It has been a little over two years since the game of the year winner, Elden Ring, and three months since the release of the gameplay trailer for the expansion, Shadow of The Erdtree. Since then, fans have been speculating and theorizing about what is in store for them. With around a month until the expansion releases, we have been blessed with a story trailer for Shadow of The Erdtree. Before returning to the Lands Between for another adventure, let’s look at what we know about Shadow of Erdtree.
What You Need to Know about Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Setting
Shadow of the Erdtree will occur in a new location named The Land of Shadow. The Erd Tree obscures the Land of Shadow. Players can access The Land of Shadows, which appears disconnected from the Lands Between, by teleporting from Miquellas egg in Mogh’s palace. Players will have to be pretty far in the end game of the base story of Elden Ring to access The Land of Shadows, so the new map may be filled with enemies that have high levels and stats. The Land of Shadow is said to be comparable to the size of the Limgrave area from the game’s original map.
Key Players
The main antagonist and boss of Shadow of The Erdtree will be Messmer the Impaler. Many fans speculate that Messmer may be the son of Rykard due to visual similarities. Lord of Blasphemy, Rykard, is a demi-god boss who takes the form of a giant serpent. One of Messmer’s first similarities with Rykard is his red hair, which he had before he turned himself into a giant snake. Additionally, Messmer seems to be accompanied by a red snake that can be seen in trailers and promotional material; this may be a nod to Rykard.
As mentioned in the trailer, it seems as though Messmer may conflict with Miquella. Miquella is Rykard’s half-brother, making him a cousin to Messmer. Additionally, Miquella is an empyrean, which is an individual who is capable of ascending to godhood. The conflict in the shadow of the Erdtree may come from the fact that Messmer opposes Miquella and wants to stop him from ascending to godhood. Miquella took a large step back in the main story of Elden Ring, but it appears that Shadow of The Erdtree will be focused on him.
What to Expect From The DLC
As mentioned earlier, the map is about the size of Limgrave. Limgrave is a fairly large section of the map; players can spend many hours there before moving to another section. Howlongtobeat.com puts Elden Ring’s main story at about 59.5 hours. Limgrave can easily give players 10-20 hours of content with the main story and additional side content. We hope that this means that the expansion will have the same range of content, hopefully closer to 20 hours, given the $40 price tag.
