shadow of the erdtree is a beautiful, confident, and absurdly enjoyable expansion to what i consider to already be a practically perfect game. this expansion honestly feels roughly 1/2-2/3 the size of the base game, both in terms of map size, areas, bosses to fight, and the new weapons and armor they’ve added. don’t check my math on that too hard, but the feeling of scope and grandeur you receive from stepping out into the gravesite plans and seeing all of the landmarks and areas enshrouded underneath the scadutree is a promise well kept.
the map design especially is a hilight for me. seeing glimpses of new areas from afar and puzzling your way there through a mix of orienteering, landmarks, and checking every tiny nook and cave leads to such a wonderful feeling of discovery and exploration that rewards curiosity in such meaningful and exciting ways.
as far as the difficulty conversation goes, i really like the addition of the scadutree fragments acting as a seperate level up system that rewards exploration rather than just grinding enemies for runes. in an open world game like elden ring where there are practically infinite places to go to level up and get better gear, it’s refreshing to essentially set everyone to the same level going into the land of shadow. in more linear games such as bloodborne and ds3, it feels good for the dlc to continue the standard end game level curve, especially with the dlc launching relatively soon after release. but two years later, with everyone have a level 150-300 character, i think its a really smart way to curve the difficulty and reward exploration.
the additions to the lore are generally fascinating. there are some things that came as a surprise but make a lot of sense upon further inspection, and there are still a lot of things im trying to wrap my head around, but the new lens we are given for some of the biggest characters and events in the mythos work really well in my eyes and add such cool complexity to what we had already known, plus many new revelations and surprises too. the moment in shaman village in particular is a standout to me.
i don’t want to spoil much of what you’ll see, so all i will say is that the art direction, boss design, dialogue, and everything in between are all top notch. fromsoftware are masters of their craft. i had several moments that gave me goosebumps, had my jaw on the floor, and made me emotional. it does what every great piece of art does and got me to feel things, think critically, and consider everything i had experienced. i think that everyone who plays this will come out the other side with their own unique gameplay stories, perspectives on the narrative, and specific moments and areas that impacted them the most.
fromsoftware has quickly become one of if not my most admired developer in the last several years as i’ve been experiencing their full souls catalog and dipping my toes into armored core with AC6 which was my favorite game of last year. this expansion proves those feelings even further. the unified vision, the precisely tuned mechanics, and the incredible worlds and stories are such a joy to explore and ruminate upon.
so thank you to everyone at fromsoftware for all your tireless work and heart put in to delivering such unspeakably beautiful & inspiring work. no other games come close to capturing the same feelings that your work does. you make me want to make art and be a better person. i absolutely loved shadow of the erdtree & im going to be sitting with it for a while. thank you!
the map design especially is a hilight for me. seeing glimpses of new areas from afar and puzzling your way there through a mix of orienteering, landmarks, and checking every tiny nook and cave leads to such a wonderful feeling of discovery and exploration that rewards curiosity in such meaningful and exciting ways.
as far as the difficulty conversation goes, i really like the addition of the scadutree fragments acting as a seperate level up system that rewards exploration rather than just grinding enemies for runes. in an open world game like elden ring where there are practically infinite places to go to level up and get better gear, it’s refreshing to essentially set everyone to the same level going into the land of shadow. in more linear games such as bloodborne and ds3, it feels good for the dlc to continue the standard end game level curve, especially with the dlc launching relatively soon after release. but two years later, with everyone have a level 150-300 character, i think its a really smart way to curve the difficulty and reward exploration.
the additions to the lore are generally fascinating. there are some things that came as a surprise but make a lot of sense upon further inspection, and there are still a lot of things im trying to wrap my head around, but the new lens we are given for some of the biggest characters and events in the mythos work really well in my eyes and add such cool complexity to what we had already known, plus many new revelations and surprises too. the moment in shaman village in particular is a standout to me.
i don’t want to spoil much of what you’ll see, so all i will say is that the art direction, boss design, dialogue, and everything in between are all top notch. fromsoftware are masters of their craft. i had several moments that gave me goosebumps, had my jaw on the floor, and made me emotional. it does what every great piece of art does and got me to feel things, think critically, and consider everything i had experienced. i think that everyone who plays this will come out the other side with their own unique gameplay stories, perspectives on the narrative, and specific moments and areas that impacted them the most.
fromsoftware has quickly become one of if not my most admired developer in the last several years as i’ve been experiencing their full souls catalog and dipping my toes into armored core with AC6 which was my favorite game of last year. this expansion proves those feelings even further. the unified vision, the precisely tuned mechanics, and the incredible worlds and stories are such a joy to explore and ruminate upon.
so thank you to everyone at fromsoftware for all your tireless work and heart put in to delivering such unspeakably beautiful & inspiring work. no other games come close to capturing the same feelings that your work does. you make me want to make art and be a better person. i absolutely loved shadow of the erdtree & im going to be sitting with it for a while. thank you!