Highlights

  • Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is highly anticipated for Elden Ring, promising new locations, bosses, armor, weapons, spells, and a new storyline.
  • Players seemingly need to defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood to access the DLC, demonstrating its difficulty compared to other FromSoftware expansions.
  • To keep players engaged, Shadow of the Erdtree should launch with all planned content on day one to avoid losing the initial audience.

Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC will be here very soon, and if there was ever a hugely anticipated game experience coming in 2024, it's this one. 2022's Game of the Year winner has many fans expecting its DLC to be everything they want in a FromSoftware expansion, so hopes will likely remain high until its release near the end of June. As the one-and-only DLC Elden Ring will receive, Shadow of the Erdtree is bringing a vast number of additions to the base game, including new locations, bosses, armor, weapons, spells, and equipment. Of course, this is all in addition to a brand-new storyline in the Land of Shadow, so players can expect a hefty amount of content in Shadow of the Erdtree.

FromSoftware DLC is notorious for being difficult, and with the added challenge of players likely needing to defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood to access Shadow of the Erdtree, it's bound to be even more so. However, FromSoftware games are often also noted for one particular pattern that Elden Ring should avoid with Shadow of the Erdtree to ensure a positive reception, as it hasn't necessarily sidestepped this issue with Elden Ring's base-game experience.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Wicker Man Orphan of Kos Bloodborne
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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Bloodborne: The Old Hunters Seem Oddly Alike

From both a thematic and structural standpoint, it looks like Shadow of the Erdtree and The Old Hunters could have a lot in common.

Shadow of the Erdtree Should Avoid FromSoftware's Update Release Strategy

FromSoftware Tends to Release Updates Too Late

It's a known fact that FromSoftware releases updates for its games long after their launch date, and while many of these updates are free and often welcomed, they are nonetheless late to the party. As such, many players have already spent a significant amount of time with these games and are either hesitant to come back to them at all or only come back to them briefly to see what has been added. Rarely do these updates recapture and retain a game's original audience, even if the updates are substantial enough to merit it. Elden Ring is actually a great example of this.

While some of Elden Ring's first updates addressed important things like bugs, technical flaws, and balance issues, one of its most significant updates wasn't added until almost ten months after the game's release. Elden Ring's 1.08 update added the Colosseums, a PvP feature that allowed players to venture to several different arenas and take on a variety of challenges. Unfortunately, since it was added to the game so long after its launch, many gamers had already moved on, especially as Santa Monica's God of War Ragnarok had only been released just a month before the update and thus captured the attention of any PS4/PS5 owners who were looking for something different.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is another of FromSoft's games to get the late update treatment. As this specific Soulslike was released in March 2019 and one of its biggest updates wasn't added until December 2020, gamers had to wait almost two years for content that could have been included with the base game. This particular update added Sekiro's Boss Rush mode, as well as new outfits and Remnants. This is all something Shadow of the Erdtree should avoid if it hopes to keep its initial audience in for the long haul with every bit of the content FromSoftware plans to release for the DLC.

Shadow of the Erdtree Needs to Launch With Everything on Day One

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC trailer

To avoid falling into the patterns of its predecessors, Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC needs to ensure that any content FromSoft plans to add to it later is there on day one of its release. Sure, there will be the odd patch or three to address bugs and, most likely, balance issues again, but any significant content updates should be included with the DLC at the time of its release. This will not only give players the optimal Shadow of the Erdtree experience, but it will also allow FromSoft to move on from Elden Ring to bigger and better things.