Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Developer: FromSoftware
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $39.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
When it comes to FromSoftware DLC, the team rarely misses as they can take advantage of the already well-established mechanics to make new mini-DLC locations feel interesting while not taking too much away from the base game. The question is, how exactly would the team handle the DLC for Elden Ring, a massive game that is set in an open world that is already brimming with things to discover, areas to explore, optional bosses and dungeons to conquer, and much more. In fact, players could spend over a hundred hours in Elden Ring and still find something new if they are exploring naturally.
So, with such an amazing wealth of content already on offer in an open world of massive size, it would take quite a feat to bring out a piece of DLC that would manage to hit the same heights of the base game, but it is clear that FromSoftware was up to the challenge even if it took them a bit over two years to do it. So now with Shadow of the Erdtree dropping in a massive amount of new content in all shapes and sizes, is this DLC everything fans could hope for both from Fromsoftware and Elden Ring?
Story
Now it is worth noting that we will go into some minor spoilers here at least for the base game as the only way to access the DLC is actually a decent chunk into Elden Ring. That being said, here it goes. Players must first have eliminated the powerful Starscourge Radahn boss as well as made their way to a hidden away area that was previously not used for anything besides a seemingly optional boss fight against Mohg, Lord of Blood. It turns out now however, that Mohg is far from optional when it comes to taking on the DLC, as his defeat is required to access the cocoon he was protecting, a cocoon containing what appeared to be the kidnapped and missing god Miquella. Interacting with this cocoon brings players to the Lands Between where they find themselves quickly drawn into its mysteries as they join a number of other mysterious warriors from across different factions all trying to solve the strange land they have found themselves in, and perhaps gain power as a result.
From thereon the player’s journey through the Realm of Shadow is one of intrigue waiting to be unraveled. Most of what players learn of Miquella’s goals and intentions for the world comes from talking to those loyal to the man, speaking to them as they progress down the path Miquella has walked as he discarded parts of himself in search of godhood and discovering extra bits of lore hidden away in item descriptions or around the areas themselves. Similarly, a lot of the little side elements involving brand new monsters hidden away in unique looking dungeons or storylines involving characters that players can come across and either fight alongside, or in some cases betray, are handled the same way. This is true to form for Elden Ring and makes each newly discovered area or item something players will be eager to explore and read about, especially in regards to the true nature of Miquella and what players may have learned about him, the lengths he is willing to go to to truly achieve his goal, and of course, his twisted family that players have dealt with throughout most of Elden Ring’s core story.

It does mean however that it is entirely possible to flounder about a bit when it comes to actually approaching certain story elements, especially if players happen to “break” a questline for a character by unintentionally going too far or defeating a boss or mid-boss before discovering the character themselves thanks to the game’s open world nature and how hidden away some characters and side-stories can be. This makes exploration paramount, especially in the Realm of Shadow as this is perhaps the most intricately designed land in the entire game and easily half of the map can be treated as optional. Of course, since Elden Ring offers numerous options to New Game+ and Shadow of the Erdtree remains readily available as long as players still defeat Mohg, they can always revisit should they manage to miss something the first time through, even if it means enemies get stronger every time.
Gameplay
FromSoftware really knows how to set the tone when it comes to entering into a brand new location. As players arrive into the brand new area they find themselves within a haunted looking graveyard with a vast landmass spanning before them and multiple paths to take. Taking the path towards the obvious map location like they’ve done countless times before only to see a brand new enemy type come whirling down from atop a grave-site, dishing out tons of damage with an aggressive attack pattern that mounts up bleeding status with every strike until it kills you. And it most likely will. This can be either due to someone just returning to the game after two years of being away, or most likely because Shadow of the Erdtree is ready for nearly any type of higher level build players may be bringing into it, maxed out weaponry and favorite set of armor included.

Players will quickly find that nearly everything in this DLC is ready to dish out tons of damage and, if players don’t explore and take advantage of a brand new mechanic, they’ll likely suffer as a result. This new mechanic comes in the form of “Scaduetree Fragments” and “Revered Spirit Ashes.” These both work similar to the Golden Seeds that players need to upgrade their Flask as in players will need to have more of each every time they want to apply an upgrade. The Scaduetree Fragments provide a permanent blessing to the player’s character and boost how much damage they can dish out and take with every blessing while the Ashes increase the health of Torrent as well as the stats of any summon ashes the players wish to use, be it the reliable Mimic Tear or even the unconventional ones. This is a rather genius way to still ensure a steep difficulty curve while giving players the opportunity to strengthen themselves enough through exploration should they truly find themselves up against a brick wall. The reason for this is that while some of these blessing items are locked behind certain progression blockers, many are laying just scattered around the open world or even being carried by a zombified peasant carrying a pot on its head. Thus, exploration is once again a key factor here to being able to remain in the fight.
This is especially true when it comes to actually exploring in this game. See that village down there with something mysterious looking in it? You’ll end up down there somehow, just need to find the right path or even make a leap of faith. Delve even deeper than that and there’s far more to be found below the ground itself, as well as above it as even the sky isn’t the limit when it comes to the Realm of Shadow and what players will find as they travel through it. Yes, some of this can be incredibly confusing, especially since more than ever some locations are hidden away and paths to optional locations are less obvious than before but the rewards for doing so are often quite worth it. Even Spiritsprings return and can shoot Torrent skyward to hidden paths or locations or help players land safely but now some are also sealed, with players needing to track down their sealing stones to uncover them.

