First Impressions: Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

Elden Ring’s ‘Shadow of the Erdtree’ expansion was announced in February 2023 and the trailer finally dropped a year later, with a release date of June 21st, and it set the community ablaze.

The trailer shattered every expectation I had

First impressions are everything, and the trailer shattered every expectation I had. Players will journey to the Land of Shadow guided by the demigod Miquella, who was mentioned only in passing in the original story, though is perhaps the most influential demigod. The trailer featured lots of sweeping vistas of the Land of Shadow, with the imposing Erdtree being constricted by another dark tree. The Creative Director of FromSoftware Hidetaka Miyazaki has said the DLC is around the same size as the beginning area of the base game – however this is coming from the man who said Elden Ring would take 30 hours to finish, with the majority of players sinking in at least 80 hours, so I’m personally taking this claim with a pinch of salt and hoping it is as big as possible.

The trailer features lots of exciting new weapons, spells, monsters, and of course, bosses. My personal favourite was the lion puppeteered by several cloaked figures underneath, reminiscent of Chinese lion dances. But the main draw of the trailer is the brutal Messmer the Impaler, a previously unmentioned child of Queen Marika. As is standard with any game released by FromSoftware, new content always brings with it more questions than it answers, but the collaborative collection and analysis of the lore is one of my favourite aspects of the game. It’s already ignited a wildfire of theory videos and frame-by-frame analyses of the trailer – June cannot come fast enough.

June cannot come fast enough

The expansion is £35, which for any other studio would make me wince in anticipation for my wallet and politely settle for a Youtube playthrough instead. However, FromSoftware’s history of quality with the Dark Souls series and its siblings has me assured that this DLC will completely surpass the already astronomical levels of excitement it has generated.

Watch the trailer for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree here: