Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree preview — Rise again, Foul Tarnished

Can you believe it’s already been two full years since FromSoftware released their legendary Elden Ring, which subsequently swept the Game Awards 2022 and won Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, and Best Role Playing Game? Well Miyazaki and his team are back with their most ambitious and largest expansion yet, titled Shadow of the Erdtree, which expands on the intricate tapestry of George R.R. Martin and Miyazaki’s storytelling. GamingTrend was lucky enough to attend a closed preview event of this upcoming DLC, and boy did it have us sitting on the edges of our seats, brimming with excitement.

Shadow of the Erdtree is set in the mysterious Realm of Shadow after you are beckoned to follow in the footsteps of the Empyrean Miquella, who was mentioned but never actually showed up in the base Elden Ring. You access the DLC by touching the withered arm sticking out of the giant egg after defeating Mohg, Lord of Blood in the Mohgwyn Palace. Note you must also have defeated Starscourge Radahn before being able to gain entry to the new content, so make sure to do both before the expansion releases!

The closed preview event only allowed me a total of 3 hours to tackle a specific subset of the DLC, including 2 legacy dungeons, an open-world area, as well as multiple side dungeons. Much like how it was with the base game, my 3 hours with the expansion felt like I was simply scratching the surface of a much deeper story. You already know how vague and mysterious the narrative of Elden Ring is, and it’s no different here with Shadow of the Erdtree. Of course, the focus is on Miquella this time, but you’ll encounter new characters, each with their own motives and agendas, and uncover the secrets that lie within these uncharted lands. During my short time, I met Redmane Freyja, who seemed to be related to Radahn as well as Dryleaf Dane, just to name a few.

Where do I even begin? Well first things first, the expansion, at its very core, is simply more Elden Ring. The core mechanics remain the same, with little to no additions aside from finding specific collectibles that boost your stats and Ashes of War while inside the Realm of Shadow only. That being said, there don’t need to be any new mechanics to gameplay given how many new additions there are to pretty much everything else. This includes enemy types, weapons, armor pieces, talismans, Ashes of War, music, and, of course, bosses! The playtest had pre-set classes and loadouts for us to choose from, and had us picking from either Warrior, Knight, or Sorcerer, each starting at level 150. I usually go with a dual wielding Dexterity build, but this time I went with the Unga Bunga Strength build via a 2-handed fire greatsword!

After teleporting from the withered arm into the Realm of Shadows, I was immediately thrust into a beautiful yet dreary open field with bleak pastel colors in the horizon. I definitely wasn’t in the vibrant Lands Between anymore. Instead of taking my time to explore the area, I went straight for the first legacy dungeon, which was a castle of sorts that reminded me a bit of Stormveil. Inside the derelict fortress, I encountered scorpion like enemies as well as human knights that wielded gigantic hammers and shields. Since this is a FromSoftware game, expect enemies pop out from a corner to gank you! Verticality remains a key mechanic among rooftops in legacy dungeons, so be sure to explore every nook and cranny to find that secret loot. The big baddie waiting for you at the end of the line is the Divine Dancing Beast Lion, who you probably saw in the gameplay trailers. Be wary of its elemental switching attacks and you’ll beat it in no time. If you’re struggling, there is an NPC summon for this fight too.

The excellent soundtrack here definitely deserves praise. From the somber melodies that haunt the hallways and fields to the dramatic crescendos of the boss encounters, every piece of music here is simply sublime. This is also not to mention the amount of visual detail that goes into each locale and character. Every main area feels handcrafted and deliberate, which is not something you always see nowadays in games. Of course, many of the optional side dungeons are copy-pasted to some degree, such as the catacombs, but even then, they’re different enough to not feel repetitive.

The second legacy dungeon was a castle or fortress of sorts, which is a bit of a disappointment considering the first one was as well, but I didn’t mind one bit. I won’t dive into too much of the details here but just think Renalla’s domain, with Carrion knights and whatnot. The fight at the end of this dungeon, which also served as the final boss of the preview event, was a tough but spectacular ordeal. Named Rellana, Twin Moon Knight, this badass individual reminded us of a hybrid between Dark Souls 3’s Pontiff Sulyvahn and Dark Souls’ Artorias the Abysswalker. Knowing that you could wear her armor set and her weapons just made this fight that much more satisfying.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I was one of the first to defeat Rellana, and had plenty of time to explore the rest of the preview-specific areas. In the rest of my time, I got to fight the giant fire monsters I saw in the trailers (not to be confused with the Fire Giant boss in the base game), as well as a Ghostflame Dragon that acted as a field boss. I also went hands on with some of the new Ashes of War and weapon types, specifically the hand to hand combat. Called Dryleaf Arts, this fighting style employs both your fists and legs in close quarters martial arts, and is a welcome change to the other melee weapons. What caught my eyes the most in terms of side content was a little dungeon called the Dragon Pit, which featured dragon-like monsters and even an Ancient Dragon Man as the boss, wielding a new type of katana called the Dragon Hunter’s Great Katana. I wasn’t allowed to go through the door after the boss, but you bet that’s where I’m headed first when the DLC launches!

I know everyone is eagerly awaiting to set foot once again in the Lands Between, because I sure am! It’s time to rise once again, Foul Tarnished, and travel to the Realm of Shadow! The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion for Elden Ring releases on June 21st, 2024 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

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