Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC Review (PS5) – Rise, Tarnished. It’s time once more to enter the Lands Between to stand before the Elden Ring, but this time we’re going beyond the Lands Between.
This time in FromSoftware’s first and only DLC expansion for its 2022 masterpiece titled Shadow Of The Erdtree, we travel to the Realm Of Shadow.
A totally new area to explore, new additional story details to uncover and experience, new NPC’s to meet, new weapons, magic, armour, new enemies – basically new everything.
But with all the things that already make Elden Ring an amazing game. That’s at least the pitch for Shadow Of The Erdtree. Does FromSoftware succeed in delivering that? Yes. Is it any more complicated than that? A little bit.
Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC Review (PS5) – Crank It To 11
Into The Realm Of Shadow
For all the ‘Breath Of The Wild’ moments we’ve seen in games since 2017, it’s always impressive when one is pulled off well. Elden Ring has an amazing first-look at its open world. Not only that but you keep having moments akin to that first look, almost like each one is a continued ripple from the impact of the original.
Shadow Of The Erdtree has a simple but great first view. Your first steps and first time really looking at the Scadutree, the giant Erdtree-sized twisted black tree in the distance is something to behold.
That first look also won’t be the only moment of awe you have when crossing the Realm Of Shadow. Very often I found myself taken aback by what I was looking at, and that feeling wasn’t limited to just landscapes.
It happened in boss fights, regular enemy encounters, watching animations play out for new spells and attacks, new lines of NPC dialogue. Even as someone who pre-DLC had put in 340 hours into Elden Ring across two platforms, that I was still being surprised by what I saw speaks to just how good the team at FromSoftware is at what they do.
The same sense of exploration and discovery that you and I and many others got when playing the base game is maintained wonderfully. That’s part of what makes this expansion more than worth the price of admission – that being both the actual money you’ll spend to buy it, and the time needed to build up a character strong enough to even access the DLC.
Elden Ring 1.5
When FromSoftware head Hideataka Miyazaki claimed that players would be Elden Lords after 30 hours with the base game, it seemed like the biggest lie he ever told.
There’s a new replacement for that lie, though this time it’s not to do with playtime. I’ve sunk nearly 40hrs into the DLC to complete it, but I reached the final boss at 30. This time, the lie is Miyazaki’s claim that the Realm Of Shadow is comparable to or “larger than Limgrave.”
On the face of it, that’s not a lie – because the Realm Of Shadow is indeed bigger than Limgrave – but my goodness is he underselling it. The Realm Of Shadow is closer to Limgrave and Caelid put together in size and density.
Even when you unlock the full map you still won’t see everything, because there are multiple underground levels that don’t get their own map layout. It’s like looking at a lasagna from the top down. Without looking at the sides, there’s no telling how many layers there are, and you can’t look at the sides – you just have to figure out how many layers there are yourself.
This expansion is on such a huge scale that this is just as big as a full game from any other developer. If its story wasn’t so connected to Elden Ring, I’d even argue you could view this expansion as a whole other game.
It’s probably a better way to look at it anyways, because it is just that big. The fact that its narrative is tied to the base game and that you need to play the base game to access it is what makes this a “1.5” rather than its own full “2.”
Also, on the subject of narrative, I had a fair few revelations in my time with it but I won’t be sharing any of those here for spoiler reasons. I’ve also been and will continue to be purposely sparse with proper names for different areas and things to be found in the Realm Of Shadow.
This all to say there is more than you already expect to see and find in the Realm Of Shadow, and none of it dull.
The Theme Is “Aggressive”
Amazing landscapes and feeling of exploration aside, let’s get into the really crunchy bits of this expansion – and by crunchy, I mean the crunch that can be felt when a new weapon you’ve just picked up gets buried into the skull of whoever had the misfortune to be in your way.
Elden Ring’s combat was already the most refined version of the Souls-style combat FromSoftware has been needling away at in each of its games. In this expansion, you’re given the chance to run a little wild with it.
Your movement options and capabilities are greatly expanded with different weapons and special moves through new Ash’s of War and the special skills certain weapons come locked with.
