In my first moments with The shadow of the Erdtree, I found myself in a cemetery dotted with disembodied tombstones… and pools of glistening blood. When I remembered what those blood stains and the imminent danger I was inside, torn apart by a man I neither saw nor heard coming, leaving behind a new small pool of blood to mark the occasion.
I haven't stopped smiling since then.
The shadow of the Erdtree is the long-awaited expansion of the game of the year 2022, Fire ring. According to FromSoftware, this will be the only DLC for the game, giving Tarnished one last chance in Lands Between.
Most of my time with the DLC has been spent exploring Belurat, Tower Settlement, one of the legacy dungeons that dot the map and which game director Hidetaka Miyazaki described as as big as Fire ringLimgrave. Belurat is a labyrinthine place, full of charming blind corners where enemies can ambush me and inviting vomit-brown waterfalls that lead to at least one of the DLCs. poisonous swamps.
Despite that tempting description, Belurat is a really nice place. It has the same pale golden pallor as anywhere in the base game. And I loved looking up into the box and seeing what looked like billowing fabric cascading from the sky, as if the entire dungeon were covered in a gauze funerary shroud.
The dungeon inhabitants, however, are less pretty to look at and not pretty to fight with. The most basic enemies I faced were shadowy humanoid creatures, scorpions, and huge, scrawny birds. Most of the time, humans didn't bother me unless I got too close or ventured into their line of sight. However, there was a tougher version of the humanoids that kicked me all over the dungeon.
However, despite their strength, humanoids were easy to kill; most of the creatures in the dungeon were. This, in turn, led me into a mess of problems of my own making.
Playing Fire ring Being successful means keeping this in mind at all times: if you see one enemy, there are actually four coming right behind you. And if you happen to see all four, there are actually 12 of themand congratulations, now you are dead.
To the point of satiety, to infinity.
This lesson is learned quite easily once you've spent more than an hour in the Shadow Lands. However, the reason I died so many times (and the reason I haven't been able to progress much in the DLC) is that I got sucked in by how deceptively easy it was to kill enemies. Everything fell apart in one or two hits from me improved sword. If I was lucky enough to sneak up behind an enemy, the resulting surprise attack would trigger them. This generated an undeserved confidence in me that took a long time to dismantle. He was basically telling myself, “Yes, I'm surrounded, but one more hit and I'll be…oh hell, there's 12 of them.”
He was too greedy and arrogant, he lacked the humility necessary to navigate Erdtree No danger. And I think that lesson is vital as many players prepare to Erdtree. Take down Mohg, Lord of Blood, one of the bosses required to access Erdtree— is one of the hardest achievements in the game (something not many players have done according to Steam charts). And beating him or any of the other more difficult bosses, like Malenia, could instill in players the same undeserved arrogance that I had, the kind that made me think I could get through the new DLC intact.
Tarnished, as you embark on your journey, learn from my mistakes and don't be fooled. You will die – a lot. Be slow, be methodical, be patient… improve your Imitate the ashes of tears.
And while it was frustrating to die so much at the hands of things I knew I could easily defeat, I never felt cheated by any of my fifty deaths because I understood that they were all my fault.
When I reached Belurat's boss, I thought I was in for another lesson. I wondered how many times he would die before learning the boss's patterns and tricks. But then another beautiful moment happened: I got over it. I used one of the game's summons, called my ally Mimic Tear, and stayed back, casting the hardest damage spell in the Middle Lands on the boss: the Shiny stone pebble.
The shadow of the Erdtree It will humble you and you will thank the game for the pleasure. But you also have the ability to embarrass him: use it.
Playing The shadow of the Erdtree It's like visiting that strict grandmother you love but don't see very often. Every time you see her again after a long absence, it takes you a moment to reacquaint yourself with her quirky but tough habits. And when you finally get your groove back, it feels like you've never left it.
The shadow of the Erdtree launches June 21 on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
