Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (2024)

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree feels like the natural continuation of Elden Ring. Rather than reinventing the formula, it refines and expands it where necessary. The result is remarkably cohesive.

What stands out most is the world design and visual direction. At times, it feels like moving through a living Hieronymus Bosch painting—grotesque, surreal, and strangely beautiful. The environmental density and artistic ambition are extraordinary. From beginning to end, it delivers a consistently grand experience.

The difficulty remains part of the equation. Toward the final stretch, it became overwhelming for me, and I did not complete every challenge. That does not diminish the achievement. As a combined work, Elden Ring and its expansion secure a lasting place in gaming history.

It is also worth noting the scope of what was added relative to its price. The amount of meaningful content stands in sharp contrast to many contemporary expansions. As a package, Elden Ring alone is excellent; with Shadow of the Erdtree, it becomes something exceptional.

I wanted to love this game but it felt as if Miyazaki abandoned this project and gave his collegues too much control over the project.

Compared to previous entries, this DLC features extremely hyperactive and mobile enemies, smaller openings or attacking windows - and generally moves away from what made Demon Souls, Dark Souls 1, 2, and 3, so special for me.

Methodical weighty combat is replaced by a game of build-crafting and min-maxing in order to defeat ridiculously unfair bosses. Not to mention the Scadutree mechanic and its flaws.

All in all, I must admit that many of the game's designs and overall atmosphere, blew me away. However, after about 40 hours with the DLC I once again feel burnt out on it.

The world is too big for its own good. It's too cryptic for its own good. The NPC/quest system needs an overhaul.

All in all, I hope From Software goes back to slow, heavy, animation based combat. Because this Bayonetta style gameplay of acrobatic weapon arts and cocaine infused enemies, is not for me. I mean, I love flashy action games, but let Dark Souls be Dark Souls.

I find it hard to recommend this one.

Infuriating at times (the snake-finger things at the two ruins; Gaius; Consort Radahn; the Abyssal Woods) but still utterly enthralling. I wish there had been a little bit more overt lore, as the final memory seemed almost too shallow and I felt Malenia's absence, even in reference via Miquella, to be awkward, but the overall experience was incredible. And I really loved seeing the different experiences people had with respect to which fights gave people the most grief, and just how much that differed (i.e., people seemed to have a brutal time against Messmer, but I took him down on my third try; however, the guard outside of Messmer's room probably took me ten times that many attempts). All told, the only part of it I didn't care for was the Abyssal Woods. Aesthetically awesome, and I liked the manse at the end, but lord do I hate stealth, no matter the game. Just not for me, and felt forced in.

Highlights: finding the Shaman Village and comparing the lore of it to Bonny Village and how it re-contextualizes so much; the ascent up the jagged peak; Igon and the battle against Bayle (my favourite fight of the DLC); the overall visual design of the world and everything in it.

Overall, while impressive, I don't know if I see myself replaying the DLC—base game, absolutely, but maybe not this. I'm glad for it, and I loved it, but I found it more punishing and straightforward, and didn't inspire (in me anyway) the same sense of wonder and awe. I mean, nothing took me back as much as descending my first well in the base game and discovering a whole new world under there. I guess... in the end, as good as it is, it feels like a tacked-on coda—it doesn't fit seemlessly into the world. Again, loved it, would recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in ER, but it didn't feel as essential as I'd hoped. Perhaps I'll feel different with some time away from both.

Still, a top DLC of all time for me, and more of what is easily a top-ten game. Breathtaking and confounding and exhilarating and infuriating all at once.

Infuriating at times (the snake-finger things at the two ruins; Gaius; Consort Radahn; the Abyssal Woods) but still utterly enthralling. I wish there had been a little bit more overt lore, as the final memory seemed almost too shallow and I felt Malenia's absence, even in reference via Miquella, to be awkward, but the overall experience was incredible. And I really loved seeing the different experiences people had with respect to which fights gave people the most grief, and just how much that differed (i.e., people seemed to have a brutal time against Messmer, but I took him down on my third try; however, the guard outside of Messmer's room probably took me ten times that many attempts). All told, the only part of it I didn't care for was the Abyssal Woods. Aesthetically awesome, and I liked the manse at the end, but lord do I hate stealth, no matter the game. Just not for me, and felt forced in.

