The Pros and Cons of Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree Entry Point

Highlights

• Elden Ring’s upcoming DLC Shadow of the Erdtree starts in Mohg’s arena, a late-game area that makes for a challenging entry point.
• On the positive end of the spectrum, the DLC being accessible late into a playthrough both guarantees it will be challenging and ensures that players will be experienced enough to handle all its threats.
• However, one downside is that players who have lost their save or started new game plus (or played through NG+ several times and have burnt themselves out) will have to play through a chunk of the base game again just to experience the new content.

Elden Ring‘s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is now mere months away from release, and fans are busy pouring over every detail of available information in order to speculate about the expansion’s content. One key detail revealed by Hidetaka Miyazaki during his recent round of press interviews is the DLC’s starting point, which is in the boss arena of Mohg, Lord of Blood. This late-game optional area is an interesting choice for Shadow of the Erdtree’s starting point, and there are both advantages and disadvantages to using it.

For developer FromSoftware, Elden Ring represented an astronomical leap forward in terms of size and scope, compared to all of its past projects. This paid dividends with the game winning multiple awards, and selling over 23 million copies to date. As a result of this, the DLC understandably has a huge amount of hype surrounding it, even more so since the recent trailer revealed several new areas and enemies. Mohg’s arena will be where players must get to in order to begin their journey into this expansion, and for some who have yet to play the game, arriving at this point may prove to be extremely challenging.

Shadow of the Erdtree Should be Challenging For Elden Ring Veterans and Newcomers Alike

Of course, choosing a late-game area as an entry point for DLC is nothing new for FromSoftware. The Dark Souls trilogy each followed the same pattern, locking the expansions until players reach a certain point in the game. Given that these expansions are typically even more challenging than their respective base games, this makes a lot of sense. Throwing such a daunting, unforgiving challenge at new players who have either not yet start or are very early into the main game would alienate many fans, and prevent them from experiencing this new content, which historically has been some of FromSoftware’s best work.

For some, however, locking this new content behind a late, tricky-to-find starting point will be frustrating. For new players diving in for the first time specifically to play Shadow of the Erdtree they will find themselves having to battle through hours of the main campaign before they can experience the new content. Veterans who might have already played through multiple New Game+ campaigns may not want to play through an entire chunk of the game yet again just to be able to play the expansion. Whether FromSoftware implements any additional workarounds for these players remains to be seen, but this would go against the norm based on their past work.

Elden Ring’s DLC Entry Point Makes Sense

Perhaps the best example of a late-game entry point for DLC is Bloodborne, a game that many consider to be among FromSoftware’s finest projects. Bloodborne‘s The Old Hunters expansion can only be accessed by following a set of very specific instructions during the game’s latter stages. However, it quickly becomes apparent that this has been done for a good reason. While the base game is punishing, The Old Hunters cranks up the pressure considerably, throwing the most challenging bosses, enemies, and areas at the player in what feels like no time at all. Ludwig, the Accursed is a mandatory boss found very early on in the DLC, and he proves to be something of a roadblock for underprepared players. Without significant time spent playing the game and mastering the combat mechanics, players would stand very little chance of beating this monstrosity.

Given the expectation that Shadow of the Erdtree will prove to be even more challenging than Elden Ring itself, it makes sense to make sure players have at least played through a large portion of the game before tackling the DLC. For those already on multiple playthroughs, who may be fearing that they could be over-levelled, Miyazaki has teased a new ‘progression’ system similar to Sekiro‘s, which could allay some of these fears by ensuring the enemies and bosses are appropriately scaled, regardless of the player’s level.