This is "just" more Elden Ring but it's turned up to 11, which results in both great and not-so-great things.
In terms of level design, some of Fromsoft's best work is in this DLC. I thought the base game lacked a lot of the tightly designed areas found in their earlier titles but they're back in full force and better than ever. The realm of shadow in general, in my opinion, is better designed than the entirety of the base game's world solely due to the fact that it's smaller and more densely packed. The verticality of SOTE is genuinely impressive and the way the areas connect is jaw-dropping. They're also at their A-game here in terms of art direction. Elden Ring was already a beautiful game but SOTE manages to reach the heights of Bloodborne’s beauty and consistency which is really impressive. Music too, of course, but Fromsoft has never faltered in this area.
It is a shame, then, that they’ve completely lost the plot when it comes to boss design.
Malenia is not only my least favorite boss in the base game but one my least favorite Fromsoft bosses in general, not because of her difficulty but because it felt like she was in the wrong game. I don’t mind aggressive bosses (Bloodborne is my favorite out of all of these games), but she teetered on being unfair (I would even argue that she was) because it felt like she was designed to be put in a game where the main character is twice as fast and nimble as the one in Elden Ring. Ultimately though, she was an optional boss that was there for people that wanted an extra challenge.
Shadow of the Erdtree has not one, not two, not three but nine or ten Malenias. Almost every single major boss in this DLC has combos that go on forever, can jump from one side of the arena to the other in a split second, has large AOE attacks and much more. I genuinely couldn’t even tell what was even happening on screen most of the time because they were just too frantic. This DLC probably has my least favorite set of bosses in any Fromsoft game which is such a shame because everything else is so good.
I’m also not sure how I feel about the Scadutree system. I like it on paper as it allows the developers to kind of reset the player’s progress in a smart way and control the difficulty curve the way they see fit, but the execution is so messy that I honestly feel like they shouldn’t have bothered. They didn’t feel the need to do this for any of their other DLCs and I think it should’ve stayed that way.
In terms of level design, some of Fromsoft's best work is in this DLC. I thought the base game lacked a lot of the tightly designed areas found in their earlier titles but they're back in full force and better than ever. The realm of shadow in general, in my opinion, is better designed than the entirety of the base game's world solely due to the fact that it's smaller and more densely packed. The verticality of SOTE is genuinely impressive and the way the areas connect is jaw-dropping. They're also at their A-game here in terms of art direction. Elden Ring was already a beautiful game but SOTE manages to reach the heights of Bloodborne’s beauty and consistency which is really impressive. Music too, of course, but Fromsoft has never faltered in this area.
It is a shame, then, that they’ve completely lost the plot when it comes to boss design.
Malenia is not only my least favorite boss in the base game but one my least favorite Fromsoft bosses in general, not because of her difficulty but because it felt like she was in the wrong game. I don’t mind aggressive bosses (Bloodborne is my favorite out of all of these games), but she teetered on being unfair (I would even argue that she was) because it felt like she was designed to be put in a game where the main character is twice as fast and nimble as the one in Elden Ring. Ultimately though, she was an optional boss that was there for people that wanted an extra challenge.
Shadow of the Erdtree has not one, not two, not three but nine or ten Malenias. Almost every single major boss in this DLC has combos that go on forever, can jump from one side of the arena to the other in a split second, has large AOE attacks and much more. I genuinely couldn’t even tell what was even happening on screen most of the time because they were just too frantic. This DLC probably has my least favorite set of bosses in any Fromsoft game which is such a shame because everything else is so good.
I’m also not sure how I feel about the Scadutree system. I like it on paper as it allows the developers to kind of reset the player’s progress in a smart way and control the difficulty curve the way they see fit, but the execution is so messy that I honestly feel like they shouldn’t have bothered. They didn’t feel the need to do this for any of their other DLCs and I think it should’ve stayed that way.