What is a Poison Swamp Zone?
A Poison Swamp Zone - in short - is an area in a video game designed to harm the player consistently as they progress, often unavoidably.
Fig 1. A Poison Swamp in Dragon Quest, 1986
Made famous by FromSoftware's
Dark Souls series, Poison Swamps have been a part of video games since since the birth of the JRPG, if not earlier.
Often (but not always) represented by a swamp or marsh, Poison Swamp Zones force a player to progress though terrain that applies constant damage, requiring healing and upkeep. Alternatively, the swampy terrain applies a status effect that causes damage over time, or possibly even instant death.
Though not always represented by marshy water, Poison Swamps can be differentiated from "kill planes" and "lava pits" by the sort of harm they infict: the Poison Swamp doesn't kill the player instantaneously, it simply forces them to keep moving by inflicting constant slight harm.
