Fellow Tarnished, take a seat as I’d like to present you my final verdict on Shadow of the Erdtree. Maybe you remember the initial DLC review (Shadow of the Erdtree: Where Beauty Meets Brutal Difficulty), where I had given you my first enthusiastic impressions about the DLC, after I had strolled around for some hours, fought some enemies and died a couple of times. Now, after finishing the DLC and collecting all the things I had missed, I still like it a lot and by a lot, I mean a lot. Nevertheless there are some aspects where they missed out on the full potential and I’d like to share with you what I noticed.
Lonely Landscapes
There are some areas, that are vast, but more or less empty. Thus, if you enjoy solitude the following regions should be to your taste.
Hinterlands and Finger Ruins of Rhia
Let’s take a look at the “finger-areas” where your main task is ringing a bell, by blowing a finger – I know that sounds weird, but it is, what it is. Except for these finger worms (Lampreys), that try to suck out your brain and some hands (Fingercreepers) in various sizes, there’s actually nothing there. I mean they could have given us some loot or a tiny little dungeon after all to spice up the game experience in these regions. Imagine you could smash one of those really big fingers and that opens up the entry to an underground dungeon. I would have been flabbergasted, but yeah, it’s just my fantasy going wild.
Abyssal Woods
If you take a look at the Abyssal Woods (the area with the winter lanterns), where Torrent refuses to appear, it goes into a similar direction. At least you can train your parry skills, collect a talisman and some other stuff, but overall I think they could have put more into this area as well. Maybe that’s the curse of the good deed, as the base game has spoiled us with such a density of experiences, that we expected no less from the DLC.
Midra’s Manse
One more thing to add to this list is Midra’s Manse (not to be confused with the Playboy Mansion – ok, that was a bad one). Don’t get me wrong, the boss fight is spectacular, even though the arena is a little small for the AoE damage the guy is able to cause. But tell me, is that the size of a legacy dungeon you would expect, when you stand outside and in front of this huge structure? It feels as if we were just exploring the pantry and then it was over again.
This huge building promised way more than it actually delivered or am I wrong? I expected something like Stormveil Castle and the game delivered the village of the Albinaurics. At least it feels as if they wasted quite some potential or ran out of time as the release date drew closer with high speed.
Dungeon Design
Overall, the dungeon design in Shadow of the Erdtree maintains the high standards set by the base game, offering intricate layouts, challenging encounters, and rewarding exploration. Shadow Keep and Specimen Storehouse for instance have a great design and bear good complexity with lots of stuff to discover and enemies to fight. They really stand out for their density and diversity of elements. You have multiple entrances and exits, hidden paths, illusory walls, looping shortcuts, puzzles and platforming sections. There really is not much more, that you can ask for. I mean it was a ping pong between the first and the sixth floor, if you know what I mean, going up and down and outside and climbing and and and…
Whereas Castle Ensis and even Enir-Ilim are also nicely designed, but somewhat lack in complexity if compared with a base game dungeon like Raya Lucaria Academy. On the other hand, if you always eat caviar, it can get boring with time. So, maybe the inclusion of both large Legacy Dungeons and smaller, optional areas provides a diverse range of experiences for us players to discover.
Another great dungeon in my opinion is the Scorpion River Catacombs, an optional dungeon located in the Rauh Ruins region. It has it all: challenging enemies, intricate layout and valuable loot. You will encounter spike traps, Deathblight eyes and ambushes from hidden enemies (as always). A plethora of enemies, including Stone Imps, Bigmouth Imps, Undead Spellcasters and Messmer Soldiers awaits you.
Yes, there are lot of cool places in SOTE and still, we would have liked to get more. How greedy we are…
Weapons reloaded
Did you try out all the new weapons? They gave us eight new categories and around 100 new weapons in total, so that’s a nice amount of new toys to play with.
How do these death-bringers compare to their base game counterparts? Let me answer this question by asking further questions: What weapons did you use in your DLC playthrough? Did you rely on your trusty base game weapon or did you eagerly switch to the new arms? Well, I really wanted to use something new and whenever I discovered a new piece, I would level it up to +9/+24 and gave it a try. However, I often returned to making an effort with the Blasphemous Blade, when everything else just didn’t seem to work – it’s still the master of disaster to most enemies.
SOTE Weaponry under the magnifying glass
Let me chat a little out of the box, about some of the weapons, that I was fond of and about my own DLC exploration as well.
A Short List
We will barely scratch the surface, but let me at least introduce some of the better DLC weapons:
- I really liked the Dragon-Hunter’s Great Katana whenever there was a dragon involved (including Bayle The Dread) – brought it back to the base game and finished off Dragonlord Placidusax relatively easy.
- The Bloodfiend’s Arm a.k.a the Chicken Leg is a real stance breaking machine with its combination of high physical damage and blood loss effect. Combine it with the right ash of war (I tried Endure and Prayerful Strike with good results) and it will get you through big parts of the DLC, even though it is a rather slow hitting weapon.
