Nearly two and a half years ago, developer FromSoftware released their largest and most ambitious action RPG, Elden Ring. The Bandai Namco-published title was released to critical acclaim for its open-world design, menacing boss battles, and the freedom to utilize your own combat style. Since then, FromSoftware has been hard at work on Elden Ring’s first and only DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, which I recently had the opportunity to preview. Whether it will fail to engage players or be accepted as a worthy add-on remains to be seen, but the studio’s track record and my time with the game have me leaning toward the latter.
To enter the new area, players must simply defeat two bosses from the base game: Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood. Malenia is oddly missing from this requirement, but with those two defeated, players can delve into the Realm of Shadow to discover what became of Miquella.
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From the start, Shadow of the Erdtree feels familiar, with an expansive open field and a few landmarks dotting the horizon. Anyone who’s spent hours in Limgrave may experience deja vu as they contemplate where to explore first. This sensation is furthered by the numerous imposing enemies that can punish you for your indecision, including a massive burning basket with limbs. A single attack from this curious combatant sent me back to my last Site of Grace, bringing to mind many encounters with the Tree Sentinel in Limgrave.
Though a few characters with varying builds were available, I chose the spellcaster due to their equipped weapon: Dryleaf Arts. This “weapon” granted access to a series of martial arts techniques, allowing for quick, punishing blows capable of stunning opponents. These new attacks were a lot of fun to experiment with, though they naturally lacked range, leading to many a premature death.
Unsurprisingly, they aren’t the only new weapon added in Shadow of the Erdtree. Over 100 new weapons have been created, with many of them belonging to one of eight new weapon types, like the aforementioned martial arts maneuvers. For fans with hundreds of hours of game time, their favorite weapons have been decided long ago, even down to the Ashes of War. But with these weapon additions, many players are sure to discover a new favorite.
Once I’d familiarized myself with the martial arts moveset, I decided to leave the wandering enemies alone. I made a beeline for one of the two dungeons we could explore: a legacy dungeon known as Belurat. The dungeon was made up of stacked rows of deteriorating buildings and, as expected, featured maze-like pathways full of dead-ends, shortcuts, punishing enemies, and many deadly surprises. I discovered one particularly tough enemy guarding nothing but a dead-end, a fact I only learned after nearly a dozen deaths, much to my chagrin. Regardless, these games are best enjoyed when looking for a significant challenge to overcome, and Belurat offered exactly that.
After at least an hour of trial and error-fueled exploration, I’d finally come to the dreaded boss room. Despite sporting a motif similar to previous bosses—like Margit the Fell Omen—the Dancing Lion waiting at the end of Belurat was a delightful yet horrifying surprise. With an appearance similar to a lion dancer, this twisted boss snapped at me with a massive maw. The mess of limbs protruding from the creature only intensified the anxiety it inspired. The introduction of stormy magic attacks, like lightning, freezing spells, and tornadoes, was too much to handle initially, though the creature was eventually beaten, rewarding me with its head as a cartoonishly oversized helm.
My time in Belurat was bookended by encounters with several non-player characters, each with their own agendas and quests. All of them were new to Elden Ring, courtesy of the DLC. Once again, these enigmatic NPCs were marked on the map, making it much easier to find them after fulfilling their vague tasks. Though I was unable to see any of their quests through to completion during the preview, my experience with NPCs in the base game left me excited to be able to help whoever I deemed worthy.
The other region I was allowed to explore was Castle Ensis, a sprawling dungeon full of enemy spellcasters, spearmen and, of course, dogs. Much like the base game, Shadow of the Erdtree offers dense gauntlets with many optional paths. Some lead to a deadly enemy lying in wait, while others offer elusive rewards for the intrepid explorer. Thankfully, they all felt cohesive with Elden Ring’s previously established design philosophy. Castle Ensis also featured a boss fight at its pinnacle against Rellana, the Twin Moon Knight. There were two summon signs available, and even with an additional Spirit Ash companion, we were unable to beat her. A combination of impatience and short-range martial arts led to defeat after defeat, though I did witness her signature attack once, and it was as beautiful as it was deadly.
This brings to question when players should attempt to take on Shadow of the Erdtree’s challenges. Truthfully, it depends; skill level, stat distribution, and more can greatly affect your performance against these new horrors, but FromSoftware also anticipated the reckless abandon with which players will enter the Realm of Shadow. A pair of new resources can be found exclusively within the expansion. The first, known as Scadutree Shards, can be consumed at Sites of Grace to modify a player’s attack and defense permanently.
The second resource, Revered Spirit Ash Blessings, provides a similar function, though it only affects Spirit Ashes. The catch is that these buffs are only applied to the player while they’re in the Realm of Shadow, which means the hours spent increasing their augmented strength won’t throw their base game balance out of sorts. Of course, they can still earn and spend Runes to level up, but each level is hard-earned, regardless of where it’s applied. Ultimately, players still need to defeat Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood, to play Shadow of the Erdtree, so that they may filter out any lower-level characters in the first place.
From my time with the game, Shadow of the Erdtree doubles down on the brutal, engaging gameplay FromSoftware has refined throughout the years. With more than 10 new bosses, some of which are optional, new dungeons to explore, and many secrets to discover, it seems like players will be pleased. Shadow of the Erdtree could end up being “just” more Elden Ring, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. But so far, the DLC seems to be a worthy send-off.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree releases June 21 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
