Since the announcement of the anticipated “Shadow of the Erdtree” expansion for the Souls game Elden Ring, we haven’t received any new or official information from Japanese development studio FromSoftware, except that their development process is progressing well.

As you know, Elden Ring was one of the most popular open-world games released in 2022, winning Game of the Year at the time. It's a stunning game featuring a vast open world that players have spent hundreds of hours exploring, violent side-scrolling encounters, and challenging challenges. Add to all this the risk of being invaded at any moment by other players and the struggle to defend against these endless attacks, not to mention the ferocious and merciless bosses, where one mistake can instantly cost you your life.

The game distinguished itself by containing the enormous obstacles that players faced in this unforgettable experience for one of the most prominent Souls game development studios FromSoftware, which deservedly etched its name in the history of the gaming industry through this exceptional and timeless experience.

It's a shame the studio didn't provide many details about the upcoming expansion, but it did confirm some basic information of interest to the wider Elden Ring audience, who are eager to learn more about the worlds of the Lands Between and what it will offer in the upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. That's what we'll cover in today's article. And much more.

What you need to know before purchasing the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion

• In its announcement of the upcoming addition, the developer mentioned the phrase: “Arise, you warped one, or “Stained” in the style of speech in the game, and let us walk a new path together”, which could mean the beginning of a new story different from the main game, or a change in its ending, and it seems that it will revolve around… The story is about the huge Erdtree that you see in the middle of the vast map of Elden Ring, as mentioned in the title of the DLC.
• Please note that you will need to have the base version of Elden Ring installed on your console or PC to play the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.
• It's also important to note the fact that we don't know if the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is the only DLC that FromSoftware has planned for Elden Ring, as they may announce more after release!
• She declared Kadokawa CorporationDeveloper FromSoftware's parent company states that "various actions and modifications to the main game are being implemented in conjunction with the development of additional content" to maximize the game's lifespan.

It's unclear what the "various procedures and modifications" mentioned by the parent company means, but it seems like players will have a significant amount of new content ahead of them, keeping them fully motivated and active for months or perhaps years to come.

Shadow of the Erdtree Expansion Special Features

The concept art shows a character wearing a white robe and long blonde hair atop a horse resembling "Torrent," the main horse used by the player in the main game.

Fans of the game believe that the character riding through the plains and mysterious terrain, with a strange version of the Erdtree appearing on the horizon that seems to drip gold, is either "Miquella" or Queen "Marika", but nothing has been confirmed yet.

Building on DLC for other FromSoftware games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, the expansion is expected to introduce new locations and never-before-seen NPCs, as well as new weapons, armor, items, spells, and bosses.

The game producer confirmed Yasuhiro Kitao Part of that is saying, “Players can expect to see new battles and new characters in the next addition.”

As the leaker revealed Lance McDonald On to some potential information about the expansion, the most important of which is a possible hint about its size, as it is stated that FromSoftware originally planned to offer a season pass that included two downloadable content (DLC) expansions, but it appears the company has canceled those plans.

While this may be disappointing to some fans of the game and Souls games, the expansion's size will reportedly be double that of two full expansions combined, perhaps equal to the size of two full expansions. This has been confirmed by two prominent content creators, FightinCowboy and Oroboro, where Oroboro said in a since-deleted livestream: "The downloadable content can provide 25 hours or more of gameplay," and this could happen if the game is also limited to main quests, meaning that side quests and activities will provide double that, perhaps if the leaks are true.

What do we know about the expansion's release date?

Game producer Yasuhiro Kitao stated in a recent interview that the release date is "still a bit far off, but development is progressing and going well," while Arnaud Muller, CEO of Bandai Namco Europe, stated that an announcement of a DLC release date could become... soon.

Some references and leaks, which have spread since then, also indicate that we could see the release of the additional content at the end of February this year, but it is also possible that this is the date of obtaining a teaser video in which the release date of the expansion will be officially announced.

Fans have also noticed an update on the popular Steam data tracker, SteamDB, where a new file “Unknown App 2778580” has been added to the Elden Ring DLC section and many people believe that it is actually related to the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

This addition is considered the game's first expansion in 15 months, and normally when something is added to the SteamDB website in this way it is considered a sign that the release of new content is approaching, so let's wait and see at the end of February, maybe these leaks and signs are true after all!

New expansion price

The Elden Ring Colosseum DLC was added to the game via a free update, but the Shadow of the Erdtree content will almost certainly not be free.

The company has not yet announced the official price of the addition, knowing that the price of the main game is US$$ 59.99 on all platforms, although you can find it for a much lower price nowadays through big discounts.

If you look at the prices of FromSoftware's previous downloadable content for games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, you'll notice that they're much lower than the base game. For example, the company's two DLC expansions for Dark Souls 3 cost around US$1,400, while the Bloodborne DLC costs US$1,400,000.

So we can do the same with the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, although it might have a higher price tag, especially if it's really big, which would make the price of the new expansion around US$ 20-30.

to conclude.. Souls fans are holding high hopes for the massive Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, including the likely release date, estimated cost, and features to expect. We hope it will be a long and exciting content experience, as the leaks indicate, that will reach the heights of the original game, where we spent hundreds of hours exploring its vast world.