If you count Miquella, who permanently has the body of a child, or at least did. There are also Omens, who are said to be cast down into the sewers or killed the moment they are born.
In the DLC, it is stated that a group of people known as the Finger Weavers, seeking to understand the sublimity of entities from the far beyond (i.e. space) as well as their emissaries, will create and consume substances that induce hallucinations and eventually alter their bodies on a biological level. This can be read as somewhat metaphorical for certain real-life substances.
Other than this, various characters craft and use magical/fantasy concoctions which provide beneficial special effects, but these are almost never based in reality in any way.
A boss is designed to look like a massive man riding on a tiny horse that can't support his weight. Lore-wise the horse isn't actually carrying him but it does look like the horse is struggling.
springhares are common creatures found in the lands between that can be killed but real life springhares are rodents rather than lagomorphs (aka true rabbits and hares)
Yes and no. There's a cat-like looking statue creature and there are some stone imps with cat masks, but standard normal cats aren't killed.
There's a bloody murder of a lion though. (It happens offscreen but blood splashes onto the ground).
I do not believe anyone is slapped at any point, except for the Ancestral Follower Priest enemies who have a slap as their regular melee attack, and the player can be hit by this if they choose to engage.
Adding context to the other comment: The exact circumstances surrounding this character's story are difficult to determine in light of new information revealed in the DLC, but if you are sensitive to pedophilic imagery or romantic interest expressed between two people when one of them has the body of a child, please do be careful.
The character in question is not a child but is cursed to look like one - a curse they strive to break. Both of the adult-bodied adult characters who interact with them romantically are in support of this pursuit. This predicament is not played off as innocuous or cute. Hence, it is my opinion that this is not done to deliberately make these relationships pedophilic or pedo-adjacent in nature/appearance, but the end result this choice produced can still be unsettling or triggering.
Yes, bullying is explicitly involved in the side quest of an early NPC. They are ostracised from their group and kicked out of their living space, pranked on, (effectively) stolen from, and at one point badly beaten. The player character can help them but not prevent these events from taking place in the first place.
The lore between Mohg and Miquella can be interpreted as such, with the former kidnapping the latter and trying to force him into being his consort. It is said he “tried to share his bloody bedchamber but received no response”.
There’s also the Dung Eater questline where his goal is to “defile” and kill victims to spread his curse; you can find a “seedbed curse” item on the groin area various victims of his.
Lastly, there’s Seluvis who administers a potion to turn people into his subservient puppets, and while not explicitly confirmed, there are indications of possible sexual abuse.
There are a few enemies in the game (Black Knife Assassins) that have a grab attack where they grab you from behind and slice your neck. There isn't visible mutilation, per se, but there is a lot of on-screen blood when this happens, and your character may or may not die as a result, depending on how much health you have when the attack occurs.
Yes, an entire clan of people is entombed before the events of the game. You can go down inside and see the result. It's quite horrifying, yet an optional area and rather obscure to find.
One of the bosses required to complete the game is a giant who initially fights standing fully upright, leaving only his ankles and feet open to attack by the player. (Unless the player uses ranged weaponry/magic.)
Potentially, yes. The bodies of the Dung Eater's victims you get seedbed curses from all have bloody cloth specifically around their crotches, implying this could be one thing he does to them.
the sleep status does exactly what it says on the tin. however its only on 3 "weapons" in the main game and only one very easly missable enemy can infict it. the dlc does make it slightly more common but its still very rare
Many areas are intentionally designed so that if you do not look around very carefully, you will be ambushed by enemies you did not realize were there.
It’s not intended to be frightening, but there’s a character you can meet very early on who is actually a spirit possessing a doll, you can see her real ghostly face next to the doll’s face. She’s not possessing a live person, but could be triggering for some.
Hyetta's quest is about a blind girl that needs to eat eyes to see her path. After her third eye, she will ask you what is she eating. If you tell her they're human eyes, she'll gag and puke as soon as you're camera does not see her.
There are weird little magical prisons called “evergaols,” some omens are imprisoned (Mohg and Margit’s Shackle), there’s a subterranean area where t o n s of now-dead npcs were walled up for heresy (cathedral of the forsaken), and the volcano manor has a huge jail area. None of these things are portrayed in a positive light.
No, but there are some sacrificial themes.
An optional quest sees a character challenge you to a fight they no they'll lose. Another optional quest sees a character ask you to remove the soul from their body, and place it in another body, if that counts for you.
One of the NPC is incurably ill and one of the endings of this NPC's quest has them voluntary stop using the only thing that still kept them alive. It's sort of a passive euthanasia situation where the character doesn't kill themselves outright but just allows the disease to kill them. You can find their corpse later but you don't see the moment they die.
Another NPC kills their physical body to transfer their soul into a doll. It is not shown in the game and only talked about, but you can later find their corpse.
Another NPC can voluntary sacrifice their life by burning themselves for your goal. This option can be avoided, the cutscene can be skipped, and the burning itself doesn't look explicit as there are no signs of burnt flesh or any symptoms of discomfort during it.
People voting NO are just straight up wrong. Lightning is painfully bright and flashy for no reason with no option to change it. It is notably bad in Crumbling Farum Azula where there are dragons that summon lightning to attack you and it can be too much for a lot of people. They also appear at several other points in the game. Several other enemies also use lightning. The player can summon lightning with spells and incantations. There are yellow glowing plants you can pick that serve as crafting material that summon lightning around where they grow. A lot of holy attacks are also very bright. Moving your camera through particle effects can be flickery. There's probably more I'm forgetting.
Maybe? Somewhat late in the game, a character says they will bear the child of a demigod. You can later find them dead, though it is unclear if they actually got pregnant.
No, though it's worth noting that Mohg could be considered a particularly horrific combination of homophobic stereotypes, as he is predatory toward his younger (and physically a child) brother, as well as him being an Omen, a being whose blood is considered to be "tainted" by nearly every other sentient race in the game. I can only hope it was unintentional since it seems Miquella's entire story was revised late in development, but as a gay man it's frankly sickening to see such a character in something that came out in 2022, even if it's just unfortunate coincidence.
One of the bosses is completely naked in the second phase. However, her genitals and nipples are covered by crust/mold, so the nudity is more artistic then sexual.
Mohg kidnapped his half-brother Miquella and tries to become his "consort" against his will to obtain power. It is uncertain whether or not any physical assault took place, but could be read as implied due to one item description. There is also a relationship between two people who are technically the same person, if you count that as such.
There are no real-life chronical illnesses, but within the game's universe exists a sickness called Scarlet Rot.
Lore-wise, it is incurable and makes the victim slowly rot, causing them to loose limbs, eyesight and their mind (causing amnesia and plainly degrading them to animalistic state).
A method of slowing Scarlet Rot's progression and lessening the pain of the patient exists, but the method does not completely eradicate the disease.
The slow destruction of the organism, coupled with a cure that can only alleviate the symptoms but not cure the disease completely make it viable for classification as a chornic disease.
A lot of players in the community even make some from of AIDS jokes about it.
One of the NPCs with their own quest and two major bosses are affected by it, plus there are at least two regions that have Rot in them. All of these are not obligatory to interact with to complete the game, but there are high chances the players would stumble into them on accident.
Near the end of the game after a required story event, one character in the hub area seems to be suddenly forgetting nearly all of their memories, and it was very upsetting as someone who had a family member with Alzheimer's.