The very first thing you see when you enter the realm where Shadow of the Erdtree takes place is a vast, painterly field of long grasses and spectral gravestones. Considering the base game of Elden Ring has an entire dedicated kingdom drenched in blood, disease, and entrails, there’s something almost quaint and disarmingly serene about that moment. At least before you’re attacked in the field by a jittery, dancing puppet with razor-sharp chakrams on all its limbs who can easily kill you in three hits. Now it feels like home again.
For the most part, anyway. Shadow of the Erdtree has players leaving a realm where the omnipresent Erdtree casts a golden, regal light over all things great and small. Setting foot in the Realm of Shadow, on the other hand, puts you in the shade of a dead, wretched corpse of a tree, under the light of an eerie, sickly colored sky. In place of your maiden guide, you have the golden sigils of Miquella, dotting your way to the doorstep of the self-deposed Empyrean god, and the distressing “love” he gifts to those upon his path.
Where the Lands Between were a place of ruined beauty, the Realm of Shadow is a place of tranquil evils. There’s a tone and timbre to Shadow of the Erdtree’s story that’s very new, and distressing, begging more questions than Elden Ring’s prevailing narrative in the Lands Between, and leading to some truly captivating places as players go deeper. But by and large, from a gameplay perspective, it’s enough to say that “it’s more Elden Ring.”
That, though, is a compliment. Shadow of the Erdtree is more about adding a bit of spice to a perfect recipe than a different main course, though the portions will sure have players fooled, as they tack another few dozen hours onto Elden Ring’s already enormous playtime. The Realm of Shadow is massive, and while not as far-reaching as the Lands Between, it’s more dense, intricate, and vertical, with jagged, imposing mountains to scale, cave systems to explore, and a slew of tiny dungeons of varying length, and it will all require you to take multiple leaps of faith.
The Realm of Shadow also isn’t lacking for impressive, unique biomes, though (perhaps thankfully) nothing here is as primally terrifying as Caelid in the base game. Then again, there’s also a village where innocents are butchered and liquified into sentient jars. As always, the terror of a FromSoftware game is always there if you look close enough.
Where the brunt of the creativity has gone is in the new enemies you’ll encounter on your journey. Those include creatures as pathetic as the shadowy wretches seemingly in perpetual pain for having to give their lives for their masters, and beasts as imposing as the gigantic Furnace Giants who wander the more open parts of the countryside—in a recurring, optional fight that comes off like playing Shadow of the Colossus on Hardcore mode.
And, of course, in between are another two dozen or so boss fights. What they all have in common, besides the fascinatingly grim lore governing their very existence, is that they hit hard. As in, even with a build that could take down endgame bosses Malenia, Radagon, or the Elden Beast, it’s easy to run into enemies that slice your health bar in half in two seconds flat.
I personally roll an extremely tanky Vigor/Strength/Defense/Stamina build, and the bosses I took on in the Realm of Shadows basically turned me into a glass cannon, especially since the new enhancement system here, Scadutree Fragments, only raises your attack strength. That’s somewhat balanced by the DLC’s vast new arsenal, which does offer some unique surprises—including a close-quarters, rapid-fire martial arts build, and a dual-magic sword set that provides some much needed magical balance to Strength builds.
All of this is also part and parcel of the same cycle of experimentation, exploration, and constant courageousness that governs the main game, with a hell of a story to guide the way. It’s an extended encore and a haunting final bow for Miyazaki Hidetaka’s magnum opus.
This game was reviewed with code provided by fortyseven communications.
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This is a review that provides almost nothing that a viewing of the story trailer doesn’t already provide. What are the new weapons and weapon classes like? Which were your favorites? How about the new incantations (there are apparently over 40 of them!!!)? Talismans? Sorceries? Is there anything other than the Scadutree fragments that changes how you play? Some of the other reviews allude to their being a lot of “handholding” in the form of baked-in messages. True or not?