Highlights
- Shadow of the Erdtree is a highly anticipated expansion by FromSoftware, offering a new world, stories, bosses, and challenges.
- The expansion is set to be massive, with a hefty price tag and a map larger than the base game’s Limgrave area.
- Expect at least 20-30 hours of gameplay with challenging new bosses like Messmer the Impaler in the Land of Shadow.
Rise, Tarnished, our time has come!
After years of waiting, FromSoftware has finally unveiled the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion in all its glory, and it looks spectacular. From the brand-new Elden Ring world of the Land of Shadow to a new story, characters, weapons, and bosses, this DLC is jam-packed with excitement. June 21 just can’t come soon enough; gotta hang tight for those four months.
Even though it’s just an expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree is easily one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of 2024. Just look at the debut trailer — it racked up over 10 million views on YouTube in the first day alone. The hype is real! Elden Ring has already cemented its place as one of the most beloved games of the generation, and Shadow of the Erdtree might just be the perfect farewell we’ve all been waiting for.
The Land Of Shadow… And Unseen Dangers
Based on what we’ve already seen in the first trailer — and considering its hefty $40 price tag — there’s little doubt that Shadow of the Erdtree is going to be absolutely massive. It’s already giving me serious Elden Ring 2 vibes. This isn’t the first time an expansion has felt like a full-blown sequel (just look at Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty), so I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being even bigger than many triple-A games coming out this year.
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The trailer promises a wealth of new areas within the Land of Shadow. From the classic FromSoft ‘huge castle’ legacy dungeons to the ever-present poisonous swamps, it’s all there, complete with the signature uneven landscape that Elden Ring is renowned for. I couldn’t help but notice how the new environments appear much darker than anything we’ve encountered in the original, hinting at even tougher challenges ahead.
But how big is this new land actually? According to director Hidetaka Miyazaki, the expansion’s map is “larger even than Limgrave in the base game,” and includes field areas, legacy dungeons, and other dungeons of varying scale, ensuring there’s no shortage of exploration and adventure to be had.
Limgrave is indeed a densely packed area in the original, housing significant locations like Stormveil Castle, the Weeping Peninsula region with Castle Morne, and the Siofra River Underground Well — all of which are quite sizable. However, when you consider that these areas are just a small fraction of the entire Elden Ring map, some players may have felt disappointed by the comparison. But honestly, they shouldn’t be.
Comparing various areas isn’t as straightforward as it might seem, especially in a title like Elden Ring with its rich verticality and densely packed, multi-layered legacy dungeons. The scope here goes beyond just the surface size. Again, think of Cyberpunk 2077’s expansion Phantom Liberty, which packs more than enough content in just one of Night City’s districts — the extremely diverse and dense Dogtown. It might look small on the city map, but in reality, it’s anything but.
The same principle could apply to Shadow of the Erdtree, especially considering the team spent over two years working on Elden Ring’s final chapter. Miyazaki himself hinted at this, mentioning that this time around, the team aimed for a denser and richer level design, seamlessly blending different types of layouts together.
Get Ready To Be Messmer’d
When considering the scale of Shadow of the Erdtree, Dark Souls 3 provides a useful comparison. It received two DLC after launch, Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City, each priced at $15 and offering about 10 to 12 hours of gameplay. FromSoftware has already confirmed that Shadow of the Erdtree is its largest expansion to date in terms of overall volume. Given the developer’s track record, we could expect Shadow of the Erdtree to provide at least 20 to 30 hours of engagement — though that’s just a rough estimate at this point. Based on what I saw in the trailer, my bet is that it’s even larger than that.
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Take new bosses, for instance, of which there’ll be at least 10 main ones (and who knows how many smaller ones!), including the truly menacing Messmer the Impaler, draped in snakes and flames. Messmer is presumed to be Queen Marika’s unwanted child, left to rule the Land of Shadow, and he will serve as the ultimate challenge for Elden Ring players. He’s probably like Malenia, Goddess of Rot and Ringed City’s Slave Knight Gael combined, and I’m already pumped for this multi-phased battle to kick my butt over and over.
And it’s not just Messmer we’ll be facing. The trailer teased us with a glimpse of other equally intimidating foes, from a giant walking cage set ablaze to that leaping lion-headed thing hurling deadly mist and thunderbolts at you. FromSoftware has always gone above and beyond with its post-game DLC boss battles, and there’s no reason to think things will be any different this time around. The difficulty is about to be cranked up once again for some nail-biting challenges, but perhaps new tools and weapon types will help you overcome even the most relentless adversaries.
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What I’m really curious to see is how many Elden Ring players will actually have access to Shadow of the Erdtree. Based on the trailer, players can reach the Land of Shadow through Miquella’s shell, tucked away beneath Caelid in Mohgwyn Palace. Even reaching this place, let alone taking down Mohg, Lord of Blood, sounds like a Herculean task for anyone but the most hardcore FromSoftware fans, and the task could easily eat up over 100 hours. Steam stats show that only about 38 percent of players have managed to defeat Mohg so far — that’s roughly 8.5 million out of the game’s massive 23 million sales. Perhaps there’ll be an option to start the expansion separately, maybe with a high-level character right off the bat?
Overall, I can’t wait to dive back into Elden Ring — a world unlike any other, offering that unmatched sense of an epic journey you don’t find in gaming too often. Shadow of the Erdtree already looks like everything I hoped for, and more. I’m really digging this trend of massive expansions, even if they take some time to cook up. Now, if only we knew what the studio has planned for its next soulsborne game…
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Elden Ring
- Released
- February 25, 2022
