"I thought the Mimic would be very strong right from the beginning, and I took the deliberate decision to avoid it for the sake of variety," Iron Pineapple said. "It was quite enjoyable to show the various abilities and niches of some of Elden Ring Runes the summons that are available in the game and treat the problems as puzzles to be solved instead of just gaining simple stats. So ultimately I was a little disappointed in how powerful the Mimic remains, even after the nerf."

Iron Pineapple's pacifist run is yet another example of how Elden Ring retains the strategic openness of its Souls predecessors. With a thorough understanding of the tools, abilities, and resources at your disposal you can beat the game using just about every strategy available included in the book. There's a chance that you'll hit an obstacle here and there. Iron Pineapple sure did. If there's a lesson to learn from a typical Elden Ring playthrough, it's that everything is possible by a bit of determination.

In retrospect, I ought to have been more cautious. As many Souls players be aware of, FromSoftware is fond of making traps inside treasure chests. Sometimes the treasure chests come alive. They're referred to as mimics, and they're huge assholes when they catch you by surprise. However, this was not a mimic. A mimic that I could take on without a sweat and still have something to be awaiting after beating it. But this was something completely different. When I opened the chest, I was surrounded by an intense, purple fog. It was accompanied by a warning message that indicated the teleportation was against my wishes.

My wolf friends could do was sit and watch as I was sucked away. A lengthy loading process later I discovered myself in a tiny building. A pop-up notification for the region indicated that I was in the Sellia Crystal Tunnel. I saw a humanoid armed with a staff stroll through the doorway of the building and quickly sank into a crouch to hide my appearance. As I stepped out into the dark surroundings, I saw men with magical tools to chip away at the bright-colored veins on the walls and ground. On cheap Elden Ring Runes the top of the shack I just left was a strange insect-like creature, with many arms, looking over the workers in the same way as a foreman or supervisor.