Shadow of the Erdtree Is a Microcosm of Elden Ring’s Strengths and Weaknesses

It’s safe to say that Elden Ring has successfully etched itself into gaming history. Selling over 12 million copies in its first month on sale and going on to win multiple awards, Elden Ring has become a staple of many discussions about open world games. The world design is stellar, with each area feeling distinct. In contrast, each area still feels like it is part of the same world, and the construction of the world is such that the game can be as easy or as difficult as the player desires without sacrificing the intensity of FromSoftware’s famous boss design. In truth, Elden Ring is such a quality game and such a tremendous achievement that it is hard to imagine any kind of follow-up, be it an expansion or a direct sequel, being able to meet the expectations set by it. Which is why it’s impressive that Shadow of the Erdtree is as good as it is.

However, Shadow of the Erdtree can also be an uneven experience that sometimes feels tacked onto the main experience of Elden Ring rather than smartly integrated into it. The progression systems of Shadow of the Erdtree feel clunky and the narrative feels both incredibly important to Elden Ring’s narrative while being entirely too disconnected from it to feel consequential.

Shadow of the Erdtree retains Elden Ring’s ability to shock the player with amazing vistas.

In order to access the expansion, the player must have beaten both Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord of Blood – two of the main game’s major yet optional bosses – to access the expansion. As soon as the player accomplishes these tasks, they can enter the Shadow Realm. Stepping out onto the first area, Gravesite Plain, impresses upon the player that while this is the same world as the Lands Between, the Shadow Realm is distinct in a lot of ways. Gravestones litter the entire area, giant flaming monsters roam in the distance, and while the Lands Between is no friendly neighborhood, the Shadow Realm seems particularly out to kill the player. I died a few too many times to an enemy that was placed right at the start of the area, and ended up going in a different direction to avoid it. Almost every area feels littered with enemies, to the point that the player will spend a lot of time either trying to defeat a single enemy or finding ways around them.

Shadow of the Erdtree introduces a new leveling system with its Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes. Scadutree Fragments provide a percentage buff to the player’s damage and reduces damage taken while in the Shadow Realm, while Revered Spirit Ashes do the same for summons, which include both the Spirit Ashes the player can summon against bosses and Torrent, your trusty steed. On its face, this system works well enough. It mitigates the ability for players to roll over the expansion with prebuilt characters while also incentivizing exploration, much in the same way the main game used bosses such as Margit the Fell Omen and the Tree Sentinel to encourage the player to explore the world.

However, it becomes clear that the Scadutree Fragment system is merely a band-aid solution to a larger problem with Elden Ring’s design. The game remains incredibly unbalanced; Shadow of the Erdtree‘s first major boss players are likely to encounter, the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, can range from extremely difficult, to a moderate challenge, and to a complete joke solely based on the player’s build and progression. The Scadutree Fragment system exists to lessen this issue; however in practice the same issues as the base game rear their ugly heads. The Divine Beast Dancing Lion isn’t a required boss, and therefore it can be the last boss the player faces. With their Scadutree Fragments leveled sufficiently for the endgame of the expansion, the player can decimate what was supposed to be a major challenge simply because they chose not to go in a certain direction, and so the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, no matter how well presented or how well designed the boss is, simply becomes a checkbox on a long list of things to do.

Even the ugliness of the Shadow Realm is beautifully presented.

The presentation is on another level in Shadow of the Erdtree. Every area is a marvel to look at, and even the most frightening places maintain that FromSoftware personality. Even some of the new side dungeons, which felt painfully indistinct from one another in the base game, manage to set themselves apart and feel like a fun side challenge rather than a chore. Every single major boss is a feast for the eyes while mostly maintaining visual clarity, and the music doesn’t falter for a second.

Messmer the Impaler, Shadow of the Erdtree’s headline antagonist, stands out as an exceptional boss fight. He’s faster than most bosses while still feeling fair, both his introductory and phase transition cutscenes are incredible, and from a narrative perspective, he thematically mirrors many of the bosses in the base game without his story feeling like a copy and paste. Messmer is an example of everything incredible about this expansion. The legacy dungeon leading up to him is top notch, with so many entrances and exits without feeling convoluted. The fight itself is amazing, and, importantly, Messmer himself feels like a worthy addition to the pantheon of demigods of Elden Ring, slotting in quite nicely without accidentally creating a host of narrative issues.

Some areas in the Shadow Realm are gloomier than the base game.

Where Messmer is an example of the expansions strengths; however, Miquella, Shadow of the Erdtree’s other headline character, can only be an example of the shakiness. Miquella is an incredibly important figure in the base game of Elden Ring, to the point where it’s nearly impossible to find an example where his influence isn’t felt or his story doesn’t intersect with another. Miquella being the focal point of the expansion on its own is a great idea, and is well executed. The reveals are interesting, Miquella is fleshed out impressively and the expansion helps highlight how the world of Elden Ring operates. However, the problem is that none of the events of the expansion feel at all connected to what happens in the base game. While Miquella is responsible for building an entire area in the base game, nobody once mentions it in the expansion. In fact, if Malenia didn’t say it all the time, it would be entirely possible to miss the fact that Miquella is her brother.

This problem is not only felt on the narrative side. In Elden Ring, the player needs to defeat two Shardbearers in order to progress through the narrative, which includes both Radahn and Mohg. This makes it possible to defeat those two bosses before any others, go to the expansion and beat it, and then come back to the base game with every other major boss left to defeat. The only acknowledgment from the game for this is that weapons and items the player picked up in the expansion can be used in the base game, which feels like the bare minimum, but the additional growth systems are wholly ignored. Elden Ring’s bosses and enemies already feel unprepared for the amount of setups and builds that players have access to, so adding even more combat options exacerbates an already existing issue with the base game.

All of that said, while not without its issues, Shadow of the Erdtree remains an undoubtedly incredible experience. From the presentation to the gameplay, FromSoftware is at the top of its game with this expansion. It’s just a shame that the expansion doesn’t make that full connection to the base game because it makes its landing less graceful than it otherwise could have been.