Shadow of the Earth Tree from igamesnews.com

History remains in the shadows

The adventure begins in the mysterious Shadow Realm, a new and unknown location in the original game. The player keeps his starting character, a Shardless. He is led to follow in the footsteps of Miquella: a demigod known above all for his family. His mother Marika is the one who started the Shattering War (the setting of the Elden Ring story). His sister is Malenia. She is the goddess of rot and is considered the toughest boss in the game.

Shadow of the ErdTree is therefore an opportunity to learn more about one of the predominant characters in the Elden Ring universe. He decided to abandon his divine nature and go to the Shadow Realm. As usual, the FromSoftware studio provides little explanation about this new world. It is left to the players to discover the hidden secrets through item descriptions and rare dialogues with the inhabitants of the kingdom.

The narrative of Shadow of the ErdTree therefore remains faithful to that of Elden Ring, with a fragmented and mysterious story. This DLC introduces seven new characters, each with their own quest. These quests offer several branches and choices that affect the development of the story. However, these new protagonists lack charisma and presence, making it difficult to emotionally engage the player. Unlike the meaningful encounters with characters like Ranni or Melina in the original game, these DLC characters struggle to captivate. And overall, the plot of this DLC is not very meaningful: after forty hours of gameplay, we are still as little advanced as when we first took our steps in this new kingdom.

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Yet we still manage to feel their weight, the impact of our answers to their questions. Finding them through their own wanderings in the realm of shadows is often one of our goals. A goal that we cannot put at the forefront, but that fits well with the exploration of this new region. As with Elden Ring, this is good, exploration is one of the main qualities of this DLC.

A three-dimensional kingdom, a very and too controlled architecture

The Shadow Realm is vast and varied, with distinct areas in architecture and design. The verticality of the map is impressive and literally adds an extra dimension to exploration. If it is indeed a 2D map that appears on our screen at our request, we do not see the various additional layers that coexist. Enough to be sure of this. Hidetaka Miyazaki, studio head and director of Elden Ring, subtly suggested it. The Shadow Realm is equivalent on the surface at Necrolimbe but has a much larger volume in terms of its floors than the first zone of Elden Ring.

It is the Black Castle that is located in the center of the map and serves as the main crossroads, connecting the different zones. However, this complexity can lead to confusion. Some passages are difficult to find without a guide, some require several detours. Some even ask for special items. It is impossible to know where to go when you realize this! We can already imagine how frustrating some players will be when they do not understand where to go or where certain paths are. The director himself admitted that improvements still need to be made to make the content easier and more complete to discover.

Although some areas are less content-rich, the DLC introduces some interesting new features. Forgeries, for example, allow you to collect materials to upgrade your weapons, while nameless mausoleums, hidden behind puzzles, house mini-bosses that offer valuable rewards. Spiritual seals, for their part, block ascending currents that must be unlocked to access chests. Enough to add an extra layer of mystery and challenge to exploration.

Personally, I admit that I was expecting to discover a few more caves or catacombs. Other than that, there are enough things to look for that you’ll naturally be dragged from one place to another. We enjoy it thanks to the variety in approaches. There are fights, but also puzzles. Sometimes there are platform sequences.

But it’s above all the sense of adventure that I was really expecting from Shadow of the ErdTree. When I took the elevator to Siofra for the first time in February 2022, my jaw dropped. I wanted to experience that again with Shadow of the ErdTree. An expectation that is all the greater because it is one of the reasons why it took so long for this DLC to be available. According to Miyazaki, Shadow of the ErdTree is the biggest DLC that From Software has ever made. What we can confirm today: I finished my adventure after around forty hours. That’s almost as much as I spent on Bloodborne and Demon’s Souls (both of which I completed) and almost as much as all the old DLCs combined

. Two years of development time because Miyazaki wanted to “reproduce that sense of adventure” that he had cultivated and developed with Elden Ring.

It has not failed.

I was amazed throughout the adventure. Once again, From Software manages to renew this feeling of discovery over and over again. With Shadow of the Erdree, it makes us curious! It is impossible not to say at times that the level design is, as we have already said, amazing. And especially when it is combined with a sublime artistic direction.

Between shadow and light: an artistic direction that leaves you speechless

The art direction of Shadow of the ErdTree is breathtaking. Each zone offers a unique visual identity. There are landscapes that look like Gardens of Eden that contrast with the apocalyptic decor of other areas. From celestial landscapes to apocalyptic environments, each new discovery is a feast for the eyes. This is also what drives us to explore the realm of shadows with all due care, as inhospitable and dangerous as it may be!

While the soundtrack is discreet during exploration, it really stands out during boss battles, with catchy compositions that emphasize the intensity of the encounters.

We were able to see twelve major bosses (there are seven mandatory ones), or a little less than half of Elden Ring. We even wonder if they aren’t more impressive than those of the original game. There is something of this masochistic side: we want to start a game with another character just to rediscover the adrenaline and the celebration inherent in each confrontation.

Gameplay and difficulty icons of From Software’s know-how

With Shadow of the ErdTree we continue to enjoy pleasure for our eyes and ears, but also for our face. It must be said that the gameplay remains faithful to the proven and polished formula of FromSoftware: it is a great level of difficulty that awaits players from the first hours. A way for the studio to welcome. A very wise choice!

The enemies are formidable and require caution and strategy from the player. Enough to get everyone in the mood right away. And above all, enough to destroy the pedestal of some veterans who might get tired of an overly liberal experience

. The most experienced players will also be able to count on new categories of weapons, new equipment, spells and incantations. There are therefore many things to test between throwing weapons, light swordfish or even inverted blades capable of bypassing the enemy’s defenses. Enough to always find a solution against recalcitrant bosses if they can resist magic or the alteration of the sleep state, for example. Shadow of the ErdTree is for me a real flaw in Elden Ring and does not remedy the lack of a functionality that allows you to face bosses already defeated. Even today, it is necessary to recreate a character with good statistics if we want to put our new discovery to the test. An investment of time and energy that few will be willing to invest.

Secondly, this difficulty subtly introduces the progression system specific to Shadow of the EarthTree: it is based on collecting shards and ashes. They allow more or less allows you to improve your attack and defense skills (the first of the character, the second of the summons and torrent), making the gaming experience more fluid. In our playthrough, we had to put aside our frustration with the first two bosses to discover a satisfying progression curve: challenging, punishing fights, but far from insurmountable. And we tell ourselves that, having finished our adventure by defeating the final boss under the bell of the fortieth hour (Miyazaki was not wrong this time), this is exactly what we were looking for.

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