Summary
Elden Ring’s second anniversary is fast approaching, and many are hoping that the date, 25 February, will reveal concrete details about the DLC and its release date. The expansion, titledShadow of the Erdtree, has been shrouded in mysterysince its initial reveal last year, with just a single image and a title to go by so far. When the DLC eventually drops, developer FromSoftware will need to try and ensure it is as accessible as possible for players who may be at totally different points in their journeys through the Lands Between.
If the past is anything to go by, FromSoftware usually saves its absolute best work for its expansions.DLCs such asBloodborne’s The Old HuntersandDark Souls' Artorias of the Abyss contain some of the finest enemies and areas those respective games have to offer. This bodes extremely well for Shadow of the Erdtree, and if the quality is on par with the base game, it should indeed be something special that’s well worth waiting for.
Gap Between Launch and DLC Release
9 months
4 months
7 months
8 months
24 months+
?
Even if Shadow of the Erdtree is released this February—which is far from certain given the lack of substantial information to date—it will still betwo whole years sinceElden Ringlaunched. This represents a substantially larger gap between dates than any of the other Soulsborne expansions, and it brings with it a pretty big problem for FromSoftware to try and fix.
Attempting to determine where in the story this DLC will take place, and as a consequence, how early into playthrough players can access it, will be fundamental to the expansion’s overall accessibility.
FromSoftware’s Soulsborne series is notoriousfor being one of the toughest collections of games ever made. Their brutal difficulty, steep learning curve, and distinct lack of hand-holding mean that players must work hard to overcome them. This is certainly true forElden Ring, which, despite several ways players can make the challenge slightly easier, still demands a high level of skill to see it through to completion. Typically, players build momentum by playing regularly and gain experience by repeatedly using the game’s mechanics.
Elden Ring’s Player Base Covers a Large Skill Set
The two-year gap betweenElden Ring’s release and Shadow of the Erdtree means that unless they’ve been regularly returning to the game every few months (which is possible, given its immense replayability), a proportion of players will have developed a degree of rustiness when they first pick it back up. They’ll need to shake the cobwebs off, and if, like many of FromSoftware’s other expansions, this DLC is placed at a mid or late point in the story, players will need to either start a playthrough fresh, which is a big commitment given the game’s size, or be lucky enough to already be at the correct point.Elden Ringdoesn’t allow the luxury of multiple save slotswith the same character, so this is unlikely.
One option, which seems feasible considering the DLC’s alleged size, is that Shadow of the Erdtree could be a standalone expansion that can be played separately from the main game. This would fix the above issues, but wouldn’t track withFromSoftware’s usual formula. Either way, it will be interesting to see exactly how the Japanese developer tackles this issue.
Elden Ring
WHERE TO PLAY
ELDEN RING, developed by FromSoftware, Inc. and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set within a world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin. Danger and discovery lurk around every corner in FromSoftware’s largest game to date. Hidetaka Miyazaki - President and Game Director of FromSoftware Inc. Known for directing critically-acclaimed games in beloved franchises including Armored Core and Dark Souls.George R.R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire - A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows, and A Dance with Dragons. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with the lovely Parris in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