- Then there is the Fire Knight’s Greatsword, all over praised for its damage output, versatility and unique fire-enhancing properties – and yes, I concur. Slam Flame Spear on it and you have a very strong weapon for a strength or faith build with Flame Art affinity.
- If you prefer heavy weaponry than you should take a look at the Anvil Hammer. It’s a powerful and enjoyable weapon that stands out among the new arms. In addition it gives you a tool for crowd control with the weapon skill Smithing Art Spears.
- There is one more item that I’d like to talk about and I have to admit, I have a crush on the Smithscript Shield. Yes, it’s a shield, but also a throwing weapon. It tracks so nicely, covers quite some distance and once upgraded, creates really decent damage. My new faithful companion.
MY Personal SOTE Experience
While the DLC offers a plethora of new weapons, each player’s experience with them can vary greatly. To give you a more personal perspective, let me share a glimpse on my own journey through Shadow of the Erdtree.
After I entered the DLC with the Sword of Night And Flame it was the next logical step to switch to Rellana’s Twin Blades after I had defeated her, but soon I realized that I had to try a different approach in the DLC – with regard to my gamer capabilities and because the Sword of Night And Flame wasn’t the expected banger. My solution was the Big Bonk approach. I paid a visit to Renalla, reassigned my character’s stats and combined the Anvil Hammer, initially with the Staff of the Avatar and later on with Devonia’s Hammer.
With two colossal weapons jump attacks are devastating and the two babies break stance, like a cheap plastic fork cracks at a barbecue. You can use the Claw Talisman and put on the Raptor’s Black Feathers or the Gravebird’s Blackquill Armor for increased jump attack damage. For normal game exploration combine the hammers with the Taker’s Cameo talisman and you should never run out of HP – “If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning, I’d hammer in the evening, All over this land…”.
Yes, I wouldn’t enroll this outfit for a fashion contest, but the beauty lies in the brute force and the damage it creates, when those two hammers hit.
I just realize, that I should write a separate post about the DLC weapons, cause this is getting a bit out of hand. So, to sum it up (and sorry for leaving out quite a bunch of cool of new weaponry at this moment), the DLC has given us a selection of great new weapons, as well as lot of just average stuff, but it’s the same in the base game. I feel as if people expected to find only high class arms, all superior to the ones from the base game. This is, where high expectations can spoil the overall experience. The NG+ base game would be a stroll in the park, if all SOTE weapons were on the same level as the Blasphemous Blade or even higher, don’t you think?
Boss Presentation
The DLC contains only six cutscenes for the Remembrance Bosses, while the main game offers significantly more. Is this a problem at all? Well, I just think, that some of the epic battles and significant characters deserved a more cinematic treatment. Take the Rellana fight for example. Once you have stumbled through this rather small castle and entered the boss arena, it feels as if you would have just entered the boss fight in an arbitrary dungeon. Come in, defeat her, leave – done. A cutscene with a little more storytelling would have given her another standing among the Remembrance Bosses and as a player you just have to love the way FromSoftware normally introduces these fights.
Maybe they gonna retouch this issue with an upcoming patch and we all will plunge ourselves into another round of Shadow of the Erdtree just see what they have done to our game experience.
The Map Design
Now, let’s talk about the map design. As I wrote in my initial post, SOTE is so vertical, that you can easily get lost. FromSoftware decided to go full MC Escher on us, crafting a world so vertically layered it’ll make your head spin faster than Torrent on a merry-go-round. It makes navigating more challenging than in the base game and from time to time you are required to take longer rides until you reach your destination.
Overall this concept makes exploring this new world interesting and thrilling, but sometimes also a bit frustrating. I still like what they did here, because they managed to give me these awe moments again, where I would just stand there and admire the sheer beauty of the landscape.
Difficulty
We can keep this one short, since I’ve already written a post about the difficulty of the DLC – you may want to take a look at The Shadow of Impatience: Elden Ring’s DLC and the Rush to Judge. Yes, it’s difficult, but let’s be honest, we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way, do we? Traditionally all FromSoftware DLCs are (way) more difficult than the base game and you have to work your socks off to achieve victory. Luckily, the community will always seek out builds or strategies that will help you to beat even the hardest bosses. Overall, I’m fine with the level of difficulty the DLC presents to us.
Verdict
In conclusion, Shadow of the Erdtree is close to everything an Elden Ring fan could want: more pain, more gain and more insane terrain. It’s a vertical slice of madness that’ll keep you coming back for more, even as you question your sanity. Nevertheless, I have to admit, I would rate the replay value of the base game somewhat higher, but that’s just my personal opinion. All in all, it’s just complaining at high level. For me Elden Ring, in combination with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, is ranked among the best games ever and at the top of my personal short list.
So strap on your best gravity-defying boots, sharpen that weapon of choice, and prepare to die in new and exciting ways. The Land of Shadow awaits, and it’s ready to kick your ass – vertically, horizontally, and probably diagonally too.
Therefore may your rolls be precise, your parries be perfect, and may you find solace in the words “YOU DIED” – because you’ll be seeing them a lot. Happy hunting, and remember: in the Shadow of the Erdtree, gravity is just another boss to overcome!
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