Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree review – Tarnished rides again

Introduction

It’s not often an expansion is as hotly anticipated as a full-price game – but then not all games are Elden Ring. FromSoftware’s opus elevated the studio’s opaque storytelling and hardcore action RPG tenets. It also made the genre more approachable to newer audiences, yet didn’t hesitate to crush you with seemingly insurmountable challenges.

For those who have combed the Lands Between for every secret and conquered every boss, Shadow of the Erdtree is precisely what the doctor ordered. It’s a hugely generous expansion that almost makes it feel like playing Elden Ring again for the first time.

Shadowplay

Shadow of the Erdtree isn’t DLC you can dip straight into; it’s designed for seasoned players who are prepared for punishing challenges. As such, simply accessing it requires defeating Starscourge Radhan and Mohg, Lord of Blood. If those names mean nothing to you, I’d suggest holding off clicking the buy button.

Provided that’s no issue, the Land of Shadow is an entirely new location to explore, with its own majestic view of the distant Scadutree (the titular Shadow of the Erdtree) and a story centred around Miquella – a mysterious figure players only heard about in the base game. But as ever, much of the fun is in figuring the story beats out for yourself.

From the opening expanse of the Gravesite Plains, aptly littered with numerous ethereal-looking gravestones, you’ll soon encounter fresh horrors. One monstrosity resembles a burning Wicker Man with a furnace for a head, who can make your late-game character feel like a maidenless noob all over again. And if you thought those Jar people were weird, I’ll let you find out for yourself what the alternative is.

Given how hard enemies hit, and the fact you can begin this DLC at different points in your playthrough, there are fortunately ways to get a leg up. Scadutree Fragments can increase your attack and defence far more than a normal level-up, and incentivise exploring the Land of Shadow to find more rather than ploughing straight on the critical path. They’re only effective in this shadow realm, so don’t unbalance the base game.

Sword, sorcery and Sifu

From beasts resembling Chinese dancing lions, who change elemental attacks on a dime, to Messmer the Impaler (the foreboding fella you see adorning the expansion’s box art), Shadow of the Erdtree throws a lot of new powerful foes at you. But it also provides more tools to give you the edge. One of the main incentives for defeating the many optional bosses – apart from the sense of achievement of course – is that you’ll often get their armour as a reward.

While base game builds are still viable, there are more than 100 new weapons to tempt you into changing up your playstyle. Dexterity-minded characters will want Milady, a ‘light’ greatsword with some cool stance-based attacks, and faith-focused players can also unlock new powerful spells. New hand-to-hand arts are a highlight; why bother with new weapons when you can just become a kung-fu master?

These certainly add to the expansion’s longevity, but require putting in a lot of work beyond simply finding one. Perfecting weapons requires spending resources on upgrades, which is only straightforward after unlocking the option to buy smithing stones in the base game.

It’s admirable this game doesn’t make your existing gear obsolete. But it’s a shame that the choice becomes grinding to unlock a new weapon’s potential, or sticking to what you know. It’s all too easy to opt for the latter. New spirit ashes can also be summoned to help in certain fights, but none match the strength of the base game’s fully upgraded Mimic Tear.

The chasms between

One Elden Ring playthrough can easily last 100 hours. Shadow of the Erdtree can be finished in 15, if you stick to the critical path. But that’s only a fraction of what this expansion has to offer. The map doesn’t quite open up with the same surprise as the Lands Between, and there’s no separation between a map above ground and one below – but believe me the geography still manages to reach extraordinary heights and plumb the darkest depths. Figuring out how to get to those places is more of a challenge.

The opening area looks out over chasms that lead to multiple explorable locations – ones that would kill you if you jumped down to, even on horseback. You’ll hit dead ends because you lack items to help you advance further. As more of the map is revealed, you’ll see whole sections with no clue what path to take to get there. It’s peak opaqueness from FromSoft and likely to drive you nuts, but also by this point you shouldn’t expect any less from the developer.

I admittedly wasn’t able to uncover every path or secret during the review period, but can’t wait for the rest of the community to dig in, helping each other with tricky bosses and laying down messages hinting at hidden paths. It’s those little things that makes a FromSoft game so special.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree verdict

How do you improve on a modern masterpiece? In FromSoft’s case, simply add more of the same. The shadow realm will keep Elden Ring completionists satisfied with even more weapons to mix up your playstyle, more fearsome bosses to figure out, and plenty more lore to scratch your head over.

It makes you work hard, both in simply meeting the requirements to unlock the expansion and the grinding required to make the most of the new gear. You might also wish for clearer direction to reach every corner of the map. But series fans will have learned to play by on the developers’ terms, and will find themselves in the same boat as everyone else trying to work out each strategy and secret. By the end, you’ll find yourself slaying more drakes than Kendrick Lamar.