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.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is absolutely worth the cost of its significantly difficult entry point. When exploring the vast reaches of the Shadow Realm, it is impossible to deny how FromSoftware managed to capitalize on Elden Ring‘s immense thrill of discovery and challenge. Shadow of the Erdtree is a full expansion of the masterful vision that represents the culmination of the developer’s work, one that raises the standard even higher, one that feels unimaginable to best. But if there’s studio that can do it, it’s the one who made Elden Ring.
tldr if you dont want to read the whole thing 9.7 out of 10 def buy right now if you even enjoyed elden a litte bit
big spoiler from now dont read if not yet played pls
the good
frist playtrough liked a lot even did a rl1 buz it was just a materpiece haveplayed all fromsoftware dlcs this is def the best one few attacks are a litle bs but mostly pretty great tbh the story expands on main game and makes a 10/10 story even better
the bad - double swipe on radahn is really bs but i fought radahn for about 45 hours on rl1 and liked all of it the needle night leta fight is fine but if you are going for no summons its bad bad i know you are supposed to summon and i did but that kinda breaks the run a little great lore tho another thing on this topic i did a all quest/boss run and some quest are not completable if you dont summon npc so that again breaks no summon runs there was no reason to do this all base game quests can be completed without npc summons i means its a good option but making it necessary is very bad
rating
gamplay - 10
exploration -9[ will be a 10 but this is by elden ring standerds]
bosses -10[people hate on jori i think its fine could have been better but could have been worse to]
lore 10/10
overall 9.7 really nice dlc this is just me finding reasons to criticize they are not a big deal at all on your normal or first playtrough
SIMPLY PERFECT, the MOST epic boss fights in all games, Bayle the dread the goat of the dragons battle, and the history is genially talled Per Through the description of items and dialogues, A MASTER PIECE
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!
Beware a big bump in difficulty, but Shadow of the Erdtree is a must-play for Elden Ring-fans. It improves on the base game in every way. The new Lands of Shadow are beautiful and a joy to explore, there are a lot of exciting new weapons and spells to find, and the new boss fights are absolutely epic.
This is a jewel of a response, one that catches the firelight in different ways depending on how you approach it, but always dazzles. [Issue#400, p.102]
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.
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.
I'm not particularly pleased with SotE, although objectively it is one of the best releases of the year. FromSoftware is one of the best studios in history and Elden Ring in particular was able to showcase this, despite the minor criticisms of the main game! My problem with SotE is simply that I expected a DLC like The Old Hunters, a flawless masterpiece for a game like Elden Ring and these expectations were not met in any way. The bosses have too little character (e.g. cutscenes) and are often poorly animated/designed, as are the weapons, for example. Only a few bosses like Bayle, Midra, Dancing Lion or Messmer meet the huge expectations of a FromSoftware Elden Ring DLC, although I'm sure that the fault lies with Sony, a company that ultimately cannot compete with a studio like FromSoftware, which makes an extreme effort to stand out through quality, as we already had with Dark Souls! So why the good rating? To counteract the extremely subjective, unfair evaluations of frustrated people! I am sure that FromSoftware is not the only one to blame for the problems of SotE, which objectively are not as serious as they are described!
The world and enemies design is on par with the Elden Ring standards, but the story and quests are lacking. Many quirks of ER could be forgiven few years ago, but the game is not aging well. I think the lore, main quest line and the final boss needed more work. Otherwise it's a solid DLC.
The DLC starts out well enough but that excitement slowly whimpers out and dies. The bosses aren’t all that fun to fight and it has little to do with artificial difficulty or the fragment system. So many of them just feel so uninspired or copies of previous bosses we’ve seen in the past. The locations are pretty albeit empty and devoid of anything interesting enough to justify exploration. The world map doesn’t help either, the current system not supporting areas with multiple layers of verticality. So many areas and bosses feel like they have so much to offer at first but are often shallow and making you wish for it to just be over already.
They've butchered the storyline, it reminds of Got's last season. I wanted to have a well hidden story, like in the other titles from this studio. Compared to base game it just feels unfinished. I love the level design and some bosses, but everything else is just blank, 0 flavor, no meat just bones. Last boss is such a disappointment. Would not play it again, and I have 600hs in the base game. Be better Miyazaki-Sama, you're the chosen one.
Please, just a remake of Bloodborne.
Don't touch Bloodborne otherwise.
We (and by "we" I mean "I" ) don't need a Bloodborne 2 with the current design direction.
Great world building. Great artistic direction.
Extremely unfun bosses, copypasted general characteristics with just the animations to differentiate one from another.
The description "High Health, High Damage, Immune to stagger, Huge posture bars, long combos, constant aoe attacks, very little windup animations OR extremely delayed attacks (no middle ground ) , attacking through blinding effects" applies to a great number of them. I could be literally describing any one of more than ten bosses. You are replaying the same idea over and over and over, and only differentiate animations.
Please, please, never return to Bloodborne. Just a remake of the original masterpiece will suffice.
SummaryRise, Tarnished, and let us walk a new path together.
An upcoming expansion for ELDEN RING, Shadow of the Erdtree, is currently in development.
We hope you look forward to new adventures in the Lands Between.