Elden Ring Shadow of Erdtree The expansion pack has a lot of legacy to it. After all, it builds on one of the greatest games ever made. As I said in my preview, and James reiterated in his review, “more of the same” isn’t so bad when “same” is truly timeless.
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Of course, the new adventures in Shadowlands in the DLC aren’t exactly “the same”. There are new bosses, new weapons, and new Feel – The structure of the new map feels a little different, with a higher density leading to the feeling that it forces the player to do more lateral thinking and navigational puzzle-solving, especially in order to unlock and fully explore all five sections of the murky realm that make up the expanded map.
Honestly, as an expansion pack, it’s pretty close to perfect. However… there are some elements that just feel… Tiny When I saw the DLC’s final boss fall to my sword, I felt a little empty. Honestly, this is probably how FromSoftware wanted it to feel – if any developer is good at hollowing out players, it’s them – but it’s weird.
None of this is about how the DLC plays, really. It’s one of my favorite types of DLC – the developers of a massive game crank everything up to 11, using all the tricks they learned during the grueling years of development on the core game to make something new from the ground up. That means it surprises and delights by doing things the developers didn’t think they could do the first time around. It also means the whole thing has the flavor of a greatest hits pack. Shadow of the Erdtree is a band playing a brilliant medley of its greatest hits from its breakout album to a massive stadium filled with screaming fans.
The best element, though, is probably what I found frustrating. Narratively, I felt Shadow of the Erdtree was engaging, entertaining, and (in typical FromSoftware fashion) raised a lot of interesting new questions as well as answered them. But I also felt that it ultimately rang a little hollow.
I think a lot of this is because Shadow Trees is completely separate from the rest of the story. Once you download and install the DLC, one of the key new NPCs appears in The Lands Between, right at the teleport point that brings you to the Shadowlands, a location that was carefully designed to give the player a little boost. And then… well, everything separates.
I started a new game and ran with it so that Maiden Melina would be present, thinking she would definitely have something to say. She didn’t. Back at the Round Table, good old Gideon wasn’t interested in increasing his knowledge; no dialogue was added to his menu. The old lady with the finger was definitely interested in me giving her the boss’s memories. [REDACTED]what does this mean for the entire world’s belief system?! Not a word was said.
People familiar with FromSoftware’s technology, engine, and game structure tell me that this is likely largely a technical issue. Adding new events to the existing Elden Ring story would be very complicated and would likely disrupt the incomplete storyline. Many games have narrative scripts that are essentially pieced together with gum. I also personally Knowing how easily Elden Ring’s story script could have shattered into a million pieces over pre-release review issues, I get it. But at the same time, I can’t help but feel disappointed.
Especially with Melina, I find it odd that players who enter the Shadowlands with her still around don’t even get a line to explain her absence afterwards. It would have been enough for her to say something like “I can’t come here with you” in the first Land of Grace you visit. It would have made the connection between the two worlds feel stronger. As it stands, it feels as if No Connection. It feels like this could be released as a standalone DLC story; a story for different characters.
The structure of the DLC makes this all a little strange. New gear and skills gained in Shadowlands can be brought back to The Lands Between. In fact, players are encouraged to travel across the world because you need to return to the Round Table to upgrade equipment, deal with memories, and so on. Coupled with the fact that Shadow of the Erdtree actively answers fans’ major questions about Elden Ring’s lore and backstory, it makes the game feel a little strange: you learn something that changes everything. About everythingkilling legends and myths – and usually without acknowledging it, or even a single extra line of dialogue.
There are questions worth pondering here, such as how to fit DLC content like this into the vast array of existing adventures, and I think making your world at least a little responsive becomes a necessity. smallBack in the 360 days, BioWare’s Mass Effect DLCs always had a lot of punch, even if they were just new conversations to have with your squad. Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty is probably the gold standard in this regard, with missions that travel between the main game’s continents in a very satisfying way.
I’m not saying DLC can’t stand on its own, but it does need to stand on its own. put up The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine has almost no connection to the main game and is completely isolated – but it feels correctThis is, after all, the story of Geralt going on vacation. “The Shadow of the Erdtree” isn’t that; it’s filled with revelations about the Place Between Earth and many of its key characters—but it feels impossibly distant.
Shadow of the Erdtree is still, without a doubt, one of the best games of the year. I had a blast playing it. But it goes to show that even the strongest developers can’t get it 100% right all the time. That’s good – if anything, it makes me more excited for their next game. Maybe it’ll be a more reactive world next time?
Shadow of the Erdtree is the $40 mega expansion for Elden Ring, and the only expansion for the game. It will be released on June 21 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and requires a copy of the base game.
