Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree Review: More Than What Meets The Eye
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree almost feels like a brand-new game and it’s a blessing for anyone yearning for more Soulsborne content.
Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree Review: Shadow of the Erdtree comes as an expansion to the 2022 Game of the Year award-winning Elde Ring, and it is also developer FromSoftware’s most ambitious DLC to date. DLCs for the studio’s previous games have always broken boundaries, so it should come as no surprise that the expansion for their largest game to date would set a new benchmark for what an ‘expansion’ can be.
During an interview with Eurogamer, game director Hidetaka Miyazaki said that Shadow of the Erdtree will be FromSoftware’s “biggest expansion yet” and having played it through for nearly 70 hours, this author can corroborate that statement.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: Before You Begin
Many players are claiming that Shadow of the Erdtree is exceedingly difficult. While the reasons for this will vary greatly for every player, one big reason for this might be a lack of understanding of the new levelling system known as the Shadow Realm Blessing. It exists because the content within the expansion has an additional scaling system, which is independent of the base game.
The Shadow Realm Blessing is divided into two parts: the Scadutree Blessing and the Revered Spirit Ash Blessing.
The Scadutree Blessing is increased through the use of Scadutree Fragments, and it improves the damage and damage negation of the player.
The Revered Spirit Ash Blessing is increased through the use of Revered Spirit Ashes, and it improves the damage and damage negation of Spirit Ashes and the player’s Spirit Steed, Torrent.
These upgrade materials can be found through exploration in the Land of Shadow. Neglecting these upgrades will make the game very hard for the player whereas regular upgrades will ensure a smooth gameplay experience.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: How To Access
For starters, players need to defeat both Mohg, Lord of Blood and Starscourge Radahn before they can start the expansion.
After this, they are required to interact with a large white cocoon that has an arm hanging out of it which can be found in Mohg’s boss arena.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: Put On Your Explorer’s Helm
The expansion has a completely different area from the base game. A top-down view of the new map will show that its size is similar to, if not larger than, the area of Limgrave in the base game. It may appear small at first, but there’s more to it than what meets the eye.
The new area, the Land of Shadow, consists of several new biomes including but not limited to tropical jungles, huge mountains, and swamps straight out of a horror movie.
The vast nature of towering structures and deep underground dungeons transcends what can be graphically depicted which means the actual explorable area is much more than one can grasp from the map.
In terms of size, the area players can explore is easily comparable to some older full-sized Soulsborne games, so you can be sure that most players won’t be found wanting more.
I enjoyed the feeling of being an explorer, freely traversing through the new area, and mapping out the world the way I wanted to.
Sometimes I was left confused about where to go but with some time and the help of friends who were also playing the expansion, I had a very fulfilling experience exploring the Land of Shadow.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: Don’t Miss The Dungeons
Just like the base game, dungeons are randomly scattered throughout the world. Each one is uniquely designed, and some have new aesthetics that can’t be found in the base game.
Dungeons also play a more important role in the expansion as completion of some dungeons is required to unlock new locations within the world. Such dungeons also have unique and interesting boss encounters.
These new elements help in making dungeon exploration a more memorable and valuable experience.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: New Blades = More Fun
The expansion also brings with it several new weapons, spells, incantations, armour sets and weapon types. Some new weapon types include hand-to-hand art, perfume bottles, light greatswords, and great katanas.
New remembrance equipment, magic and armour can also be claimed from Enia, the Finger Reader present at the Roundtable Hold in the base game.
I decided to primarily play the expansion almost entirely with all the new items to gain a brand-new experience. And I was not disappointed.
The new weapons stack up quite well against the older ones from the base game and are more than enough to beat the expansion.
Players will have to explore the map, beat dungeons, and defeat different enemies to access all this new loot.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: Let’s Talk Bosses
Finally, let’s move on to the most anticipated part of this review, the new bosses. Shadow of the Erdtree boasts an impressive 42 bosses including 11 major bosses and several side bosses scattered throughout the map.
The new major bosses are all meticulously designed and innovated on what was already available in the original game. They are fun, exciting, and most of all, extremely difficult. The base game feels much easier when compared to the expansion.
Part of this is obviously due to the new scaling system I discussed before but even excluding that, these new bosses will require you to focus and learn their attack patterns before you can emerge victorious.
These new bosses might seem hard at first, but if I could beat them without the use of summons or other underhanded means, I’m sure other players can too.
I’m sure Soulsborne and Souls-Like fans everywhere will grow to love these new bosses as much as they loved the old ones.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Review: Final Verdict
Shadow of the Erdtree builds upon everything people love about Elden Ring and expands on it even more. With its new story, area, gear, dungeons, bosses and much more, this expansion succeeds in providing an experience many AAA games double its price fail to today.
An average player’s playtime will be around 40-50 hours factoring in exploration and side quests as well.
Shadow of the Erdtree almost feels like a brand-new game and it’s a blessing for anyone yearning for more Soulsborne content. It has exceeded my expectations and I only wish I could experience it for the first time again.
(The author is a student of Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Delhi)
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