Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is the best thing ever: more Elden Ring, but way more difficult.

Elden Ring's first and final DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, is exactly what I wanted. That's what I imagine almost everyone wanted. It's Elden Ring remade. It's transporting both literally and figuratively. Shadow of the Erdtree takes players to the Land of Shadow, a predictably oversized new map – FromSoftware just can't help it – that features a significantly more punishing realm. It's a complete throwback to 2022, when this gigantic open-world RPG first launched and we were all struck by its seemingly bottomless depth. It's clear that this DLC is going to take a long time to complete, and even clearer that it will have a huge and lasting impact on the entire game.

The FromSoft special

I played Shadow of the Erdtree for three hours at a recent preview event hosted by publisher Bandai Namco, and upon my first steps into the Land of Shadow, I immediately felt the novelty , the desire to travel and hazard that I had missed. It's the feeling that I, like millions of other gamers, have desperately and unsuccessfully pursued NG+ races and new characters, all trying to recapture the wonder of that first playthrough and squeeze out another ounce of 'adventure. Being a DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree very obviously adds more content. But “no more Elden Ring,” as enticing as that simple promise is, doesn’t really reflect my experience so far. This looks like a fiercer, more polished experience, and may well become the highlight of future NG+ games.

Just as Elden Ring built on everything FromSoftware learned from its previous dark fantasy RPGs, Shadow of the Erdtree seems to boil down and double down on what made Elden Ring so exciting. He loves fucking with you. It has branching paths that lead to branching paths that lead to branching paths. Towering castles crouch in the distance, staring at you unblinkingly as you cleave through legions of men, monsters, and monstrous men in hopes of opening those tempting distant gates and finding the really cool sword inside. There are dark, confusing, and sometimes even lovable characters, some of whom “like finding things” because “things bring joy to everyone,” as my new favorite NPC informed me. He has terrible god birds that would like to nest in your esophagus, please. Great.

There are ambushes and giant scorpions and little scorpions and shiny, recursive levels and locked doors and mysterious keys and the coolest weapons that ever split the air where a boss was but it's not is no longer the case because he just dove in behind you and turned your insides into the outsides. He East more Elden Ring, but Shadow of the Erdtree might also be the best Elden Ring has to offer. The Shadowland is huge, incredibly varied in its atmosphere and themes, and probably denser than anywhere in the Lands Between. It was nerve-wracking to force myself to navigate these sprawling, highly detailed areas in order to see as much as possible during the limited preview – like a dungeon left over from an ancient city and a stunning castle that somehow Another is only described as a medium-sized dungeon. I was only able to explore part of the map – like a dog on a leash, forced to turn around by event staff circling the venue – but “bigger than Limgrave” gives the I feel like this thing is underestimated.