Elden Ring’s DLC is Incredible! But I am Conflicted as Well...

*Just as a warning, today we’re talking about the Elden Ring DLC and will be going over a general overview but there will be some spoilers, so if you do not want anything important to be ruined for your own playthrough, I would suggest skipping this video altogether. *

After more than two years since its original release, we have finally traveled to the land of shadow to uncover the mystery of Miquella’s quest in Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. And to say that people were excited for it was certainly an understatement. I think as of the writing of this video, the DLC has already sold over five million copies which is unreal, and rightfully deserved. From Software showing the world once again how to deliver a high-quality product that will sell like hot cakes. The first time you enter and get the patented From Software Vista, that shows you the world, where you are going to go and how vast it all is, you viscerally have an emotional reaction because you know the adventure you are about to embark on. No other game series has been able to replicate that feeling. And Elden Ring has done it multiple times in a single playthrough. Just getting right into my thoughts on the DLC, the art design is 11/10. It was the one component of it I wasn’t worried about because I knew it was going to be amazing. And it is. Couldn't be happier with how the world looks and the art design and direction; they knocked it out of the park. The size of the DLC was bigger than I thought it was. In interview, Miyazaki said it would be about the size of Limgrave from the base game, and while the actual size is about accurate, it’s so much denser than Limgrave. The maps layout and attention to verticality feels very reminiscent of something like Dark Souls 1, where the majority of the map is laid over itself and you spend plenty of time going either up or down. A very interesting design choice that is cool and gives you plenty of times to take in your surroundings, but it does come with its share of frustrations which we’ll get into later. In terms of playtime, my first full run-through of the DLC clocked in at about 35 hours. Which is average, but honestly, the second half of the DLC was me kind of crit pathing towards bosses and fragments to level up. Which brings up the new DLC only mechanic. In the world there are Scadutree fragments that you will come across which when used levels you up so you deal more and take less damage in general. It's From Software’s answer to people potentially being very high leveled and rolling through the DLC. Now, the difficulty primarily comes from collecting and using these fragments. There is also another item called the Revered Spirit Ash which levels up both your summons as well as Torrent for the same buffs. But if you find yourself struggling in a certain area or against a certain boss, you might just need to explore more and find more fragments. It only takes another level or two and you will notice a significant difference in how fights turn out. This mechanic is borrowed from one of their other games, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. In which by fighting and defeating bosses as well as exploring the world, you will unlock new items to make you more powerful. But you will only be able to get so powerful in that game depending on where you are. There is no real way to “over level” in Sekiro. And that’s the big difference in Elden Ring. With enough exploring and time, you can get your fragment level to a point where the DLC feels respectable especially at the start. On top of that, From did a patch to buff the early fragment levels and make it feel better to be at a lower level. But personally, there is one major flaw with this system. Some may disagree, but not being able to keep track of which Scadutree fragments you have found in the world, feels like an oversight to me. And when I say keep track, I mean an in-game way. Sure, if I had the foresight to know that there are 50 and only 50 fragments in the DLC and that you need ALL of them to hit max fragment level, I might’ve kept a log. But now, if I want to hit max level, I need to go back and meticulously find every single location on the map. Sure, some are easier to remember than others; most likely you’ve seen all of the crosses around the world and each cross comes with a fragment. But other than that, it’s challenging in a frustrating way to want to hit max fragment level, and not entirely fun teleporting around to very specific locations across the map to see if there is an item drop where the map says there is. Some non-respawning enemies also have fragments when they are defeated, so again another few are easier to remember, but it’s still a chore nonetheless.

The map itself is incredibly dense and varied with more locations that I ever would’ve guessed. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s much more vertical than The Lands Between, without the use of any kind of underground section like the base game map has. With so many wild and varied locations with their own ecosystem, landscapes, and terrain. All being under the guise of the shadow tree. While it’s pretty to look at, and many of the locations have wonderful views and opportunities to take in the game’s beauty, I found myself becoming once again frustrated at times while trying to navigate the map and find some of the more hidden away areas of the DLC. The topography of the map feels... incorrect when looking at it. Granted I know it’s not, but comparing it the many different little nooks and crannies and slopes in the base map, it’s much more difficult to get where you want to go. The altitude differences also play a huge role in this, but for the most part navigating to most critical parts of the map are a non-issue. It’s honestly more of how annoying two of the map fragments can be to acquire. Namely, the one in the Cerulean Coast, and the other up north in the Rauh Ruins. Again, a beautiful area, but fundamentally confusing to navigate your first time going through it. Something else I noticed in the DLC is that there are barely any spirit springs across the world. From Soft added a mechanic to the game to help navigate the more vertical aspects of the base game, and for some reason underutilized this feature in the DLC. Most of them are in the Jagged peak, and there are only a handful outside of that area. They even made it so that you need to unlock the springs by finding a set of spirit rocks and destroying them allowing access to the spring. I feel as though this would’ve been a massive help and wonderful feeling to be able to go the route the developers wanted us to, then unlocking a massive shortcut for areas above or below us by using the springs to get around. I know we mainly just fast travel, but it feels like a missed opportunity, considering they already added them in the DLC, expanded on the idea, but didn't add enough around the world to feel meaningful in anyway. It’s a shame. If they added more post launch, that would make me very happy, and especially for first playthroughs for other players. And we’re primarily talking about first playthrough in this conversation. Subsequent run throughs of the DLC make more sense because I know where to go. But this entire conversation is from the lens of post first playthrough.

