Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

So… Elden Ring. As you would probably know by now, especially if you’re one of three people who watches our Professionally Unprofessional Podcast, I absolutely loved and still love Elden Ring. It still remains my favourite game of the decade and one of my favourite games of all time, so it’s only natural for me to want more of it. DLC is a commonality in most FromSoftware Soulslikes (sorry Sekiro), and is often the best part of the game, so obviously we were eager to see what they were cooking. Cut to February of 2023, when FromSoftware announced that we were getting DLC for the latest Soulsborne entree, titled Shadow of the Erdtree, only for us to wait almost an entire year to get a trailer and the release date of 21st June 2024. This was very highly anticipated and became one of the biggest talking points of the year. So, was the wait worth it and how does it hold up with what we got prior?

Now, this review is going to be a bit different to normal. Despite having written these reviews for nearly 4 years now (not that you would believe it with the lack of quality), I’ve never written a review for DLC. So instead of my usual structure, I’m going to more just be divulging my general thoughts on what we’ve got: What new additions we have, how everything stacks up to the base game, and basically just a bunch of unstructured ramblings. Also, spoiler warning! I will be refraining from talking about anything major in the DLC, I may on occasion mention a boss’ name or something like that but nothing too serious, but when appropriate, I will not be holding back when talking about anything from the base game. So, if you’re for some reason reading the review on additional content for a game you haven’t played yet, you have been warned. 

How to access the DLC

Now Soulsborne games have you access their DLC in a variety of different ways. In Dark Souls 3 you just have to talk to a new NPC found by a bonfire you’ll have to go to anyway, in Bloodborne you need to find a specific Amygdala who will transport you to the Hunters Nightmare, really the toughest was the original Dark Souls which requires you to kill a hydra enemy and collect a couple of items in the late game. Elden Ring, in my opinion, has beaten them all in difficulty. 

To access the Shadow of the Erdtree, you need to defeat two specific bosses. The first is Starscourge Radahn, which isn’t that bad, not only is he one of the best bosses in the base game, you’ll likely find yourself fighting him anyway, so I’m perfectly fine with it. The second, on the other hand, is Mohg, Lord of Blood, and this is where things get tough. Mohg is arguably one of the toughest bosses in the entire game, found at the end of arguably one of the toughest areas in the entire game. Now he’s not Malenia levels of tough, hell I would probably say I had more trouble fighting Maliketh, but he’s still far from an easy fight. In fact, when the DLC was about to be released about a third of Elden Ring players had actually managed to defeat him – even at time of writing only 37.1% of PlayStation 5 players have completed the first hurdle of the DLC. And trust me, this is a very difficult requirement, however for what’s to come, this challenge is going to feel easy by comparison. 

The Realm of Shadow

During the build up to the DLC, they said that the Realm of Shadow was going to be about the same size as Limgrave… this was a lie. The map for this DLC is massive, obviously not as big as the Lands Between but it can still dwarf the maps of other open world games. In fact, as Reddit user Gilliam Yaeger proves, if you cover the giant section of water in the Land Between’s map with the Realm of Shadows, not only will it fill that section up, it’ll even cover a large portion of Limgrave, Caelid and Atlus Plateau. That’s not even mentioning all the additional layers to the world, of course there are underground labyrinths and caves for you to explore, as well as the multiple dungeons that you’ll have to traverse and fight your way through.

There are five main sections you’ll find yourself exploring, mostly separated by the map fragments you’ll have to gather. I found getting to these sections to be somewhat of a challenge, either I just wasn’t going down what I thought was the right path, or the path I was looking for was quite obscure. I found three of the five map fragments after a good while of exploring, though I will admit I did look up a guide to help find the last two. Once you find the fragments and reach the newer areas however, figuring out where to go was surprisingly easy. I would just take one look at the map, find a section that I haven’t explored or that is very devoid of Sites of Grace and head over that way. Even when I was lost, I didn’t mind, just like in the Lands Between, going in the wrong direction will lead you somewhere, and I found myself enjoying it all the while. 

Just like in the base game, there were numerous moments and areas that just put me in awe over how good they looked. From exiting the cave at the start and witnessing the Scadutree off in the distance, all the way up to entering the final boss’ arena for the first time, the beauty of this dark realm is jaw dropping and I expect a lot of players to take copious amounts of screenshots.

