‘Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’ (DLC) Review

Developer: FromSoftware | Platform: PS5 | Playtime: 68:49:40

To clarify for this review, I watched all pre-release trailers and impressions from the early access from YouTubers such as VaatiVidya and IronPineapple. I did not watch the RedBull Event which was the same as the preview but with more footage. I had only seen footage up until the first major boss. There were some (Real/Fake) leaks before hand that I unfortunately saw.I started my first playthrough on launch day but could not continue until 30/6. I originally intended to play the DLC on a few builds before reviewing, but instead decided against it. This would have bene the newest Sidequest article mentioned in part 3 of the pre DLC series.

It’s one of those reviewer cliche’s at this point to mention FromSoftware’s pedigree with DLC and how that their best content is in the DLC. It wouldn’t be a cliche if it wasn’t true however, Shadow of the Erdtree continues the tradition and offers the best content FromSoftware have ever produced.

MAJOR GAMEPLAY AND STORY SPOILERS FOR ELDEN RING AND SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE FOLLOW.

READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Taking place alongside the main game, Shadow of the Erdtree has the player following the last remaining demigod, Miquella, as he retraces his mother’s steps to Godhood. The DLC takes place in a new location, The Land of Shadows – a realm veiled by Queen Marika. To access it, the player must have defeated Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood as the DLC is accessed via Mohg’s arena. This has been discussed ad nauseum prior to release, but I’m not sure if anything in-game suggests it as I’ve not really tested it out.

Upon reaching The Land of Shadow, the players will see a whole new landmass. Said to be the size of starting area Limgrave by the games director, the DLC is in fact Limgrave, the Weeping Peninsula and even Caelid combined in size, with vertical depth to match. Despite being open world, design complexity starts to rival that of Dark Souls, even if the in game map struggles with anything other than surface level locations. I will also say some of the connecting caves that lead to new areas do feel a little contrived in places.

As stated, you are here in the Land of Shadow following after Miquella the Kind. To this end, you are allies to a new group of NPC’s, each of them here for Miquella but with their own purpose. I daresay these quests are easier to follow than the usual FromSoft lot thanks to their prominent role in the narrative but there is still the classic issue of “Whoops I took a step into a new area and now that NPC is dead”. These NPC quests are more worth doing than ever thanks to them both having relevance to the semi-final fight of the DLC as well as just being really interesting. Hornsent, Sir Ansbach, Leda and Thollier are all fantastic characters and while he isn’t related to the main story, I’d be remiss not to mention the DLC’s best character, Igon.

The DLC takes place firmly in the end game. In an effort to stop players from steamrolling the DLC with their max level characters, a new levelling mechanic has been added – Scadutree Fragments. Found at Miquella’s Crosses (Points of interest on the map that give little lore details ala the main game’s Sword Monuments) as well as obtained from Mini-Bosses and found throughout the world, these Fragments allow the player to level up their blessing which gives both increased damage and defence, but only in the Land of Shadows.

In theory, I really like these. It helps recreate the feeling of the base game in which the player goes “Okay, I’m not strong enough for this yet. Let me go explore and come back more prepared”. The issue then stems from the more open nature of the DLC. Of the 42 Bosses present in the DLC, only 5 are blocked off by other bosses. This means if you end up collecting too many fragments on your travels, you run the risk of trivialising some of the encounters. There’s a couple bosses I’ve seen being talked about online as super cool, but in my playthrough I was so high scadu level that they didn’t get the chance to shine.

There is also the issue of repeat playthrough’s. Scadu blessing carries over into NG+ (which is nice) but any fresh characters will require the collection of all of them again, much like Golden Seeds and Sacred Tears. The difference being that the majority of Scadu fragments are scattered throughout the world and not at easily identifiable Golden trees or churches. Elden Ring deserves credit for not devolving into Ubisoft-isms with its open world and map but the Scadu fragments really need a checklist.

The same can be said for the other new upgrade system, the Revered Spirit Ashes. These buff the attack and defence of your Spirit Summons, as well as the health of Torrent (Supposedly, to me he feels weaker than ever). Thankfully there are less of these to worry about.

Arguably the most anticipated aspect of any Fromsoftware DLC is the bosses. The base game came with 165 bosses and as mentioned previously, the DLC comes with 42 of them – 10 of which are Remembrance (it should be 11), so a good amount there. For the most part, the boss fights are really good but as with the base game, ever so slightly bogged down by repeat fights – both from the base game and within the DLC. Save for one or two egregious examples, the bosses here are pretty good.

Usually DLC bosses are the best that a FromSoftware game has to offer and Shadow of the Erdtree is no exception. Having 11 major bosses instead of the usual 4 ish average means there is some range. That being said the B-Tier bosses like Putrescent Knight and Scadutree Avatar help you appreciate the S-Tier bosses more – Messmer the Impaler, Bayle the Dread and Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame all taking top spots. Do any dethrone Morgott as my favourite Elden Ring boss? Only time will tell.

To topple these new foes, there are roughly 100 new weapons and roughly 50 new spells to try out. These are new weapons over the existing categories as well as 9 new categories of weapons. These new weapon types include the likes of Light Greatswords, Beast Claws and Potion bottles just to name a few. These are all really fun but there’s so few of each added, it’s a shame – for the examples given, there’s only 3 Light Greatswords, 2 Claws. Potion Bottles have the most at 5 but it’s still a shame. Thankfully there’s still been plenty added to existing categories as well as the ‘Smithscript’ weapons which have special throwing capabilities which spice up gameplay. The range of new armoursets are very cool as well, some real fashion souls options here.

Not necessarily a complaint but an observation, the Land of Shadows and by extension Shadow of the Erdtree the DLC feels fairly removed from the main title. People have called it a pseudo sequel due to it’s sheer size but that’s not far off. There’s a curiosity in the way this content is very clearly endgame or maybe even post game for some people but loot includes the lowest level of upgrade items and rune pickups. The player is not wanting for runes at this point and while I understand the lower smithing items are for new weapons, there’s also a fair chance that the player has all the required Bell Bearings to get new weapons to max the instant they find one they like.

A criticism I fully agree with is the DLC’s lack of connection to the base game. Each prior game’s DLC has had some connection back to the game – Dark Souls 1 had the alternate Sif cutscene, Dark Souls 2 had the Vendrick conversations, Vilhelm in Dark Souls 3 would acknowledge if you chose the Lord of Hollows ending and Bloodborne had The Doll and Gehrman react to the deaths of their dream counterparts. Elden Ring had a perfect avenue for this too – Sir Gideon rewards the player for feeding him information about the world, he even asks about Miquella. I’m not saying the DLC needs Witcher 3 like reaction to events but a couple of lines of dialogue wouldn’t have hurt.

Regardless of whatever criticisms I may have, I still managed to spend and enjoy 60 hours in the DLC, with that number to go up dramatically as time goes on. FromSoftware doesn’t miss with their DLC, it’s as simple as that. That being said Shadow of the Erdtree may have the closest to erring but there are plenty of lessons to learn for FromSoft’s next project. Whatever it is, I’m there day one.