Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Trailer - Some Analysis
Oh, Elden Ring! At long last we have had both a reveal trailer for the much anticipated Shadow of the Erdtree as well as a release date - 21st June. The new trailer and accompanying Interviews have given us a lot to chow down on. I won’t be bringing back my original predictions just yet, I’ll save that for an article post review. I’ve watched a few analysis videos so far, but I feel like I have some unique things to add yet.
Before I get into analysing screenshots, there’s a couple points I want to touch on.
“The DLC is the roughly bigger than Limgrave”
I’ve seen some worry online about a quote from Miyazaki in which he describes the Shadow Lands as roughly the size of Limgrave, if not slightly bigger. People are worried given the price of the DLC, but I feel like this isn’t an issue. Limgrave is a good size, even more so if the Weeping Peninsula is counted (The game is kind of vague on how they’re divided). That combined with the quotes detailing how dense the DLC will be.means there’s gonna be plenty of things to explore.
“There are 10+ Bosses”
Admittedly this was a little bit of information I was worried about, but I’ve come around to realising. Elden Ring has 165 bosses, 21 of which are in Limgrave, 31 including Weeping Peninsula. So, this 10+ number is more likely referring to the more major bosses - There are 30 Trophy/Achievement bosses in the game, 15 of which are remembrance bosses. If the DLC has 10+ (To me, that’s 11-19 potentially), then I think it’ll be a good mix of Remembrance, Trophy and field bosses. That and some reoccurring bosses of course.
With those two points out of the way, here are my random thoughts in no real order:
Weapons, Armour, Spells! Oh My!
New items are a certainty in any new FromSoftware DLC, but man there are some really cool looking additions here. Here are some of my highlights from what I saw:
The black feather armour here looks different to the one in the base game, the Raptor set, but I’m not entirely sure on that.
For the first time in the series, we have reverse grip swords. Impractical> Yes. Cool as all Hell? Also yes
These Throwing Knife weapons have the chance to be really cool or really disapointing. If the Ash of War is throwing them, I’ll be disappointed, but if they’re infinitely throwable as a normal weapon attack, then they will be exceptionally cool.
The return of the hand to hand combat introduced with the Bone Fist of Dark Souls 2 is cool, but my focus is on the Knight’s armour. It’s the same armour as seen worn by Knights in the Lands Between, but now a Black colour. Messmer’s Knights? Maliketh’s Knights?
Please Please Please let the Giant pot be a hammer like weapon. I don’t want it to be a consumable, I am begging for a giant pot to bonk people with. It’ll make up for lack of Lordvessel weapon from Father Ariandel in the Dark Souls 3 DLC.
I’m less bothered about the Crossbow as I am the super cool heavy black armour, looking like a mix of Dark Souls Black Iron set and Dark Souls 2’s Heide set. The helmet also looks super cool and adaptable to other builds and outfits.
There’s really strong theory that the Rune Bears we find in game are becoming Dragons, so here we find a Bear incantation in the vein of the Dragon spells. Perfect for a berserker build.
There’s a lot to take in here - The cool Twinblade, finally having access to the Crucible Wings to go alongside the new spines as well as older Crucible spells. To me, the most exciting thing is the Spear/Shield Hybrid the player is using. Could make for a really cool gladiator like build.
HAVEL ARMOUR HAVEL ARMOUR HAVEL ARMOUR HAVEL ARMOUR HAVEL ARMOUR HAVEL ARMOUR HAVEL ARMOUR HA-. As an actual note, the helm of this armour set looks a lot like the heads of the Guardian Golems we fight throughout The Lands Between. I wonder if there is a connection?
Whatever these things are
The creature design in FromSoftware games are always fantastic, and the rogues gallery of Shadow of the Erdtree looks to be no different. The first one was featured in the trailer and is seen using an incantation that gives it huge hedgehog spines - People are saying it’s a Crucible Spell but to me it looks like Deathblight. The creature on the right is from the released screenshots and to me the two creatures seem to be from the same family, just based on the ears. Having new creatures is interesting since if a creature is outside of normal animal territory (including Dragons) then they are some kind of Crucible Creature - Omen or Misbegotten. These creatures are something new, and will have new lore to explore. I will say, I don’t think the big Hippo will be a boss fight.
The Coolest creature design Fromsoftware have made - Omen Beast
Easily my favourite design from the trailer, bar none. What initially looked like an Omen Beast turns out to be some kind of Omen Lion Dancer, like is seen in Chinese New Year festivals. I’m so eager to find out what the lore on this boss is, the fight itself and what it gives you. I just can’t get over how cool the mouth is. It may be a puppet of sorts, but that’s still a big jaw inside, so there’s something there…
Introducing Messemer the Impaler
The new big bad we will encounter in The Land of Shadows is the long lost child of Queen Marika and presumably Radagon, the true third child behind the Butterfly theory. Visually, he has aspects of a few different things - Snakes, Dragons, Flame and darkness. Not the final boss of the DLC I’m sure, but already looking like a real tough nut to crack. Who knows what ridiculous Ash of War his spear will have, probably a Gravelord Sword dance kind of move. Actually I really want it now.
Miquella’s Rune: New Checkpoint or Final Boss?
I’ve seen speculation that since this DLC does not take place in The Lands Between but instead the Land of Shadow, Sites of Grace will be replaced by something else, such as Miquella’s Rune. Personally I think we’ll still see Graces, it’s a central mechanic. I think what we see here is instead is a cutscene, the way the characters head turns seems like they are reacting to something behind them.
Given the importance of the Great Runes and the Mending Runes in the base game, this boss must be important, perhaps the last one. I’m not fully convinced that it is MIquella or Godwyn anymore, but it’s got to be something big.
Obviously it’s not Messmer since we’ve seen his arena. It is also the case that the main Boss shown in the trailers is never the final boss of the DLC:
Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss - Poster Boss: Artorias, Final Boss: Manus
Bloodborne: The Old Hunters - Poster Boss: Lady Maria, Final Boss: Orphan of Kos
Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City - Poster Boss: Demon Prince, Final Boss: Gael
Elden Ring - Poster Boss(es): Godfrey, Malenia, Final Boss: Radagon/Elden Beast.
Messmer will be good, but we have something even better to look forward to.
The Bosses I’m predicting
Omen Parade Beast
Messmer the Impaler
Burning Mausoleum
Deathblight Wormhead
Man in Yellow
I really do believe that is all we’ve seen of Bosses, and more will be a surprise. If the Giant Hippo or Gravity Hog Rider are bosses, I’ll be happy with those too. Given the patterns, there’s still the final boss and a secret super boss, apparently on the level of Malenia, Goddess of Rot. Who could that be? Well…
The Deathroot and Blight of Godwyn
Godwyn is still a massive loose end in the base game, but it’s possible that the DLC is going to rectify things - if the presence of Deathblight seen throughout the DLC is anything to go by. The Deathblight only exists because of Godwyn, and it looks like it’s spreading throughout The Shadow Lands.
I do of course realise that Godwyn is currently in Deeproot Depths, but given how far along the deathroot has advanced below Stormveil - having an entire face, I can see a body forming too leading to a boss fight in the Shadow Lands. There is also of course Miquella’s connection to Godwyn, noted by the ghost in Castle Sol. A Godwyn appearance is more likely than you think.
If it’s not immediately obvious, I am so incredibly hyped for this DLC. I’'ll not be able to think of anything else until it releases and for a while after honestly. I can’t wait to get my review out and my predictions comparison. June can’t come soon enough.
