Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Defeated The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine. FromSoftware’s Historic Result

Source: Bandai Namco

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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree will be released tomorrow. While it's only an expansion, it will definitely be one of the key premieres of this year. Numerous reviews have already appeared online, and they are so positive that the title has surpassed Blood and Wine for The Witcher 3, making it the highest-rated expansion in history.

1. At the time of writing this message, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has an average rating of 94% according to Opencritic. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine has achieved a score of 92%.
2. For this comparison, we used the OpenCritic service, because it collects reviews from all platforms into one average score. Meanwhile, Metacritic evaluates each platform individually, and on the PlayStation 5, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has an average rating of 95%. The PC release has the lowest score at "just" 92%, whereas the Xbox Series X/S edition can proudly display an average of 94%.
3. In the case of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine, according to Metacritic, the PC version has a score of 92%, PS4 - 91%, and XONE - 94%. So as you can see, Geralt's last adventure loses to Shadow of the Erdtree only because its PlayStation release was rated worse than the Elden Ring DLC for PS5.
4. Shadow of the Erdtree is, of course, also the highest-rated add-on by FromSoftware, but it's worth taking a look at how big the difference is here compared to other DLCs from this team. Until now, the record holder was Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss (89% on Xbox 360), and in second place was Bloodborne: The Old Hunters (87% on PS4). Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree marks a substantial improvement in quality compared to the FromSoftware's previous expansions.

Compilation of the highest rated DLCs for FromSoftware games according to Metacritic. Photo source: GermanStrands on X.

Let's remind that Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree will debut tomorrow evening on PC. The game will be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PlayStation 5 consoles the day after tomorrow.

Among the reviewers delighted with Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree was our editor, who gave the expansion a score of 9/10. At Gamepressure, however, FromSoftware couldn't match Geralt's last adventure, as The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine expansion received 10/10 from us.

1. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Review - Gem Hidden Under the Veil
2. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree on Steam

Big month for DLCs

As an interesting fact, it's worth mentioning that this month is full of expansions. Two weeks ago, the DLC Destiny 2: The Final Shape was released, which has an average rating of 92%, classifying this game as one of the best expansions in history.

This month also saw the release of other warmly received additions, such as Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun - Forges of Corruption, The Talos Principle 2: Road to Elysium, Alan Wake 2: Night Springs, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - A Dance of Masks, Age of Wonders 4: Eldritch Realms, Starship Troopers: Terran Command - Urban Onslaught, and still awaiting release are Goat Simulator 3: Multiverse of Nonsense, X4: Timelines, and Victoria 3: Sphere of Influence.