Review: Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is grueling but magnificent piece of entertainment

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is truly a magnificent expansion that serves as a worthy wrap-up for one of the greatest video games ever made. It has everything one would want from such an experience - challenging new bosses, a massive interconnected world to explore, new quests, weapons, armour and a sense of mystery and despair at every corner.

The DLC starts once you wipe the floor with Mogh, Lord of Blood and interact with that weird-looking thing behind his arena. One loading screen later and you'll set your eyes on one of the most stunning vistas ever in video games.

A massive Erdtree casting shadow to every corner of this new realm with its dark branches and stunningly long veils, a sprawling meadow just begging for you to hop onto your trusty steed and start treading its tall grass and massive castles occupying high cliffs in the distance. Yeah, the first impression of Shadow of the Erdtree is quite extraordinary, reminding me of some of the finest works of landscape painters like Caspar David Friedrich and John Martin.

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The vistas in Elden Ring are wonderful but I didn't expect anything less from the studio known for impeccable art direction

As I stepped onto this new terrain, an exciting sense of having this largely unknown world to explore went through my body, making me feel like I was playing a brand new From Software game, (technically, it's a DLC), evoking memories of my first time with Dark Souls 1, Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne and obviously, the moment my foot touched the grass of Limgrave. It was all a bit emotional, to be honest.

I summoned Torrent and off we were to see what this 20+ hours adventure had in store for us. And we were not disappointed. Right from the get-go it's pretty clear that Shadow of the Erdtree is something truly special, an experience that aims to overshadow even the base game that we all love and cherish so much.

Everywhere you go you'll find secrets, mysteries and surprises in true From Software fashion. You may think, "Oh this corner of the map will probably be a dead end". Nope, here's a dungeon, a precious item, a gorgeous vista or an unexpected boss fight. In one moment, I found myself exploring a totally optional sewer area in one of the castles, only to stumble upon a stone coffin that looked like one of those classic From Software things where you lay inside and let the game take you wherever it wants. 

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This area called Abyssal Woods had strong horror vibes, emphasizing different gameplay aspects from the rest of the game world

Then there are the new legacy dungeons which are, hands down, my favourite part of the expansion. Even the shorter ones are a joy to explore, reminiscent of From Software's more linear games but the main ones are so well designed that you'll wish the entire game was a legacy dungeon after a legacy dungeon.

Even some of the bigger caves that you randomly stumble upon while exploring are unique with specific vibes and intricate layouts and paths that can suddenly open up a whole new region for you to explore.

Adventurous moments like these are everywhere in Shadow of the Erdtree, which should not be surprising to anyone who played Elden Ring. It's what From Software do and they aren't half bad at it. I was constantly in awe of the regions and how the devs always managed to wow me with their introductions by giving me a sense of actually being on a proper adventure.

I think I had five or six moments that resembled the feeling of seeing Liurnia of the Lakes from the cliffs of Stormveil Castle for the first time or stepping out of the depth of the Catacombs of Carthus to witness the Irithyll of the Boreal Valley in all its glory.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is not comparable to Limgrave in terms of size, despite what Hidetaka Miyazaki says.

Almost every region in the game has its boss or more often bosses, be it completely optional foes or mandatory ones that you have to beat in order to progress the story. 

I'll admit, I wasn't a massive fan of the bosses in Elden Ring - they were good but I felt From Software didn't quite manage to eclipse the spectacular and beloved boss fights found in Dark Souls 3 and its DLC The Ringed City. 

In this segment, Shadow of the Erdtree is better than the base game as it improves with some truly memorable foes that will make you pull your hair and smash controllers if you're a nervy type. The difficulty level is cranked up several notches here, such is the tradition of From's every DLC. But even the studio's absurdly challenging DLCs like Bloodborne's The Old Hunters or the above-mentioned Ringed City are no match for the level of bullshit you're about to experience in Shadow of the Erdtree. 

Massive, almost unavoidable AOE attacks? Check. Lightning fast combos of five, six attacks? Check. Cheap grab moves that take the entirety of your health bar? Check. A wonky camera that sometimes makes it impossible to see what happening on the screen? Double check.

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Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree greatly improves on boss fights with some very challenging foes

The majority of bosses are extremely aggressive to the point you'll have almost no room to catch a breath due to their constant attacks, which will make even simple and quick actions like drinking a potion something that you'll have to plan carefully.

The second phase of one particular boss fight that occurred closer to the end of the DLC, which I won't spoil, was so overwhelming that I spent the entirety of it panic-rolling as the boss pretty much didn't allow me any breathing room with its neverending spam of incredibly absurd combo moves.

Such is the nature of this DLC, so be prepared to have your skills tested like never before in a souls-like game. I really mean that. Luckily, you can make your life in the shadow realm easier by collecting new items called Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ash, which boost the attack power and damage negation of you and your summons, respectively, but only while you're in the DLC area. 

There's a lot of these scattered around the world and I suggest you collect as many as possible before even start thinking about taking on some stronger bosses, otherwise, you'll be obliterated in one, eventually two hits, depending on your Vigor level.

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Classic moment every souls player experienced at least once in their life

But despite being unfair at times, boss fights in Shadow of the Erdtree are something to behold and certainly unlike anything you'll see in any other non-From Software game on the market. When a great boss design, a stunning arena and an epic soundtrack come together, they truly create a spectacle for the eyes and ears that will be carved into your memory forever. 

There's something truly grandiose in these fights that makes you feel like you're there, fighting this incredibly strong creature which is standing on the path towards your goal. 

It's really hard to put in words the feeling of you running towards this screeching monstrosity to deal that death blow while dodging a dozen of its lighting bolts that light up the whole screen while epic heroic orchestral music is banging in the background. Peak gaming moment.

Content is plentiful in Shadow of the Erdtree as I've already briefly mentioned above. The amount of new weapons,  armour and spells is praiseworthy and those who are skilled in creating powerful builds will find Shadow of the Erdtree their favourite new playground. 

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Some of the bosses in Elden Ring will give you a very hard time so better find those Scadutree Fragments to boost your attack and damage negation

Despite the unquestionable appeal of the new toys, I've decided to stick with my Dark Moon Greatsword which was more than enough to obliterate everything Shadow of the Erdtree had in store for me.

I did try a handful of new weapons like some of the new Katanas and new weapon types such as Light Greatswords and found that most of them are now the strongest weapons in the game, which makes sense, given that the DLC is more challenging than the base game.

In terms of performance, Elden Ring leaves a lot to be desired. While I didn't encounter any major issues with the frame rate playing on High settings without ray-tracing, cranking the settings up to Maximum and turning on ray-tracing did affect the performance, resulting in an unstable frame rate to the point where the game was completely unplayable.

A colleague who was playing on PlayStation 5 also noticed constant frame-pacing issues so I can confirm that Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is far from a well-optimised title.

The same issue was also present in the base game and it's certainly a big disappointment that From Software did not address these long-standing performance problems after more than two years since launch. It's a shame that a studio with such a prolific game design and talent to craft beautiful and memorable experiences fails at optimisation across all major platforms. 

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The art direction of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Edtree is second to none

CONCLUSION

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is From Software's finest work yet with best-in-class combat, world design and exploration. Add stunning bosses that eclipse those of the base game and a whole slate of fantastic dungeons, weapons and armour and you have one of the greatest if not the greatest expansion ever made.

From Software have pushed the bar for the open-world RPGs they themselves set two years ago with the release of the base game and I think we'll only witness something as special as this whole package when the studio deliver their next fantasy RPG, be it Dark Souls 4, Elden Ring 2 or something completely new.