Among the boss monsters that populate FromSoftware’s games are some truly grotesque abominations.Elden Ring, Sekiro, Bloodborne, Demon’s Souls,and theDark Soulstrilogy take place in worlds torn apart by violence, after all, and it makes sense that some of the protagonists' foes would bephysical embodiments of the detritus of their surroundings. From the poison swamp of Blighttown to the subterranean Lake of Rot, these games have some truly disgusting areas that equally disgusting forces call home.
But calling these bosses “gross” doesn’t really do them justice. Many of these monsters are physically off-putting, but alsodisgusting in the context of their actions, environment, and the threat they poseto the player. These bosses represent the most vile forces and ideas FromSoftware has to offer.
10Godrick the Grafted:The Cruel Coward Archetype
Godrick’s Body Visually Portrays His Role In The Story
Godrick the Grafted is likely the first demigodElden Ringplayers come across, and he is also the weakest of the bunch. He may be a descendant of a great warrior, buthe lacks any greatness of his own,instead being a weak coward with an inferiority complex and a penchant for sadism.
Elden Ring: If Godrick Is A Hard Boss, Turn Around
Although Elden Ring directs players toward Stormveil Castle immediately, Godrick the Grafted is not a boss that should be fought as soon as possible.
Godrick tries to attain greater strength bystealing the body parts of others and “grafting” them to his form. As such, when players meet him, he is a mess of decaying limbs and pale skin. He is gross not just to look at, but also as a cowardly figure who desecrates others to steal their dignity. Not to mention he isa threat to the players themselves, who risk being added to his horrid collection.
9The Demon Of Song Is Mysterious And Terrifying
A Strange Combination That Leaves PLayers Queasy
One of the more visually distinct bosses in the sea of enemies inDark Souls 2is the Demon of Song. This frog-like entityhides a human skull and skeletal arms within its maw,which it uses to lure undead in and consume them. It’s a monster through-and-through, with little official lore to explain its motives beyond eating (though that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating).
The Demon pairs its skeletal innards with this amphibious shell,a combination that leaves many players unnerved as it lunges at their character. The mystery of this enemy is part of what makes it scary, and its intent to literally eat the player is enough to put it firmly in gross territory.
8The Putrescent Knight Lives In A Puddle Of Decaying Corpses
A Boss As Dangerous As It Is Unsanitary
Introduced in theShadow of the ErdtreeDLC, the Putrescent Knight is a spooky but valiant monster that serves as protector of St. Trina. It looks mostly like a skeleton, wielding a boomerang-like sword from atop a sludge horse. But as its name would imply,this knight both lives in and is animated by a substance called “putrescence.”
Elden Ring: Who St. Trina Really Is
The Tarnished can find several references to St. Trina throughout the course of Elden Ring, but this character’s identity may already be known.
Literally, this word just means something putrid, and connotes a foul odor. WithinElden Ring, it is used to refer to a substance that allows St. Trina’s followers to enter an everlasting sleep. But the location where this knight and his pool of putrescence can be found, at the bottom of a fissure where mass graves ooze purple liquid, does implythat this substance is liquified corpses. Nasty.
7Ceasless Discharge Is Pitiable In His Awfulness
A Gentle Giant Filled With Eternal Suffering
Way back in the originalDark Souls, the Ceaseless Discharge was renowned as both an easy boss to beat and one that many players felt bad for. He is the son of the first witch of Izalith, and his body has been affected by the chaos flame, leaving himgigantic, oozing with lava, and in constant pain.He even managed to drop the ring that one of his sisters gave him that would have eased his discomfort.
The Centipede Demon, which can be found below the Ceaseless Discharge’s boss arena later on, is actually formed from this dropped ring, and players can get by killing this foe.
As such, it does feel mean to call this poor soul “gross,” though it is still accurate. Ceaseless Discharge has half-melted features, strange tentacles emerging from his back, andhis attacks mainly consist of showering the player with his volcanic excretions. As bad as people feel for him, he remains one of the grosser bosses from the early games.
6Ludwig Has Become The Monster He Sought To Destroy
Half Man, Half Horse, All Nightmare
With all the body horror and bestial transformations inBloodborne,many of the game’s bossescould make this list. But Ludwig,a former hunter turned horrible abomination,is one of the more terrible to look upon. His snaggle-teeth emerging from a mutated horse’s face, his long, bloodied torso, and his hairy arms make him one of the most visually disturbing creatures in a game all about being visually disturbed.