Legacy dungeons feel great to walk through and progress. And the bosses in the DLC, in proper From Soft fashion, are some of the industries finest. Not all of them, but the important ones are like I stated in the beginning, larger than life. In terms of the ones that provided the most challenge for myself personally, the Scadutree Avatar proved to be challenging because it having three phases you need to learn, and how long that fight can go on. And of course, the final fight which I won’t even mention. But if you’ve played the DLC, you know who it is. The first phase is actually almost perfect. So close to being an S+ tier boss phase. It reminds me so much of Slave Knight Gael, and Champion Gundyr from Dark Souls 3, which were some of my favorites in that game because it solely relied on your ability to dodge and learn the move set. But here, the second phase of the final fight, is just on the cusp of being too much. Again, to avoid spoilers I won’t get into it, but you know what I mean if you’ve fought it.

Difficulty has been a rather highly contested point of conversation regarding the DLC in general. A few days after the DLC released it had a mixed review on Steam. Granted, more than half of the people were complaining about performance issues, which are absolutely valid. Hell, ever since I updated the game, I have had new stutters and micro freezes across both the DLC and base game. I've tried some different options to fix it, but nothing has worked and it’s been extremely demoralizing to play when I get killed in a boss fight because the game stopped for a full second and I get wacked to death. But people have been saying the DLC is too hard. And while that was honestly my initial impression after about ten hours, I think my perspective of difficulty with the DLC comes from the Scadutree Fragments and how annoying they are to acquire without being able to keep track of them in the game. Adding a mechanic to scale the DLC outside of the base game is fine, and even making it so that you can only have so many levels before certain milestones is totally fine. I just wish the game kept track of which ones you collected. Yes, technically you could mark all the ones you pick up with the in-game mark feature, but again, first playthrough you most likely wouldn’t have the foresight to do something like that. So having the game just at the very least hold your hand in collecting the one crucial item that literally dictates how difficult the DLC will be for you, would’ve gone a long way. It’s different than the golden seeds because there are more in the game than you need to max your flask. And the flask is for healing; it doesn’t make me do more and take less damage. Again, difficulty is such a touchy subject because as the player you do have more control over it than you think, I just would’ve loved a way to track fragments collected in game. That’s it.

Performance for the DLC has been all over the place for a lot of people. From my personal experience, it wasn’t a solid 60fps on PC for a majority of the open world as well as numerous boss fights. On top of that, ever since downloading the update for the DLC I have had massive issues with upwards of full second freezes and the game quickly trying to play catchup. I heard and even From Software have said it’s related to third party mouse programs getting in the way. So, I disabled the one I use, and I haven’t noticed a difference. Maybe if I do a clean install of the game it might work, but again, this definitely comes down to your hardware and what’s running in the background whilst you play. I’m not going to knock it because other than the freezes, the performance was good enough with the exception of the final boss. Again, won’t spoil that but it does one attack that tanks my FPS down to about 30.

After I finished the DLC, beat the final boss and experienced the end of Shadow of the Erdtree I felt... conflicted. As I do right now. Don’t get me wrong, the overall package is amazing and worth the $40 that is being asked for. It didn’t feel like a waste of money in the slightest. However, something about reflecting on the DLC, made me feel like the best response after watching the ending cutscene made me go, that’s it? I feel as though there were many opportunities to expand on concepts, ideas, and lore from the base game that are noticeably absent from the DLC. Nothing regarding Melina, Godwyn, certain affinities and afflictions were kind of ignored, incantations still feel like garbage offensively. There are just these big holes in the DLC that I didn’t expect to be there. It feels wrong even mentioning this kind of stuff because the vast majority of people are praising the DLC. And to be fair, I was for a while too. It’s like sacrilegious to criticize these games, but there’s just this feeling in me that goes this isn’t perfect. It’s still amazing, but it definitely has its flaws. Now, is it the best From Software DLC? Well, it’s a tossup between this and the Old Hunters DLC for Bloodborne. I don’t know how I feel on the matter yet; I need to play more of the DLC on other characters with other builds to figure it out. But if someone wanted to make an argument for the Older Hunters being better, I could see it. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the DLC for Elden Ring, but had multiple instances of becoming frustrated with some of the overworld decisions, and was left wanting more in some departments of the game. Not necessarily more content, but more answers to questions we have, and filling in some of the gaps that were there from the base game. But if you haven’t played the DLC yet or were considering it, if you enjoyed the base game, you should just buy it. Yes, it’s $40, but you get your money's worth and then sone. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comments below your thoughts on the DLC and what your experience was like and be sure to subscribe for more videos about games and expansions that can be divisive depending on what you say and how you convey it. I hope to see you in future ones.