Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, a brutal return

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, This may still be one of the most anticipated DLC releases of this year. The expansion of the content of the latest work of From the software It was difficult to pray. However, after finishing all this new content, I can say that The wait was worth it. Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, exceeded my expectations on every level. The team did a nice exercise in self-criticism and improved the aspects criticized in the base game. In addition to this, The added content is simply enormous, in many ways improving what was seen in the main adventure.

This new content expands on the main adventure in a superb and perhaps unprecedented way. And when we think that they are running out of ideas or that they cannot continue to surprise, Miyazaki and his team do it again.

In the footsteps of Miquella

In this DLC we, Sinluz, will have to follow in the footsteps of the lost empyrean, Miquella. This powerful being left Middle-earth and advanced towards the Shadow Plateau.. A new region which surprises with its verticality and the number of secrets it conceals. In this new region we will literally have to follow in the footsteps of the demigod until we reach him. To do this we will have to face very powerful enemies which have caused many players to cry out to the Japanese team for a patch reducing the difficulty.

That said, the feeling that gave me Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, is the same one that the base game left me with no more and no less than two years ago. This is a very good sign of the work that has been done with the expansion. And that’s it, As soon as I took the controls and headed to this new region, I once again felt lost in a fantasy world. This new region has given me back the desire to explore, to lose myself in the smallest corners of the map and to simply experience the surprises that are being prepared over the years.

At first I thought that what I was about to see wouldn’t surprise me, but it’s impossible not to feel overwhelmed and amazed by the detail and care put into this DLC. Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, This takes us to a region full of nuances and new biomes that allow the artistic team to show off with astonishing freedom. It is impossible to define the images that the studio gave us, but I can say with certainty that they surpassed the excellence experienced in the main adventure.

Artistically, it’s overwhelming

Another area that I think has been improved is the level design. The game has many nuances. On the one hand, the game has a verticality that I have never seen before in any other version. Everything we see on the map is accessible, it is possible to cross a gorge and see a swamp at the bottom of it. In many other titles this would just be a mere decoration, not here. Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, allows you to descend into this swamp and discover new secrets. This also happens in the other direction, the summit of this mountain over which a dragon flies is perfectly accessible, we now have to find the way.

The other thing that I think has improved a lot is the level design of the main areas. By this I am referring to the castles and towns through which we will spend a lot of time. In the base game, I missed more locations with Stormshroud’s depth. Here, however, I feel like we have many more such areas. Being a much more direct approach to other games like Dark Souls 3 to give an example or the mythical Anor Londo.

The definitive experience

In this line, another of the big changes seen in the expansion is the change of dungeons. One of the main defects observed in The ring of fire It resided in the repetition of its dungeons. For the most part, they all followed the same structure and ended with a very bland fight that tended to repeat itself (cat with a sword, we know you’re there).Here the team has developed a new structure for the dungeons, much deeper, full of traps and with much more interesting combat. In short, they learned from their mistakes.

Let’s talk about the difficulty again

In recent days, many players have echoed the extreme difficulty of the DLC. While it is true that this content increases the difficulty a bit compared to the base game, the truth is that it remains very acceptable. To be clear, I’ve been able to play virtually every game Miyazaki and his team have released to date. This experience made me know that DLC generally increases the difficulty considerably, being considered the most difficult experience in the saga. However, with Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree I didn’t feel that way.

However, the game used its cards to ensure that content released two years after the original game continued to challenge veterans. What did you do about it? Well, this new region nerfs the player’s stats somewhat, so our level is not so relevant. You can be level 200 and bosses will still do a lot of damage to you. Still, calm down, there are ways to make the game a little more user-friendly. In this new region we have the possibility of finding different blessings from the Shadow Tree.

With these we will improve our damage while reducing the damage received. Additionally, these blessings are also found in our invocations, so our beloved mimetic tear will become even stronger.

Today, there are over a dozen boss fights, many of which are downright brutal. The vast majority of bosses are much faster than those encountered in the main adventure, with extremely long and deadly combos. In fact, there are two of these fights that are among my favorite top souls game bosses.

Eventually Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree…

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, has become one of the best-executed expansions in video game history. It’s surprising how FromSoftware continues to polish a seemingly infinite diamond to the fullest. This expansion is the icing on the cake of one of the best games in history. The game’s small flaws have been improved and everything good has been expanded with mastery to the level of very few. Miyazaki gave fans a breath of fresh air that makes you feel alive in a video game again.

And if the original map already left us speechless, now Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, managed to improve what he already had by creating a region full of secrets. Getting lost in the Altiplano Sombrio is obligatory for any fan of the saga. Especially since it will take us between 30 and 40 hours to explore this new region and all its nooks and crannies. Finally, I can only say that no matter how long it takes, it will be worth it to play another game comparable to Ring of fire.