The fact thatsome of Ludwig’s humanity remains within this creature, aware of his own aberrant nature and how he resembles the monsters he once hunted, adds another layer of horror and disgust to his character. His arena is the cherry on top, coated in the blood and viscera of his former victims, monsters and humans now indistinguishable in death.
5The Leechmonger Is One Of The Earliest Gross-Out Bosses In This Franchise
Just A Big Guy Made Out Of Parasites
Demon’s Soulshad some great and gross boss design, which got a fresh look in the remake. And the Leechmonger is just as disgusting as ever. It’s fitting thata creature made out of disgusting parasiteslives in a cesspool in a region called the Valley of Defilement. Leechmonger doesn’t have much depth to him: he’s a bunch of leeches held together by the soul of a demon, seeking to drain people’s blood and be generally awful.
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Despite being the oldest boss on this list, Leechmonger remains memorable for hisleech-throwing attacks that covered player characters in the little bloodsuckers. He resembles anotherDemon’s Soulsboss, the Dirty Colossus, though at least the Colossus gets to wear a fun little hood.
4The Curse-Rotted Greatwood Maxxed Out Dark Souls 3’s Gross Meter Early
An Optional Boss That Many May Want To Skip
This diseased tree can be found early inDark Souls 3, being worshiped by people in the Undead Settlement. To its credit, it won’t attack the player until they get close, which many players may wish to avoid after seeing how vile this thing is. The curse-rotted greatwood iscovered in what can only be described as pus sacksemerging from back, limbs, and groin. To bring the creature down, players have to target these sacks until they pop.
Players will need to defeat this boss if they wish to turn boss souls into powerful gear, since it holds a transposing kiln only obtainable upon its death.
The creature also shakes its branches to drop more pustules on the player, meaning that by the end of this fight, characters will be covered in whatever awful fluid this tree is full of.Its phase two also introduced a pale crotch-handthat really just adds icing to the top of this disgusting cake.
3Wormface Mixes Disgust And Horror In A Visceral Way
This Thing Moves Faster Than You’d Think
ThisElden Ringminiboss appears several times in the Lands Between, and every time it does, it fills players with a sense of dread. This thing mixes horror elements with the grotesque in an incredibly effective way, especially when it comes to its moveset. Wormface is, as the name suggests,a long-limbed creature with its face covered in worms.
Elden Ring: The Wormfaces Are More Scary Than You Think
The Wormfaces of Elden Ring are already some of the most frightening monsters in the game, but their hidden lore makes them even scarier
Likely, these worms are infested with deathblight, which gives Wormface the ability to inflict that status condition upon player characters.Deathblight instantly kills characters at a certain point, adding a layer of tension to fighting this creature. It also infests people with twisting black vines and flies, a truly awful fate. But the moment this creature becomes terrifying is when it breaks into a sprint at the player character, moving with speed not typical for a creature of its size.
Two Bosses That Are Gross For The Same Reason
BloodborneandDark Souls 2both include a boss that is basically just an amalgamation of dead people’s body parts. They are the One Reborn and the Rotten, respectively, and they areboth visually and conceptually disgusting. Nobody likes getting punched by a dead body, and nobody likes having their body used in grim necromantic experiments, and these bosses combine those fears into two gross packages.
While they exist for different reasons in their respective games, both bosses play on ourshared sense of disgust upon seeing gore that dehumanizes human remains. Neither monster seems to exist of its own accord, instead being created by others for dark purposes. Fighting these things feels like an insult to the bodies that make them up, one last desecration before they can finally rest.
1The Primeval Demon Is The Worst Thing Ever
This Terrible Flesh Insect Should Have Remained Hidden
Elden Ring’s hidden bosses have nothing on these monsters fromDemon’s Souls, whom many are probably unaware even exist. But they do exist, unfortunately, and they’resome of the most grotesque things players could ever lay eyes on, as seen in the above video fromMcRaptor. Primeval Demons hide in several locations around the various maps in the game, waiting to be found and put out of their misery.
These horrible slugs are apparently demons that have not yet fully formed,in a sort of defenseless stasisthat players can use to kill them before they finish transforming. But between their weird pincers, long wet tails, and terrible conal orifice, some players may just want to leave them alone to avoid ever having to interact with them. Across all ofFromSoftware’s gross designs, this one takes the top spot.
