This is the best DLC I have ever played and it’s so weird how that could be. FromSoftware decided that only players that have beaten one of the game’s hardest bosses, at least level 150, should get access to this DLC. That should narrow down the market for this DLC quite harshly and in full rights limit the scope of it. Instead they spent 2,5 years making an addition which is about the size of 40% of the base game. And it’s the best content I’ve seen FromSoftware produce since Bloodborne.
The story of the DLC is that Miquella has left the Lands Between and gone to the Shadowlands in order to become a god, usher in a new age of compassion, and we must stop him by going there ourselves and kill everything in our way – as you do in soulsgames.
The story in the DLC is much more linear compared to the base game. You follow Miquella’s footsteps quite literally and get to experience what he left behind as he travels through the lands of shadow. This also makes the level design of the DLC quite different. The map of Elden Ring is divided into areas like Limgrave, Liurnia and you travel from one area to another. The map in the DLC is centered around paths. You travel down a path, and that path splits into two paths. Normally you would travel down one path as far as you can and then go to the next path, but in this DLC the path you choose will split into several new paths and each path just continues. You don’t reach a dead end. This works because the map of the shadowlands is extremely vertical and convoluted. You find yourself travelling far above where you’ve been before or far below.
There are new enemies in the Lands of Shadow. Some have been reused from the base game with new skins and abilities, but it feels very fresh. I found some 40 new bosses to fight and there were some reuse, especially dragons, but most were completely new boss fights. There are new NPCs in the DLC and they play a much more active role, by being available for summon inside the boss rooms. If you choose not to summon them it will affect the quest of that NPC. It makes the NPC quests much more immersive when you fight alongside them.
I’m not a fan of the way FromSoftware make their bosses more challenging. I’ve been playing these games since Demon’s Souls and FromSoftware try to find new ways to make the bosses harder for each installation. I don’t like it when the fight becomes a dodge fest, where you need to dodge 10-15 times in a row to get one hit in, and I don’t like it when the bosses doesn’t give me any chance to heal. I hope they will find a way in future games to make the bosses challenging and interesting without it being a flurry of delayed attacks that you need to time your dodges to.
Before this review gets way too long I’m going to address the difficulty. I had no problems with the difficulty. I was level 150 when I started the DLC with a quality build, two-handing the Bloodhound Fang. I don’t try to make the game harder for myself. I gear up according to the resistances I need, I summon NPCs and spirits as I need to, and I had no problem with the game at all. Up until Bale I had only died a handful of times, and the only boss that caused any real troubles was the last one.
I have watched streams of people that struggle. Mostly they were too squishy because they didn’t collect the scadutree fragments, which is a DLC level-up item, or they made the game harder for themselves by prioritizing fasion over function or refusing to use summons. If you make the game purposefully harder you’re not allowed to complain that the game is too hard. Sorry, but you loose.
I rate this game as EXCELLENT.
Replay 