After its announcement on, the first trailer for “Elden Ring’s” expansion, “Shadow of the Erdtree” has been released. With a release date of June 21, 2024, there are several reasons to get excited about this massive expansion.
New Lands
One of the best parts of “Elden Ring” is its strikingly gorgeous landscapes. From Limgrave to Leyndell, there is beauty to be found around every corner. The new expansion seems to be continuing this quality as seen in various shots shown in the trailer.
It’s not just the beauty, but the size that’s exciting. Game director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, stated in an interview with IGN that “it’s probably comparable, if not larger, than the area of Limgrave.” Limgrave is the largest area in Elden Ring, so this is intriguing to say the least, especially considering that it’ll be packed with all new cities and dungeons to explore, as well as bosses to fight.
New and Returning Characters
One character the expansion is heavily expanding upon is Miqella, one of the most mysterious and underdeveloped characters in the base game. Miqella was on the teaser image for “Shadow of the Erdtree” and he’s shown in the final shot of trailer so he will definitely have an important role to play in the expansion.
There is of course the possibility of Godwyn the Golden, another enigmatic character having a role to play in the expansion, but that is just speculation for now.
What’s really compelling are the new characters shown off, specifically Mesmer the Impaler. Just looking at his design, he seems to be a symbol for everything the Golden Order and the Erdtree oppose. It’ll be fascinating to see how he relates back to the base game and his relations with other characters.
New Weapons and Spells
Another great part about “Elden Ring” is the weapon variety. There are so many ways a player could approach combat in their own unique way. It’ll be exciting to see how “Shadow of the Erdtree” expands on this.
It’s already been confirmed that there will be eight new weapon types added, as well as all sorts of new spells. The trailer showed some of these, including a rapid firing crossbow, a hybrid between a spear and a shield as well as butterfly sorcery. There is also one moment in the trailer where the player appears to be using some form of martial arts to battle an enemy, however it’s unclear how this could operate.
New Bosses
Debatably the best part of FromSoftware’s games are the boss fights. From “Demon’s Souls” to “Elden Ring,” these games’ most iconic moments come from bosses. The boss fight against Mesmer the Impaler is shown off in the trailer as well as one against some sort of human-beast amalgamation.
There are also several other boss designs shown off who look to be lurking across different sections of the map, all having hauntingly epic designs.
FromSoftware currently has one of the best track records in gaming, especially with their add-on content. With that in mind, it’s important to stay patient and let the developers create another masterpiece.
