They say you can have too much of a good thing, but no one knew about the Elden Ring when they coined the phrase all those centuries ago. A standout winner of numerous Game of the Year accolades, the experience remains relevant to this day — even without this month’s massive Shadow of the Erdtree DLC calling veterans back to The Lands Between. Before the release, Bandai Namco kindly invited us to Paris to play the first three hours of the expansion. On the move, within the first area alone, it’s the most comprehensive game expansion FromSoftware has ever made.
After choosing one of three different classes (warrior, knight, or wizard at level 150), we entered the Shadowlands via a new portal in Mohgwyn Palace, accessed by interacting with Miquelle’s hand poking out of a cocoon at the back. From then on, the task was simple: Bandai Namco allowed us exactly three hours to freely explore the starting area of the DLC, taking into account its main story, optional areas, and new features and mechanics. On the surface, it’s more Elden Ring, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find things that differentiate Shadow of the Erdtree from the base game.
The initial land mass upon entering Shadowland puts even the darkest places in the original experience to shame. Probably a once proud land, it is now overwhelmed with rot and ruins. Set under the cover of night, this is a decidedly dark place that seems deliberately desolate. There are few enemies in his fields, with only a few demons and gargoyles patrolling and choosing to attack them. It’s an environment that even your rivals don’t want to inhabit, with magical tombstones and massive gallows taking their place in the distance.
However, the density of enemies increases as you get closer to the region’s landmarks, as new legacy dungeons and other optional locations do a great job of disrupting the main pursuit of Miquell. With new bosses at the end of each – we only managed to overcome one of the three big fights we encountered in the preview session – the labyrinthine routes to these arenas still remain as stunning as they were in the base game. One boss wore the face of a lion but was anything but elsewhere, another worked with a greatsword and flaming arrows to cover melee and long range combat, and the third was a twin sister with a familiar face.
If you’re jumping into Shadow of the Erdtree after a long hiatus, these boss battles could prove to be a brick wall as you work to regain the muscle memory lost in the two years since the base game came out. However, Shadow of the Erdtree offers its own helping hand via a brand new mechanic called Scadutree Blessing. By collecting certain items throughout the Shadowlands, you can bring them back to the Place of Mercy and improve your ability to deal and reverse damage, and also improve your ghost ash. These improvements are only active when 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 hands-on session, but it’s an interesting addition that will benefit new players and returning pros alike. Another new feature that we haven’t had enough time to work out is the presence of new golden crosses in the game world and on your map. The linked description says they were supposed to mark Miquella’s footprints, and the three we found were next to the Sites of Grace. There seems to be something in them, but exposure in the opening alone was not enough to understand their use.
Then there were 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 10 massive boss encounters and 100 new weapons across eight bonus categories, so our three hours with the DLC really only scratched the surface.
They were enough at least to prove that Shadow of the Erdtree is mostly a very good thing with a few new ideas sprinkled in. The expansion is almost certainly keeping its biggest secrets close to its chest, but in terms of how you play and interact with it, this is more Elden Ring. Building on all the greatest aspects of the base game, The Land of Shadow invites another brutally thrilling experience with industry-leading art direction, tense combat, and the ultimate sense of exploration. In its prime, Shadow of the Erdtree emulates Elden Ring’s core endeavor—no bad thing when, to this day, it continues to define the genre.
Not So Holy: Playing Elden Ring in church
There can’t be many other preview events with a greater contrast between the location and the game in question than playing Elden Ring in a Paris church. The setting, called Village Reille, has probably never before displayed a demon statue so proudly, in a physical recreation of Messmer the Impaler on its altar.
Then promotional curtains with the Elden Ring label hung from the balcony and ceiling, sometimes near the stained glass windows depicting religious events. Along the center were two rows of stations with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC installed, along with keyboard and mouse and controller options for Xbox and PS5. A stunning place to play the sequel to one of the best PS5 games, Bandai Namco clearly knows how to pick them.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is out for PS5, PS4 on June 21, 2024. Are you going to return to the game and then go to the Land of Shadows? Let us know in the comments below.