Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Shadow of the Erdtree is a story expansion for Elden Ring - an action RPG from 2022. The add-on was developed by the Japanese studio FromSoftware, the authors of the base title. The project was headed by Hidetaka Miyazaki - the father of the Souls series and the soulslike subgenre.

Plot

Shadow of the Erdtree takes the player beyond the Lands Between known from Elden Ring. This time we visit the Shadow Realm, a place directly related to death, obscured by the Golden Tree, which is the ultimate goal of the "base game", "cleansed in a forgotten battle" and "burned by Messmer's fire". It was right here that the goddess Marika first set foot when she left her homeland, the world of Numens. Miquella - a demigod, the eternally childlike son of Marika and Radagon, and brother of Malenia, also went to this area hidden under a huge veil. His presence literally permeates the Lands Between, even though his spirit has left this realm.

Only the body, the cocoon, was left, which was stolen from the Holy Tree of Miquella by Mohga, who desired to elevate its owner to divinity, and then marry them. However, this goal could not be achieved because Miquella's body did not respond. Nonetheless, this is done within the Shadow of the Erdtree add-on, when the player interacts with it in Mohgwyn's palace, which requires the prior defeat of Mohg, Lord of Blood, and Starscourge Radahn.

Following "Miquella's path", we discover why the demigod went to the Shadow Realm, as well as his role in his plan. At the same time, we learn about the history of this region and the importance it plays for the Lands Between and the Crucible, as well as delve into the history of the aforementioned Messmer the Impaler. Importantly, the events in which we participate in Shadow of the Erdtree take place parallel to those from Elden Ring. They're not in the past or in the future - and they have no bearing on the plot of the base game as such, including its ending.

Map

The Shadow Realm is an unexpectedly vast and - unlike the Lands Between - very vertical area. The player begins the adventure in the Gravesite Plain and then travels to four other regions. These are: Southern Shore (its edge is often mentioned in the "base game" as the Cerulean Coast), Scadu Altus, Ancient Ruins of Rauh and The Abyss which a great gorge, "in whose depths extends a dense forest, to which even sunlight does not reach".

Gameplay

In terms of gameplay Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree does not differ significantly from what the "base game" offers. The player embodies a self-created protagonist and explores vast, open areas, side dungeons (so-called catacombs) and highly complex main locations, fighting with "ordinary" enemies and powerful bosses. Every defeated enemy provides the hero with runes, which serve as both currency and experience points.

Bosses

In Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree we can encounter over 40 bosses (the base game gave us 168 of them). The vast majority of them are optional. There are only a dozen or so strictly plot-related "bosses". Following the main storyline of the expansion we can participate in spectacular boss battles with such enemies as Divine Beast Dancing Lion, Rellana Twin Moon Knight and the aforementioned Messmer the Impaler.

New weapons

In addition to the Shadow Realm and its secrets, the expansion offers new items such as: equipment (armor, talismans, etc.), spells, incantations, spirit ashes (allowing us to summon allies), ashes of war (which impose additional effects on equipment) or crystal tears (as a reward for defeating burning golems). The FromSoftware studio focused especially on weapons, introducing eight types of weapons that were not available in the base game. In total there are as many as 39, and the new ones are:

1. great katanas - significantly larger in size than their "regular" counterparts, they effectively keep enemies at a distance, but are slower to knock them off balance;
2. light greatswords - combining the size of traditional greatswords with the elegance and speed of using smaller weapons;
3. reverse-hand swords - weapons held with the blade down, allowing for longer dodges and leaps in various directions;
4. throwing weapon - daggers, axes etc. recovered immediately after the throw;
5. thrusting shields - they can be used to attack thanks to the spikes covering their surface;
6. perfume bottles - they can contain poisonous, sedative gases etc. allowing them to be sprayed at a short distance;
7. beast claws - seemingly similar to the "ordinary" claws from Elden Ring, but they offer much more acrobatic attack sets (like perfume bottles, they can be used in one hand - holding another weapon or shield in the other - or in both, even though they occupy a single slot in the inventory);
8. hand-to-hand - gloves that allow for combat using martial arts, similar to bony fists from the Crown of the Ivory King expansion to Dark Souls 2.

New ways of improving character

Scadutree Blessing

To make the challenge more difficult for players - the DLC can be started with a very powerful character - in Shadow of the Erdtree Scadutree Blessings were introduced. This is a mechanic that scales the attack power and defensive statistics of the protagonist regardless of the value of his basic attributes (vigour, endurance, strength, etc.) - although these can still be increased thanks to the runes acquired. It reminds of the mechanic known from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, where the character's attack power increased with the acquisition of memories of defeated bosses. Importantly, this mechanic only affects the expansion. After returning to the Lands Between - which is possible at any moment of the game - the hero's strength upon return depends solely on their basic statistics.

Scadutree Fragments are used to increase the level of the Scadutree Blessing. They can be found at every Miquella Cross and in various nooks of the Shadow Realm (also in dungeons), and can also be obtained after defeating certain enemies. There are 50 of them in total, but only the first level of Blessing requires the use of one Fragment - to advance to the next level, in the site of grace, we need to use two, and later even three fragments.

Revered Spirit Ash Blessing

An additional reinforcement in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is the Revered Spirit Ash Blessing. Technically, this mechanic works identically to the one described above, except that Revered Spirit Ashes are needed (there are 25 of them in the entire DLC), and the health points of the spirits summoned by the player are increased along with the damage they can deal. Importantly, with each level of this Blessing, the health bar of Torrent, the protagonist's astral mount, also extends.

Technical aspects

Shadow of the Erdtree is not a standalone add-on. This means that in order to play it, we must own the base version of Elden Ring.