After sinking almost 30 hours into Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdree expansion, I've got some good news: The Realm of Shadow is much bigger than expected, and wonderfully rich.
After getting a taste of the new Elden Ring DLC in a hands-on preview back in May, it was the prospective size of the new area that caught my attention. Although the world map was largely hidden and I only had a few hours of play time, from what I could see, I speculated that the expansion's map could be around the size of Limgrave and Caelid combined – two meaty main areas from the base game. But after almost 30 hours with the new expansion, it's clear that the total size of The Realm of Shadow is larger than that and arguably, the individual areas within it are richer and more diverse than these areas in the base game.
Elden Rich
Gravesite Plain, the expansion's opening area, is fairly large but ironically, is probably the least dense area in The Realm of Shadow in terms of enemies and things to do. But don't be fooled by this early on, because as soon as you venture towards the DLC's first legacy dungeon, Belurat Castle, the expansion's magical secrets begin to unravel. Shadow of the Dead, Man-Flies, Spider Scorpions and Horned Warriors are among the wealth of enemies that will greet you with formidable difficulty, not to mention the magnificent first major boss, Divine Beast Dancing Lion, which was a delight to fight. While I've 30 hours under my belt so far, beating this boss feels like a lifetime ago because – although it didn't seem like it as the time – completing the first dungeon is just the very start of a big adventure, and the best is yet to come.
It's not the difficulty of the game that makes it so special, it's the fact that this immense challenge also happens to take place in devastatingly beautiful, hand-crafted areas, featuring immense detail, in what are essentially huge puzzles for players to navigate. The areas you will traverse in Shadow of the Erdtree are noticeably more vertical compared to the base game, with vast, spiralling castle structures, deep underground tunnels and even a literal volcano being the canvases players can use to paint their own story.
In my 30 hours of playtime, there've been several occasions where I've stumbled into a new area and felt compelled to simply stand there and take in just how ridiculously gorgeous this game is. I cannot think of any other title that features such delicious area reveals, something that's only topped by exploring them and discovering they're as fascinating as they are pretty. The dark orange theme from the starter area turns into slightly deeper hues as you move into Scadu Altus, with the Cerulean Coast featuring stunning blue scenery; with stone and fire towards the east and ancient forest areas in the north. And, without giving too much away, that's only the start, because the more you explore, the more beauty you will find.
The Divine Beast Dancing Lion in Belurat Castle is one of ten (yes, ten!) new major bosses that you can take on in The Realm of Shadow – and perhaps the easiest, with dozens of other mini-bosses, not to mention the rage-inducingly difficult Furnace Golems that patrol some of the game's most important areas. Taking advantage of the new Scadutree Blessing and Revered Spirit Ash Blessing mechanics (which boosts the attack and damage negotiation of your character and your Spirit Ashes summon respectively) is essential to beat the major bosses, and the difficulty of these enemies increases significantly as you advance further into the game.
The enemies become more varied and more dangerous with each new location that you explore, with unique foes for specific areas that each provide their own challenges. And it's not only the locations and enemies where you'll find variety because there are also over 100 new weapons and – although I haven't got close to trying as many as I would like – I think it's fair to say that FromSoftware has tailored the effectiveness of the new weapons specifically for this world. My previously trusty Dark Moon Greatsword, and Sword of Night and Flame, no longer cut the mustard in The Realm of Shadow, and they've long since been replaced by weapons like the Star-Lined Sword, the Dragon-Hunter's Katana, and other redacted weapons that you're able to obtain once you've beaten some of the big bosses.
Unbelievable
Playing Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has, in addition to providing me with immense enjoyment and entertainment, also taught me never to trust a word creative director Hidetaka Miyazaki says in future – in the best possible way. The president of FromSoftware stated in a recent interview with IGN that the new DLC world would be "comparable, if not larger, than the area of Limgrave from the base game", which might just be the biggest example of 'under-promise and over-deliver' I've seen, considering I've put 30 hours into the expansion and am still some way off completing it. Considering how rich and varied The Realm of Shadow is, it often feels like I'm playing Elden Ring 2, rather than an expansion of the base game.
If you loved Elden Ring and are desperate for more, Shadow of the Erdtree will scratch that itch and then some. Elden Ring was, truly, ridiculously good, and this expansion succeeds in building on and only adding to that greatness. I almost don't want to finish it, because I'm having such a blast. But, the good news is that due to the sheer size of the expansion, that might not happen for a little while yet.