They say it’s possible to have too much of a good thing, but no one knew Elden Ring when they coined the term all those centuries ago. An outstanding winner of numerous Game of the Year awards, the experience remains relevant to this day – and that’s even without this month’s massive Shadow of the Erdtree DLC beckoning veterans back to The Lands Between. Ahead of release, Bandai Namco kindly invited us to Paris to play the first three hours of the expansion. In motion, in the first area alone, it’s the most comprehensive expansion to a game FromSoftware has ever made.
After choosing from one of three different classes (a warrior, knight, or wizard at level 150), we entered The Land of Shadow through a new portal in Mohgwyn Palace, accessed by interacting with Miquella’s hand protruding from the cocoon in the back . From then on, the task was simple: Bandai Namco gave us exactly three hours to freely explore the DLC’s opening area, taking in the core story path, optional areas, and new features and mechanics. At first glance it looks more like Elden Ring, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find things that set Shadow of the Erdtree apart from the base game.
The initial landmass upon entering The Land of Shadow puts even the bleakest places in the original experience to shame. Supposedly it was once a proud land, but now it is overwhelmed by rot and ruin. Set under the cover of night, this is an overwhelmingly dark place that feels purposefully deserted. The fields contain few enemies, with only a few patrolling demons and gargoyles choosing to attack. It’s an environment where even your rivals wouldn’t want to live, with magical tombstones and mass hangings taking their place in the distance.
However, enemy density increases as you approach the region’s landmarks, as new old dungeons and other optional locations provide excellent distractions from Miquella’s pursuit. With new bosses at the end of each game (we only managed to overcome one of the three major battles in the preview session), the labyrinthine routes to those arenas and beyond remain just as gripping as they were in the base game. One boss wore the face of a lion but was anything but one elsewhere, another wielded a greatsword and flaming arrows to cover both close and long range combat, and a third was the twin sister of a familiar face.
If you jump into Shadow of the Erdtree after a long hiatus, these boss battles can prove to be a bit of a brick wall as you work to regain the muscle memory lost in the two years since the base game’s release. However, Shadow of the Erdtree offers its own helping hand via a brand new mechanic called the Scadutree Blessing. By collecting specific items in The Land of Shadow, you can return them to a Site of Grace and improve your ability to deal and negate damage, as well as improve your Spirit Ashes. These improvements are only active if you are in the DLC; they do not apply if you return to the original game.
It was impossible to tell how much of an effect the blessings had during our practice session, but it’s an interesting addition that will benefit both new players and returning pros. Another new feature that we didn’t have enough time to develop is the presence of new golden crosses, both in the game world and on your map. The accompanying description said they were to mark Miquella’s footprints, and the three we found were next to Sites of Grace. It seems like there’s something going on with them, but exposure in the opening space alone wasn’t enough to understand their use.
There were then new Ashes of War to discover, more items with unique uses, additional talismans to equip, and variants of familiar consumables that let you use them much faster in the heat of battle. FromSoftware has already promised ten major boss encounters and a hundred new weapons in eight bonus categories, so our three hours with the DLC were really just the beginning.
If anything, they were enough to prove that Shadow of the Erdtree is mostly a really good thing, with a few new ideas thrown in. The expansion almost certainly keeps its biggest secrets close to its chest, but in terms of how you play and interact with it, this is more Elden Ring. The Land of Shadow draws on the best aspects of the base game and invites a new brutally gripping experience with industry-leading art direction, thrilling combat and the greatest sense of exploration. During its opening hours, Shadow of the Erdtree emulates the basics of Elden Ring – which isn’t a bad thing if it remains genre-defining to this day.
Not So Sacred: Playing Elden Ring in a church
There couldn’t have been many other preview events with a greater contrast between the location and the game in question than playing Elden Ring in a church in Paris. The setting, called Village Reille, has probably never before so proudly displayed the statue of a demon, in a physical reproduction of Messmer the Impaler on the altar.
Promotional curtains with the Elden Ring logo were then hung from the balcony and ceiling, sometimes close to the stained glass windows depicting religious events. Along the center were two rows of stations with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC installed, complete with keyboard and mouse, and Xbox and PS5 controller options. A wonderful place to briefly play an expansion of one of the best PS5 games out there, Bandai Namco clearly knows how to pick them.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree will be released on June 21, 2024 for PS5 and PS4. Will you return to the game and then head to The Land of Shadow? Let us know in the comments below.