All of this exploration and battling for survival around the Realm of Shadow will reward players with quite a large amount of new gear to make use of and FromSoftware has done their best to make some of these weapons as appealing as possible, including offering entirely new types of weaponry as well as finally making some fighting styles completely viable options now compared to what was previous on offer. This even includes larger and better versions of some of the base game’s weaponry, though the real surprises come from some of the new types of weapons as mentioned before. These come in the form of throwable long-range weapons that return to the user’s hand or even potion bottles that dish out damage without actually having a limited use. Many of these weapons allow for players to use a fighting style that can now be used at a bit of a distance, something that may be appealing now for some given how aggressive enemies are in this DLC, and always players can attune their gear to certain elements to best fit what stat it’s damage can scale off of. Along these weapons are also some massive weapons that put even some of the bigger weapons to shame, new faster blades that have unique stances, and of course even new Ashes of War to equip to some of the weapons to spice things up even further.

Having all of these new tools at the player’s fingertips may seem like a daunting endeavor, especially if they have a favorite weapon already maxed out or pushing their weight limit, but the DLC offers plenty of ways to fix that. Not only does it offer plenty of wonderful looking new armor and useful talismans for those looking to really change their look or fix a possible limitation they have or (especially in regards to a certain boss) elemental weakness, it also provides a wealth of upgrade materials. Players that take their time to explore the many side-dungeons, hidden away locations, and even the nooks and crannies of the legacy dungeons will find that there is plenty of upgrade material available to take one or two new favorite weapons to max, especially if they were careful to start with. Of course, speaking of materials, there are also plenty of new consumables that players can craft, including incredibly powerful but very limited explosives that require taking down specific and challenging foes we won’t spoil here to create.
Now, earlier we mentioned that all enemies really like to hit hard and new enemies especially tend to take a more aggressive fighting style compared to older enemy types that appear in the DLC, and that is especially true for the bosses in Shadow of the Erdtreee. While we won’t go into specifics of any of these bosses, even the mini-bosses and side ones since they can be just as shocking and unpredictable, it must be said that every encounter here is as memorable as fans can hope for and many are as frustratingly challenging too. Most bosses are incredibly aggressive to the point that players may often feel like they are being pushed back by sheer attack number alone, let alone trying to dodge or block to the best of their ability.

Of course, summons, co-op, and spirit ashes help alleviate some of this pressure but players will always need to be in for a dynamic fight, especially against some bosses that throw out entirely new move-sets past a certain health point. It’s quite clear that the boss encounters have been dialed up past the maximum here to try and bring players to their knees and even when players manage to eke out a victory, it might just feel like pure luck. In fact, one boss saw me never truly figure out how to dodge one of its attack patterns fully, instead having to rely on magic damage resistance and being at full health to survive the incoming barrage and this was only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how players may need to change up their style or gear to take down a boss but thankfully, as mentioned before, there are even more ways to do so, now more than ever before as this DLC takes everything that Elden Ring did so well and builds upon it to deliver something truly impressive.
Audio & Visuals
As mentioned before, the Realm of Shadow is a fairly packed land and while there may be areas that still stretch fairly wide without much going on, there are also locations with layers upon more layers, seeing players needing to traverse some extremely unpredictable routes to see everything that the DLC has to offer. The design of the locations is highly varied, especially in regards to some areas that we won’t spoil here but take a wild twist on what players have come to expect from Elden Ring‘s land design. Some foes do appear to be simply recycled or re-skinned but there are a large number of new foes as well that really stand out and boss design is stellar throughout. Oddly enough, the same cannot be said about the game’s performance. While we never did experience any slowdown throughout the DLC, the amount of pop-in in the environment is shockingly high to the point that there were times that some details never loaded until the next run through. It is also worth noting that the game did crash to Home multiple times throughout the DLC, though this primarily happened in late-game locations.

It must be said that while Elden Ring‘s OST was already top notch, once again Shadow of the Erdtree takes things to the next level. Whenever players pass through a fog gate or enter an area where they know a boss fight is about to kick off, they will be treated to some absolutely wonderful background music that is as exceptional as it is chilling to know how hard of a battle players have ahead of them. The voice work throughout the game from the NPCs is also handled quite well, especially with regards to the more plot relevant characters that players meet multiple times along the critical path.
Overall
How does a developer manage to create DLC to an open world game that has already received some of the highest levels of praise around? By sticking true to that base formula and building upon it by offering a wealth of new locations for players to explore, new foes to struggle against, and plenty of new weaponry and other tools to use in that struggle for survival, especially against some of the most aggressive bosses FromSoft has ever developed. That being said, there is something to be said about the level of familiarity that the Shadow of the Erdtree has to the core game as well as its performance issues but these do little to take away from what is easily a must have expansion to an already great game and something any fan of Elden Ring should pick up.

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