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Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree hollows out everything you loved about Elden Ring, and it’s brilliantThree hours with Elden Ring’s upcoming expansion reveal a jarful of horrible secrets
Three hours with Elden Ring’s upcoming expansion reveal a jarful of horrible secrets
Image credit:Bandai Namco
Image credit:Bandai Namco
If you’reSPOILERsensitive, please do not read this article. Just don’t do it. I’ll be talking about a bunch of stuff that’sSPOILERY. But I’ll obviously try and not betoospoilery for those who’ve decided to keep reading this, and hence, probably aren’t asSPOILERsensitive. Right, onwards.
Life In Jars is this YouTuber I’ve followed for a while. He makes videos that might involve, say, scooping up some puddle water, leaving it in a sealed jar for a while, then coming back to it a few months later. He’ll report on the results, which are often tremendous. Look at theLIFEin that jar! The little wriggly lads just wriggling around. The blobs whose job is to float and squidge indiscriminately. A lovely bit of fauna sloshing about there, like a forest dwelling for those who implement the five-second rule. It’s a reminder that bog water is rather beautiful, actually.
Having spent three hours withElden RingexpansionShadow Of The Erdtree’s opening area, I can’t help but think of Life In Jars. What resides in the shadowy dome of the Big Tree is horrendous! Miserable! The forgotten creatures and their crumbling homes are grim. But oh my word, the shadows have spawned a beautiful disasterpiece. Just, errr, those other jars? The fun guys with thescoopy arms and little legs? Yeah. I have bad news.
Image credit:Bandai Namco
The preview began inMohg’s throne room (I recommend reading ourhow to start the DLC guideif you need a refresher on who this is and why it’s important), staring at a cracked cocoon and a withered arm. A quick word fromLeda, an armoured lady who I’m sure said something like, “Cocoon, cocoon, COCOON, COCOON”, as I then proceeded to touch it.
A quick fade to black and a wander up some steps and blam: the bit from the first Erdtree promo art. Black earth and auburn grass. Spectral gravestones. A fog that extended across a vast plain, drawing your eye upwards towards jagged spires, a bridge, a colossal wickered man with his head aflame. Below, the landscape sank downwards to leaning altars and lakes sandwiched between great columns of earth. The Erdtree rose above it all, weeping a golden sap and wearing a veil of darkness that billowed into the clouds.
In the Land Of Shadow you’ll encounter some very important new things: Crosses, Scadutree Fragments, and Revered Spirit Ashes. Crosses are said to be “the steps of Miquella” and Maggot Face in the header image wants you to find as many as you can, handing you inspectable maps with their locations. They seem to act as beacons to draw you places and seemingly, to find Scadutree Fragments. These fragments are optional consumables at Graces (like shards to increase your flask potency) that buff your stats. Revered Spirit Ashes are essentially the same as the Fragments, but just buff your summonable pals. |Image credit:Bandai Namco
Image credit:Bandai Namco
Image credit:Bandai Namco
Having fought off mummified creatures who sprouted insectoid wings, lanky shades with cleavers, and spinny lads who danced with circular saws, I reached my first major fog door. Someone’s Bristolian nan called me a “strumpet” from the shadows as they then roused a slumbering, horned beast that looked like an evil version of those mythical Chinese lions (was this the beast these people revered?). And like a skilled lion dancer, the nan puppeteered the beast so it twisted and whirled through the air, making it both a spectacle and a nightmare to read its attacks. I won’t spoil much more, but I will say that it was very much in its, ahem, element.
I managed to defeat the beast after some emotional toil and with the help of some bear claws, an Erdtree-exclusive strength weapon that lets you mimic the attacks of a raging ball of fluff. Go two-handed and it’s glorious, launching you into the fray with downward strikes and a flurry of swipes that bleed into one another. But just be wary of hitting that attack button too rapidly, as overeager strikes can lock you into a string of animations you won’t be able to break free from.
After my fight with the lion, I scoured more of the Graveyard Plains, finding myself lost in a mine where lava flowed and stone sentries guarded precious crafting materials. At one point I lowered an enormous pipe that let me cross a pool of lava, which then led to a massive anvil. Inside the anvil? A new colossal warhammer that was basically like carrying said anvil on a big stick.
Thinking I should investigate the foggy depths of the plains, I walked straight into a slumbering skeletal ghost dragon in a lake and proceeded to club it to death with my big hammer. Following this, I realised that my time with the preview was running out. There were plenty more ridges and pathways I could see but couldn’t quite figure out how to get to, so I made a beeline for the menacing castle I mentioned earlier - Castle Ensis.
Now, the route to Castle Ensis is typical of Elden Ring: a grand drawbridge where you stare down the barrel of a guy on a massive ballista. Cross the bridge unscathed and you’ll encounter Messmer’s legion, who have set up tents on either side, all ripe for looting if you can survive the towering black knights standing guard. Being on the clock, I decided to sprint past instead and see as much of the castle as possible. The castle itself felt very different to Belurat, like Stormveil going through an emo phase - dense with alternate routes and dark passageways.
Strength was mainly me for the demo, as I adopted the Edders Build: A honking great hammer and a honking greatsword (both Erdtree-exclusive, too). I also tried out some Dexterity-based fists that turned me into a martial artist, capable of stunlocking enemies with spinny kicks and quick strikes. They were great for mobs but lacked bite for boss fights. |Image credit:Bandai Namco
It’s too early to say for sure, but I do think there’s a little of Dark Souls 2’s almost level-based world design to Shadow Of The Erdtree: I felt like I bounced between a number of unpredictable, contained universes. Especially towards the end of my travelogue, where I went from Belurat’s South Asian influence, to a traditional murky castle, to themes of lava and dragons. Dark Souls 2 has a similar spirit, with little in the way of cohesion between areas and a need to carve out colour from the gloom. The Land Of Shadow is more cohesive but similarly playful in how it joins together concepts, while also surprising returning players with new themes and new weirdos, not least those horrible, horrible proto-jars.
Oh, and thatEurogamer interviewMiyazaki gave about the Lands Of Shadow being “larger even than Limgrave in the base game”?. In my preview I wasn’t allowed past certain bounds, but I am dead certain Miyazaki’s vastly underselling Shadow Of The Erdtree’s size. I think we’re in for a large one but, crucially, one that probably doesn’t play it as safe as you might think. Much like those pots of abberrant bogwater I mentioned in the intro, it’s a spawning ground for a whole new species of Elden Ring.
