Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

It’s a magnificent piece of art, and does exactly what a DLC should do: accents the main game without feeling out of balance with the original’s level of flash, flair and creativity...The characters, landscapes and goals are all impactful in the right way, and truly there’s no other DLC in recent memory that has captured that essence. Devotees of Elden Ring will adore it, and who knows: maybe it will be just the right incentive for folks who haven’t finished the main game to get their characters into gear.

Shadow of the Erdtree is a fitting tribute to Elden Ring and a stunning finale that manages to surprise and shock us all over again. Those who enjoyed the base game will find much more to get their teeth into. This signs off the Elden Ring chapter of FromSoftware’s journey so conclusively and impressively, that it invokes questions about how they will ever top it again.

Shadow of the Tree is a real game in its own right, generous, powerful, with almost perfect execution. It manages to completely separate itself from Elden Ring, with an identity of its own and an extremely careful atmosphere. Despite a somewhat "light" ending and a slight imbalance in terms of bosses, we emerge from this adventure with a feeling of exhilaration specific to great journeys. Yet another monument to be added to the long list of From Software masterpieces, a delight of incredible violence, a definitely enchanting journey. Masterful!

An expansion as complex as Shadow of the Erdtree has no real right to be labeled as a traditional DLC. Two-year long development cycle has spawned another story rich soulslike adventure across the Lands Between, or rather its shadowy counterpart. It is a world truly deprived of grace that unfortunately suffers from a few technical issues too, but it never fails to just simply awe. Prepare to face the hardest From Software bosses to date, explore the most vertically varied biodiverse world and prepare yourself to feel through the sounds of the Shadow Realm.

Shadow of the Edrtree expansion transported me back to Elden Ring in a surprising and nostalgic way. Two years later the game is still fresh as it's ever been - with unique pacing, artistic style and sense of progression. And if you ever stumble upon some annoying sections, you can always count on your fellow Mimic Tear friend.

Shadow Of The Erdtree Is FromSoftware's Victory Lap.

By doubling down on what made the base game so sublime, FromSoftware has crafted an Elden Ring expansion that's just as great as it is familiar. Shadow of the Erdtree delivers more of the same style of content you loved two years ago rather than introducing new ways to engage. That's enough to consider it a fantastic expansion, though it's hard not to feel like you're just going through the motions again. With a new land to explore, a fresh set of bosses to fight, and extra lore to consume, it's so much more Elden Ring.

All the highs of the main game that go even further with new quests, combat, and even more stunning bosses. The smaller maps makes the DLC so much tighter than the main game and the dungeons feel much more rewarding compared to the base game.

Somehow the open world is even worse than the base game, with entire areas that are completely useless or empty. The new bosses are cool in terms of design but only a few of them offer actually enjoyable and memorable fights. Also I finished the whole dlc in like 15 hours while completing the major NPCs quest lines and gathering all shadow tree fragments so it really shouldn't have been advertised as a 40+ hours expantion, but to be fair the base game was also set to be somewhat around 100+ hours long for all content and I finished it in half that time so I guess I shouldn't be surprised

On the surface its great just as great as elden ring itself, but if you take a deeper look into it you'll realize most of the map is vast but empty devoid of any loot or enemy. The main bosses also feel less effort put into than the main game.

The DLC does not match the quality of the base game at all, given the wonky level scaling and the most tedious and unfair boss design ever seen in a Souls game.

I've played plenty of other Souls games, and this is the first time I've been genuinely disappointed. I was wary about getting it prior to release (mainly because of the price tag), but after seeing that people thought it was worth it, I finally bit the bullet. I wish I didn't. The whole map is too winding and confusing, with basically nothing in it. New weapons I found were worthless or unable to be used with my build (I guess we're all big fans of INT+FTH in this DLC, huh), bosses felt uninspired or just the same unbalanced junk that has plagued FS games forever (i.e. big enemy that hops around in large room), even mini dungeons with no bosses at the end. My build used a lot of Vigor and heavy armour, plus a shield; I still got melted in two hits by most things. After some hours it started to feel like a chore and I just wasn't having fun anymore. I like hard games, I like challenging myself. This doesn't feel like that. Couldn't even be bothered to finish it. I loved the base game and played it a few times. That won't be happening with this. Wish I'd spent the $50 on something else.