When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Heres how it works.
The first and lastElden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, is exactly what I wanted.
It’s what I imagine most everyone wanted.
It is Elden Ring made new again.
It is literally and figuratively transportive.
Summer Games PreviewWe are diving deep into the hottest upcoming games out of Summer Game Fest.
To find all of our coverage, visitGamesRadar’s What’s Hot 2024 hub.
This being a DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree very obviously adds more content.
It delights in screwing with you.
It has branching paths that lead to branching paths that lead to branching paths.
It hasgod awfulbirds that would like to nest inside your esophagus, kindly.Great.
Yeah, they’re just walking around.
But this is late-game content, and boy does it feel like it.
There’s a special flamberge with aridiculouslylong fire thrust that comes with its own enchantment.
Similarly, new claws let you leap around with bestial flourish.
Normal-looking spears and axes hide game-changing ranged attacks.
One dagger has a throwing knife as a guard counter.
Spiked dueling shields turn the best defense into a respectable offense.
I cannot wait to take them back into the Lands Between to bully some bosses.
FromSoftware wasn’t kidding when it said the new weapons are a central draw.
A small, slow-moving wisp of holy light that becomes a 10-foot explosion on contact.
A miniature black hole that corrals enemies and then ruptures.
Sprint toward enemies with fistfuls of gunpowder and chuck fireworks right up their nose.
Which is, of course, also terrific news.
It goes without saying that I died a lot.
I’d be worried if I hadn’t.
Imagine an extended version of the main game’s final four bosses.
This was in the final 10 minutes of my session, and frankly I welcomed the familiar fight.
Flasks empty, hands shaking, the boss stubbornly rallying at 10% HP after yet another phase shift.
Justdiefor god’s sake.
You finally get the win with a ballsy charge attack that by rights should’ve gotten you killed.
Close enough for jazz.Man.
Nobody does this like FromSoftware, and this is some of the studio’s best work.
In three hours, Shadow of the Erdtree rekindled my appetite for Elden Ring.
It’s demonstrably larger than the DLCs for the likes of Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne.
For all intents and purposes, it almost feels like a new, small FromSoftware game is coming out.
Shadow of the Erdtree will inevitably be a lot shorter, sure, but possibly even sweeter.
