well the fall will kill you. Maybe they tell you to look left while walking down a tight corridor, only for the real threat to be on your right. You would think the fact that there’s open voting system on each sign that a high number of “appraisals” would indicate a helpful message, but it turns out voters like to mess with players as much as sign makers do.
The signs are worth reading, and worth considering, but don’t treat them as gospel. Remember: Some players, like 99% of Elden Ring’s NPCs, just want you to die.
