One of the best expansions are unmistakably grounded of their base sport, however take all of their strongest concepts and distill them down right into a extra refined, self-contained expertise which not solely celebrates all the things that made the unique nice, however takes it simply that little bit additional, too.
Shadow of the Erdtree isn’t just the exceptional, lore-drenched, soul-sucking Elden Ring expertise within the current, however an homage to FromSoftware’s previous and glimpse into its future as properly.
All of it begins in true Souls type, with certainly one of this yr’s greatest horror moments adopted by a legacy dungeon that might come from wherever in FromSoftware’s storied back-catalogue – packed to the rafters with hidden ambushes, unfair fights and a cataclysmic boss battle to prime all of it off.
However, as you reveal the undiscovered secrets and techniques of the universe in a labyrinthine warren of secret tunnels and passageways that belie the area’s true, unimaginable scale, it’s the gothic ambiance of The Lands of Shadow that steals the present. That is one more particular FromSoftware setting, contained inside one other particular FromSoftware setting: Fromception.
Crucially although, that is additionally certainly one of FromSoftware’s most forthright narratives – actually in a Souls sport – however that does nothing to dampen the thriller and ethereal surprise of the areas you go to and characters you meet. It’s this story-telling evolution that makes Shadow of the Erdtree important in its personal proper, in addition to a completely stellar addition to the bottom sport of Elden Ring (clearly a GOTY contender in its personal proper, too, in fact).
Shadow of the Erdtree is definitely one of the vital memorable, thrilling, and engrossing issues to drop this yr, and could be hewn alongside The Shivering Isles, Phantom Liberty, and Undead Nightmare on the Mount Rushmore of nice online game DLCs.
In reality, we have a podcast devoted to this very matter: Which expansions are higher than the principle sport? From The Shivering Isles to Toussaint, some downloadable content material is value each penny. Twice. The truth that Shadow of the Erdtree rapidly and effortlessly provides itself to those iconic names says all of it, actually; in a yr of extremely sturdy, memorable video games, it is an growth that actually lodges itself in my head as we tiptoe into 2025.