Highlights

  • Elden Ring's accessibility compared to previous FromSoftware games, including Shadow of the Erdtree, has made the franchise more appealing to a wider audience.
  • Features like non-linear progression, spirit ash summons, and more powerful magic abilities allow players to modulate the game's challenge level.
  • FromSoftware's response to player feedback, such as easier-to-follow narratives and quality-of-life features, indicates a shift toward greater accessibility.

The surprisingly contentious Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has made waves in the gaming community thanks to its elevated challenge over the base game, which is hard enough as it is. But while the debate about Shadow of the Erdtree's difficulty rages on, it's worth taking a look at how the expansion, and Elden Ring as a whole, actually signifies FromSoftware becoming more accessible.

Nearly everyone who has beaten a FromSoftware game will admit that the studio doesn't hold back when it comes to difficulty. Back in the early days of Dark Souls, this brutal, unforgiving challenge was essentially all that the franchise was known for outside its core playerbase. Indeed, FromSoftware's games, for all their strengths, have never been mass-appeal products, accessible to everyone. This made Elden Ring's outstanding success all the more surprising, as audiences who were previously apprehensive of FromSoftware's games were now jumping into a Souls game head-first. Crucial to Elden Ring's sweeping popularity is its accessibility compared to previous titles, and this is something that Shadow of the Erdtree builds on.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Bellurat Gaol (1)
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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s Dungeons Clear the Base Game’s By a Mile

Shadow of the Erdtree introduces several improvements over the base game, and overworld dungeons are among the most significant.

Shadow of the Erdtree Continues to Make Elden Ring More Accessible

Elden Ring Takes Surprising Steps Toward Accessibility

It may seem strange to call Elden Ring accessible, as it has received a good bit of criticism for being just the opposite, but it's a fair assessment when comparing it to earlier FromSoftware games. It's still brutally difficult, but features like the non-linear progression of its open-world, spirit ash summons, and more powerful, easy-to-obtain magic abilities allow players to modulate its challenge level in a way they couldn't with previous titles.

Additionally, Elden Ring is far less obtuse than something like Dark Souls, with fewer frustrating and inconvenient elements. A prime example of this is Elden Ring's level design, which shies away from the annoying composition of certain Dark Souls areas like Lost Izalith, Tomb of the Giants, and Blighttown, instead focusing on beauty, scale, and environmental storytelling. Quality-of-life features like Statues of Marika also keep the game from being as punishing as its predecessors, which could have egregiously long boss runbacks. These changes can be seen as FromSoftware's response to critcism of frustrating environment design, cheap challenge, and needlessly unforgiving mechanics.

Shadow of the Erdtree Doubles Down On Accessibility Features

Elden Ring becomes even more accessible with its DLC, but only in certain ways. For one thing, Shadow of the Erdtree's story is much easier to follow compared to other FromSoftware games, which are defined by their aloof narrative presentation.

In the same spirit of transparency, the DLC introduces a number of small, but no less impactful, quality-of-life features, such as a special notation for new gear and a recently acquired items tab, which makes the overall loot collection experience far easier. The DLC update also changes how collectible runes (the ones that can be stored and redeemed later) communicate their info, actually specifically stating how many runes they will reward—a huge break in tradition for FromSoftware.

Then there's FromSoftware's response to the recent difficulty controversy. Many players have lamented what they perceive to be an expansion that is simply too difficult to be fun, and instead of ignoring these criticisms, FromSoftware issued a Shadow of the Erdtree update that bolsters progression, making the DLC easier overall. This echoes the developer's response to complaints about the base game's scaling back in 2022: FromSoftware patched bosses like Starscourge Radahn , who was considered to be an unfair challenge by many players. This motion by FromSoftware, coupled with the aforementioned design choices and quality-of-life features, indicate that the company is moving in a more accessible direction, shrewdly heeding player feedback during the development process.