Highlights: finding the Shaman Village and comparing the lore of it to Bonny Village and how it re-contextualizes so much; the ascent up the jagged peak; Igon and the battle against Bayle (my favourite fight of the DLC); the overall visual design of the world and everything in it.

Overall, while impressive, I don't know if I see myself replaying the DLC—base game, absolutely, but maybe not this. I'm glad for it, and I loved it, but I found it more punishing and straightforward, and didn't inspire (in me anyway) the same sense of wonder and awe. I mean, nothing took me back as much as descending my first well in the base game and discovering a whole new world under there. I guess... in the end, as good as it is, it feels like a tacked-on coda—it doesn't fit seemlessly into the world. Again, loved it, would recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in ER, but it didn't feel as essential as I'd hoped. Perhaps I'll feel different with some time away from both.

Still, a top DLC of all time for me, and more of what is easily a top-ten game. Breathtaking and confounding and exhilarating and infuriating all at once.

Managed to beat this yesterday but I need some more time to form proper opinion about it. In short, however, it's a really good DLC that is at times better than the main game and at times worse. But main takeaways for now:

• It's definitely Elden Ring.
• Blessings are a nice way of having progression to this "postgame" content.
• Either the blessings were buffed to all hell already but I didn't really find this that much more difficult than the base game. Might also be because I started exploring a lot before going to the legacy dungeons so I always had quite good scadutree blessing level. Might also be because I have 600h in the base game...
• The DLC has big stuff quite well hidden so playing online or sharing findings with friends helps a lot.
• The main map is complex in ways that were never present in the base game but there's also a few surprisingly empty areas with not much to collect or do. Areas look stunning though and there's many unforgettable places.
• Catacombs are fewer but lot more complex too.
• Haven't tested the majority of new gear and spells but what I've tested, there's really cool additions. Light greatswords, for example, are super fun to use and throwable weapons are a great addition! Some awesome talismans as well.
• I still have lot of gaps to fills when it comes to the lore of the DLC. Some of the lore stuff is insane likefinding the origin of Two Fingers. I was a bit disappointed with the final boss though, I feel something else would have suited better. Namely Godwyn or maybe even Messmer but I can see how he wouldn't fit as he showed his full potential already.

So I just beat Messmer the Impaler and it was a really good fight! I'm not yet sure if it's my fav of the dlc but it was certainly very fun, so it's up there for sure. That said, there were a couple of moves I just for the life of me could NOT figure out how to dodge/see coming, which has been something I've noticed with a lot of the bosses in this DLC unfortunately.

For those who have completed this fight (main boss of the Shadow Keep, for those partway through and unsure if they want to click the spoiler tag), did you figure out if he has a tell before doing the attack where he drags his spear along the ground before stabbing at you? I swear, without fail, every time he used that move it'd trip me up with how slow it comes out and I'd roll early but I wouldn't have time to roll again to make up for it. But if I waited to see if he was going to drag the spear or go for a normal fast stab and it wasn't the drag one, I'd almost certainly get hit anyway. Kind of felt like a lose-lose situation so I was wondering if there was something I was missing. It's just very hard to watch closely for small stuff like the spear beginning to drag on the ground when there's so much else going on.

https://www.bandainamcoent.com/news/elden-ring-patch-notes-version-1-12-2

The new upgrade system has been rebalanced to make the earlier upgrades more impactful and later ones less impactful. I don’t think this is necessary, but it’s probably the best change you could make to maintain the intended design and the later difficulty while throwing people a bone on easing into the experience and some of the bigger first half bosses. A lot of people definitely are thrown off by the earlier bits and voicing unhappiness with it. There are 20 levels overall to upgrade through, and for reference I finished at level 16. The change means levels 1-10 will be stronger boosts and 11-20 will make less marginal difference except the final maxed out level, which does seem fine as it overall makes it less important to find the more hidden upgrades and it ultimately arrives at a similar place for most players.