Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: Everything We Know

Shadow of the Erdtree is a huge expansion DLC update added to Ancient Ring in June 2024.

To prepare you for FromSoftware’s biggest expansion yet, we have the Shadow of the Erdtree release date and trailer below, story detailsand everything we know about Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.

Be sure to also check out our interviews with Miyazaki on the origin of the Soulslike genre, a potential Bloodborne remake, and more details on the Shadow of Erdtree DLC.

If the trailer and date announcement have you wanting to go back to your Tarnished roots, then we can help with our beginner’s guide to what to do first, main bosses in order, and locations from the Grace Site.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree release date

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree releases Friday June 21, 2024. M any were hoping for a February release date due to an update to its Steam listing, but it turns out that was just a setup for the February 21 release date announcement.

Elden Ring: Shadow of Erdtree Trailer

Here is the first trailer for Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree:

Story of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

As seen in the trailer, Shadow of the Erdtree follows the story of “nice” Miquella, Malenia’s twin brother. Miquella is the demigod offspring of Queen Marika and Radagon. The twins were born with a curse, with Miquella doomed to be forever young and never become an adult.

You will follow Miquella’s footsteps in the Shadowlands zone of the DLC, just as you followed the Sites of Grace in the base game.

The DLC area has been confirmed to occupy the same space as the Midlands, but it has been physically disconnected. And it “will involve some sort of distortion to get there” (thanks, IGN).

The story will also involve Queen Marika and what she did in this Shadow Land, and what led Miquella to follow her to the Shadow Land.

Additionally, Mesmer is the Man in Red seen in the first DLC trailer, and he is an important character who rivals the other demigods in Shadow of the Erdtree. It has a key element of shadow, which is also an important theme throughout the DLC.

Diving deeper into Miquella’s past could help us understand where the DLC story is going. It begins with Miquella wanting to become an adult, so he used the Haligtree – the endgame legacy dungeon where players fight Malenia. He lay here in a cocoon, aiming to age parallel to the tree, bonding by watering the tree with his blood. He intended to make the Haligtree an Erdtree, but before he could complete his task, Miquella fell into a deep sleep.

Miquella’s cocoon is actually discovered in Elden Ring after defeating Mohg Lord of Blood. Mohg stole the cocoon, turned into blood, entered it and attempted to commune with Miquella through her dreams. When we see the cocoon, Miquella’s arm is visible: now adult size, but unresponsive.

As mentioned in IGN’s interview with Miyazaki, “The cocoon and arm you saw at the start of the trailer… are actually the entry point to the Land of Shadow where players will enter in the DLC area.

We don’t yet know how this story will factor into Shadow of the Erdtree’s story, but let’s hope at least that Miquella extends his kindness to how easy he is towards us poor Tarnished…

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: Everything We Know

Thanks to Eurogamer’s interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki, we got some juicy details on what to expect from Elden Ring’s upcoming DLC. Be sure to read it for a full description, but in short, here is everything we know about the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring

• This is FromSoftware’s largest expansion to date – Miyazaki said that this DLC is “our largest expansion yet in terms of overall volume.”
• The DLC takes place on a brand new map larger than Limgrave – Although new areas await, Shadow of the Erdtree includes a similar structure to the original game. There are terrain areas, legacy dungeons, and other dungeons of varying sizes. Miyazaki says “In terms of pure surface area, you could think of something bigger than Limgrave in the base game”.
• Game of Thrones author George RR Martin hasn’t provided any new material – Regarding George RR Martin’s involvement, Miyazaki explains: “Essentially, it’s the same as with the base game. The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is based on some of that original mythos that he wrote for us. It’s not a whole new mythos that “he wrote specifically for Shadow of the Erdtree.”, he did not create something new that influenced the design of the DLC. It’s simply another part of the original story that we saw fit to tell in a new expansion. “
• There are over 10 new boss fights – A few were glimpsed in the trailer, but be ready to prove your tarnished might against 10 new bosses in Shadow of the Erdtree.
• Eight new weapon categories have been added – In addition to new weapons, equipment and skills, we have eight new weapon categories to experiment with.
• It can be as difficult as the Malenia boss fight – RIP to all of us, as Shadow of the Erdtree continues FromSoftware’s tradition of brutal DLC challenges. Miyazaki explains: “We wanted to deliver these difficult encounters and menacing threats, and to do that we wanted to give the player a lot of freedom to approach. We wanted him to feel free in how and when he chose to do it. approach and overcome these difficulties.
• Field and dungeon areas are more seamlessly interconnected – We saw haunted meadows, flaming caverns, and mystical ruins in the trailer, but when it comes to the notable divide between open fields and isolated dungeon areas in the base game, Miyazaki says that in the DLC “We wanted to go further”. depth and bring a denser, richer level design, which brings these layout types together a little more seamlessly. There will of course be big open spaces, there will of course be legacy dungeons, but we’ve also experimented with something a little bit more in between those as well to bring a more diverse gaming experience.”
• The poisonous swamps return – Because of course they do. Miyazaki explains that the poison swamps were “actually a point of introspection for me after creating the base game. It wasn’t until after I created it that I realized that I really like creating poison swamps… So maybe when players reach the poison swamp in the DLC, they’ll feel a little bit of that retrospection.” I’m not sure it’s anything close to the retrospection I’ll personally feel, but to each their own.

For more on Elden Ring, check out our articles on The Convergence mod, a rumored Elden Ring mobile game, and COVID activists modifying Elden Ring to raise awareness.