The DLC for Elden Ring has been my most anticipated gaming release for the last year. Elden Ring is one of my all time favorite games of all time and getting more of it is like a dream come true. Especially when the added content goes on to surpass the base game itself.
Disclaimer: The game doesn't actually look as shitty as it does in these screenshots. Apparently taking screenshots with Steam when playing with HDR on does some weird things to screenshots in some games. Apparently in Elden Ring it makes the whole game just look like it has a grayfilter on. Oh well. I tried color correcting them in Photoshop so at least they look a little better.
A DLC that goes above and beyond
Ever since Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne was released for the PS4 From Software has been the GOATs og game development for me. Each release they make keeps on going above and beyond the lastone and Shadow of the Erdtree is no exception. The entire DLC is a fantastic experience consisting of amazing world design, challenging bosses and a world map unlike anything the gaming world has seen before.
More than once was I just sitting alone in my room laughing at the geniusness of it all. Especially after having spent 2-3 hours scouring the map trying to find out how to get to certain areas only to find out the entrance was hidden behind a statue that I had to use an emote in front of with barely any hints as to this being the way. Only to explore the area and find out it's supposed to be hidden well because it's Marika's birthplace and she wants it to be well hidden. For those who don't know, Marika is the goddess of the game whom much of the lore and events are based around.
To find the coolest boss in the entire game I even had to explore a hidden away side path in a castle then uncover an illusory wall to get there. It took me to one of the most terrifying areas in the game and one of the coolest boss fights in the entire Soulsborne series.
Public skill issues
This DLC has received a lot of critique online. On Steam it started out with Mixed reviews due to some performance issues and it being to difficult for most people. People went in there with their level 500 steamroll characters expecting to faceroll the game. It doesn't work like that when From Software has put in a separate leveling and scaling system for the DLC. If you don't interact with this you're gonna be weak no matter what level you were prior to entering the DLC. They even had to make public statements telling people this.
Personally I didn't have many issues with the difficulty in this DLC. I though the bosses were really fun and I wasn't stuck on any of them for much more than an hour which I think is totally fair. people kept complaining about the bosses having super long attack combos with barely any time to attack them in between but I didn't really notice any of that. I guess I'm just to much of a god at the game.
Elden Ring concluded
And this basically concludes Elden Ring. The game is done. The story is done. They don't have any plans to create anything more with Elden Ring, although Miyazaki has said they might not be fully done with it. I'm not going to have my hopes up.
For me this has been a 220 hour long journey. I streamed the entirety of my first playthrough of the base game and some of you were there for it. @demotry the mad lad was there for almost all of it. All the 110 hours. I've played the game twice again after that to get the extra endings and achievements. The DLC I wanted to just have for myself and play at my own pace and I don't regret that.
This game has given me some of my best gaming memories of all. From discovering the Siofra River Well in the base game to finding the Euporia twinblade weapon in the DLC. All of it going down in memory as a fantastic experience. All of it (except the two extra playthroughs) done with a two-handed colossal weapon. There is no other way.
Even after 220 hours and having seen what there is to see I still don't feel like I'm done with Elden Ring. I'll probably be delving into NG+ at some point with my OG character to try and beat the game with a different build. I got a lot of cool weapons sitting in my inventory that I never tried. I'm just to much of a sucker for big colossal weapon to ever try anything else.
For now I'm taking a break and plan on trying Lies of P for a little while. It's on sale on Steam at the moment and I've heard it's one of the better souls-likes out there. And it's based on the story of Pinocchio which is a little weird.
All images in this post are screenshots taken by me.
first time I saw you run elden ring on steam after dlc release.
my thoughts were "will pusen stream?" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
When I saw the trailer.. I 100% Knew I won't buy it. shadows.. shadows.. and more shadows which meant my computer won't be able to run it well.
heheh I bet.
It's good that you find it awesome.. can't wait to try it out as well.
I might not find that hidden boss if it was hidden in a wall. 😆
The performance is definitely worse in this that in the base game. I was mostly able to run it at a stable 60 fps in 4K and at max settings without RTX on. A lot of areas were sitting in 50 fps though.
Would have been fun to stream but my headspace hasn't quite been there in the last few months.
I knew it! hahaha. well I'll play it when the time comes.
Cheers bud. I'm pretty confused with life too right now lol.
I think I only played Dark Souls 1. I enjoyed it for a while but eventually I got tired of enemies respawning. So I stopped playing. Considering that Dark Souls and( I assume) Elden Ring are based on Berserk manga and Berserk is my favorite fantasy books I should enjoy those games far more than I did...
I feel the same way about Witcher and CD PROJEKT RED.
CDPR is the second GOAT for sure. I have so many hours played across all the Witcher games even if I didn't really like Cyberpunk that much.
Epic. How great that you have been able to enjoy this jewel, no doubt it gives a game for a while. I once saw the trailer of the Soul-like based on Pinocchio. I don't know much about the story, but it looked great.
THats awesome man. I am trying to figure out if I want to get this DLC or not. I loved Elden Ring and probably have around 180 hours of play between all my characters, but it has been so long and I dont have the time to die a million times to all the new bosses.
The new bosses are definitely harder than those in the base game. The DLC isn't going anywhere so you have time to wait it out a bit. Maybe pick it up on a sale in the future.
The game sure looks interesting but maybe the graphics would too since its steam screenshot
I get scared playing games like this especially the shadow part