Super late to the party but.. Hi.

You know what genuinely scared me? The teleporting chest near the beginning of Elden Ring.

--Minor spoilers for anyone who hasn't played the game and wants to experience everything blind.--

So at the beginning of the game, you are chucked unceremoniously into an open world. You see a giant armoured knight atop a steed in the distance. If you're a Dark Souls vet, you likely run straight at it to engage in combat, and promptly get your ass absolutely handed to you.

That Tree Sentinel is placed there to encourage people to fuck off in another direction, come back stronger and then put the beat down on him. You're meant to fight, lose, and realize you can go anywhere you want! A lot of people, travel East of this area, to a shallow lake. Aside from getting attacked by a fucking dragon if you get too close to a bonfire, you can explore some ruins and generally get used to the mechanics.

Until you come across a particular treasure chest, submerged in one of the ruins.

The chest opens. Smoke billows out, and your screen goes black. You come to in an entirely new area, a crystalline cave. You venture out thinking "Wow they're pulled out all the stops for this game!" and you immediately get one shotted by any of the enemies lurking in the cave. You might die a few times before deciding to just run for it; it won't be long before you realize you are stuck here. You cannot fast travel underground. You have to escape to keep playing.

You make it out, into Caelid, and wish you hadn't. The sky is blood red, the ground is rotted, and giant heaving creatures roil in the distance. The music kicks in (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZCD5iPByFA&ab_channel=dudewhereismyspoon) and you understand this is going to get worse before it gets better. This is an area that is so far beyond your characters capacity that you cannot accomplish anything. Birds the size of elephants aggro you from across the map, half the area is covered in poisonous rot and the rest is laid with traps and enemies. So, Australia.

So you escape (eventually). You go back to where you found that Tree Sentinel and you're fucking pleased he's there, something normal. A dude in armour with a halberd. Excellent, I can handle that. Give me more of that.

This teleporting chest, so early in the game, so ready to nab newcomers, was peak fucking horror for me.

Like, no jumpscares - nothing cheesy. Just atmospheric terror and the visceral understanding that you are NOT meant to be here.

I spent the rest of my playthrough knowing I would have to return to this bloodstained land, and dreading it. Even now that music makes me shiver. There were darker and creepier places in that world that I experienced but nothing hit me harder than the surprise Caelid holiday.