The Elden Ring DLC is here. Two years after the release of the core game, FromSoft have released Shadow of the Eldtree, a challenging continuation of the story that ventures into The Realm of the Shadow, a domain that’s been kept apart from the Lands Between. New enemies, monsters, and a new — and stunning — map await all who dare enter in their search for Miquella.

If you hate it, you’ll hate it for its scaling. The boss roster is the best we’ve seen from this developer, with a worthy build up. But the learning curve is steep. That’s not to say you won’t improve, but that you’ll be forced to if you want to advance. The damage they do to seasoned players — even Level 185s at Level 10 Scadutree Blessing — means that you definitely need to power up before you try to solo anyone.

New enemies, new ways to kill them. The variety of new weapons, Ashes of War, and Talismans that you can use to give your foes a beatdown makes the immense challenge to do so a fun one. It also means that you can tear through several playthroughs to test out the effectiveness of each weapon or a new character build.

💯 Rating: 77% on Steam, 95% on Metacritic, 88% audience rating.

⌛ Hours of gameplay: 25.5 hours, 48.5 hours for 100% completion.

🔁 Replay value: 10/10.

👾 Platforms: Steam for PC, Playstation, and Xbox.

💵 Price: USD 25.99 on Steam, USD 39.99 on PS and Xbox.

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