Weapons like the Backhand Blades, Beast Claw, and Dane’s Footwork are some of the best examples of how your movement options have been expanded.
Other weapons like all of the Smithscript weapons add new layers of ranged attacks that weren’t possible before.
You’re also stronger in the Realm Of Shadow than you can ever be in the Lands Between, because of new key items that give you buffs only while in the Realm Of Shadow. Scadutree fragments and Revered Spirit Ash’s give buffs to your character and your spirit summons for dealing and negating damage. You don’t have to use these buffs if you don’t want to, but chances are you’ll want to.
Because while you get a lot stronger, so does everything around you. The base game was already a huge challenge, and this expansion cranks things up to 11 with the simple rule of aggression.
Every enemy you’ll face is much more aggressive than enemies in the base game. Even your average soldiers that are cakewalks at every stage of the base game are not to be trifled or trolled here, because you’ll be made to pay for it.
As a result the expansion is arguably more difficult than the base game, just due to the fact that you have no time to breathe with every enemy you face.
This is true and exemplified best in the boss fights, all of whom have their own degrees of difficulty but are all still more aggressive and overall arguably more difficult challenges than even the toughest base game bosses.
I won’t be spoiling any details about these major fights here but suffice to say these are some of the best boss fights to be found in any FromSoftware game, which automatically makes them some of the best boss fights to experience in action games, period.
Subversion’s And Missed Chances
The only things I was disappointed by were things that I saw as missed chances. A big one I felt was the addition of the Miquella’s Cross landmarks. They are almost always accompanied by a site of grace, and while they always offer additional lore, it felt like a missed chance that they weren’t anything beyond that.
Perhaps it would’ve gone against the rules of the world FromSoftware has set up for itself, but I would’ve preferred these crosses simply be the sites of grace, and have that be another DLC-specific change.
You always get a Scadutree Fragment when you find a new cross, but I just couldn’t help the underwhelming feelings I had by the time I’d seen the DLC through.
What makes this feeling potentially more disappointing is the joys I felt in the ways that FromSoftware changed up its patterns established in the base game.
Underground areas like caves or catacombs no longer follow the same formula they do in the base game, and feel a lot more varied.
There were also patterns I noticed in the combat meant to counter-act specific strategies players have gotten used to with the base game. The biggest example of this was among major bosses, most of whom had attacks that felt clearly meant to persuade players not to try immediately summoning a spirit when they walk into the fight.
You’ll have some kind of major attack coming your way almost immediately in some of the biggest boss fights in the expansion. It’s one of a few jabs at the base game’s meta that felt like it was directly stirring things up in a way that in my experience made for more interesting fights, whether I took the hit and summoned a spirit anyway or just went in solo.
Another note on bosses, beyond a few too many dragon fights, there weren’t any real repeat bosses. Each was its own spectacle, and each had their time to shine.
Crank It To 11
In short, Shadow Of The Erdtree feels like Elden Ring cranked up to 11. It’s a totally new, gigantic area with more powerful weapons and spells than before and equally powerful enemies to keep things as difficult as they’ve always been.
The boss fights are arguably some of the best spectacles in FromSoftware history with their importance to the lore, location and overall challenge.
You’ll find plenty of answers in the story but also a lot more questions, which keeps true to FromSoftware’s cryptic and environmental storytelling.
Combat has been greatly expanded with weapons that I now can’t imagine not being a part of a new playthrough. Lastly, and this feels crazy to say, but Elden Ring now feels like a complete package.
I think that’s what ultimately makes this game a 10 for me. It’s as big as a whole other game, the quality bar throughout remains on par and more often than not higher than the base game, and instead of it feeling like an added on chunk of new gameplay, it feels like it is sliding into a piece of the puzzle that is Elden Ring we didn’t even know needed to be there.
Now that it is, I can’t imagine this game without it. If you’ve enjoyed Elden Ring at all, you absolutely should be seriously considering making the effort for the Realm Of Shadow.
Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree is available on PS5 and PS4 on June 21, 2024.
Review code generously provided by publisher.