Elden Ring's DLC Conceals Deceptive Truths

Now that Shadow of the Erdtree, the DLC ofElden Ring, is available, it can be said that FromSoftware lied about it. And, on several points.

FromSoftware lied about Shadow of the Erdtree, the first and only expansion forElden Ring. But this is not necessarily negative, quite the contrary. It turns out that the DLC, sold for €40 (which requires the base game), is much more massive than what the Japanese studio claimed. Hidetaka Miyazaki, the game's director, has minimized the content, which makes the surprise all the more impactful for players eager to explore.

Before the launch ofElden Ring: Shadow of the ErdtreeHidetaka Miyazaki indicated for example that there would be “ a dozen bosses » to fight. After playing between 15 and 20 hours of DLC, I can confirm that there are actually several dozen (78, a priori). In the game, an enemy is considered a boss when its health bar appears at the bottom of the screen — but perhaps that person was only talking about major enemies. Either way, adversity is great in Shadow of the Erdtree.

Elden Ring map // Source: PS5 Capture — Necrolimb is the first zone of Elden Ring. // Source: PS5 Capture

The DLC mapElden Ring is huge

Another lie from Hidetaka Miyazaki: he often compared the size of the Shadow Realm (the region introduced by Shadow of the Erdtree) to the very first area of the base game (titled Necrolimbe). The Realm of Shadows actually turns out to be much larger. This is indicated, for example, by the specialized Twitter account, Elden Ring News, in a capture published on June 22.

Another user, GilliamYaeger, had fun superimposing the two maps — the one from the base game and the one from the DLC — by sharing the astonishing result on Reddit. First point: we realize that the Kingdom of Shadows fits rather well into the Between-Earth (at least in certain places). Second point: we can better compare the Kingdom of Shadows and Necrolimbe, which invalidates Hidetaka Miyazaki's words.

We will also recall that FromSoftware has worked extensively on density and verticality in the Kingdom of Shadows, with several areas made up of layers of scenery to explore. This point further supports the variety and immensity of the places. In comparison, Necrolimbe is much more simplistic in its architecture. The Kingdom of Shadows is thus full of secrets and hidden passages.

On the other hand, there is one thing that FromSoftware has not lied about: the difficulty. So much so that several players are speaking out to complain about it. The developers have already taken a first step by rebalancing the new progression elements, while there are mods to lower the challenge (on the PC version only).