There are various Legacy Dungeons for you to explore as well. These will be pretty easy to find as they will take up a good portion of your map (I mean, honestly, you’ll just be able to see them in the distance often enough). Some of these are very much required as they contain bosses that really need a bonking on the head, while others you can easily skip… though you shouldn’t. These will contain not only unique enemies that you won’t encounter in the field, but also may have a number of powerful talismans or weapons that can be of great use or even fully replace the one you’re currently carrying. Of course, most of them will also cap off your time there with a unique boss fight, which we’ll get to later. 

Weapons and Secrets

There are a lot of unique weapons and equipment that you can find in this DLC, not only are there new additions to currently existing types but there are even 6 new weapon variants such as Light Greatswords or Great Katanas or Perfume Bottles. These new weapon types have vastly different and even more stylish move sets to what you’re used to, just swinging them will make you want to create a new build just to test them out. Of course there are new Ashes of War as well, some can be found while others are exclusive to certain weapons, and these are some of the flashiest and most fun to execute. This especially goes for boss weapons, whose skills are copies of their original owners’ most badass attacks; there is nothing more satisfying than being able to perform attacks that kicked your ass mere minutes ago. 

One of the most talked about additions since the DLC first came out is the Scadutree fragments. These things can be found all over the Realm of Shadow and are a great help if you’re struggling. Collecting these and consuming them at a Site of Grace will give you a small damage boost as well as a defence increase. Additionally, you also consume Revered Spirit Ash, which will increase the defence of Torrent and your Spirit Ashes. These only work within the Realm of Shadow and will become ineffective in the Lands Between, so don’t think you can collect a few of these and think you’ll do a better job against Malenia or Placidusax or any other base game boss that’s giving you trouble. You could argue that these are just new collectibles to artificially increase difficulty, but I quite like these. In my eyes these are the DLCs version of the Golden Seeds, and can also be a new player challenge; Can you beat the DLC without collecting any of these?

There are of course hidden pathways to lead new locations on and even off map. Sometimes these places aren’t too tough to find, requiring nothing more than jumping down a hole or something along those lines, but for others you’ll need to put in a bit more work. There are some that will require you completing a series of tasks or finding a certain gesture to be able to reveal the path forward. They can be work, but they’re never not worth it. A lot of these new areas are a delight to discover and wander through and can even lead to new boss fights and new equipment. 

New Bosses and Enemies

Finally, let’s talk about what new foes you’ll be encountering. For starters, something I was not expecting, there aren’t that many repeats from the main game. Obviously, there are some, I wasn’t expecting an entire new cast to taste my giant blade, but the number of new ones I was encountering consistently was really cool. They can really surprise you as well, I’ve lost count of the number of times I was expecting one thing from the enemies only to get something else, like how the fire spells from some of Messmer’s knights have a slight delay to being fired at you, or what different elemental attacks the Horned Knights are able to use. There are a couple that are purely terrifying, I don’t get scared of Soulslike enemies very often, but this one has some very menacing foes, obviously we’ve all seen the Furnace Golems, but I’d say the Ageing Untouchable are probably the ones that filled me with the most dread. 

Now I’m really holding myself back when it comes to talking about the bosses. I’m desperate to go into detail over each one of them, to gush over their hard to manage combos, how much they changed things up in their second phases, and the number of attacks that just made my jaw drop and leave me laughing in absolute glee as I respawn at the Site of Grace, but I really want you to experience that for yourself, so I won’t ruin it for you. Obviously, there are a couple of duds, ones that are a bit boring or just feel like a bit of a slog at times, but when these bosses get good, they are seriously fun. There are a couple of repeats that you’ll find in the Lands Between, but they still manage to find ways to keep these bosses fresh, from just having a different aesthetic to including brand new attacks. These are some of the toughest bosses I have ever fought in a Soulslike – yes, I’d even say a couple of them surpass Malenia in challenge – but, holy hell, they are some of the most thrilling, soul gripping, heart-pounding boss fights I’ve ever fought against. These alone make the DLC worth its price and guarantee I’ll be coming back here in every playthrough.

Conclusion

FromSoftwares’ DLC always manages to surpass the base game (well okay not always, some of Dark Souls 2’s are a bit rough), and I can happily say they’ve bloody done it again. I’ve spent at least 40 hours in the DLC and even now I feel the itch to return to that shadow filled land. If you own Elden Ring, I beg you to get this. This is easily FromSoftwares’ best DLC, it’s the absolute peak of any Soulslike, and it will make you addicted to Elden Ring all over again. 

9.9/10