Elden Ring developer FromSoftware just lately introduced particulars on the sport’s extremely anticipated growth, Shadow of the Erdtree. This meaty new addition to the role-playing sport’s already large open world will arrive this June, letting gamers go to an unexplored area referred to as the Land of Shadow. Like FromSoftware’s previous expansions, count on difficult new bosses to battle and highly effective new weapons and skills to wield.
June is a good distance away, although, particularly when seen from the attitude of ready for brand spanking new Elden Ring content material. However when it comes to getting your Tarnished prepared and reorienting your self on the planet, there’s no time like the current to revisit the bottom sport. Take a touch from the tens of hundreds of gamers, according to Steam Charts, who’ve returned to the sport over the previous month: It’s excessive time to return to the Lands Between.
I jumped again into the sport just some days after February’s announcement of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree for a couple of causes:
- I wanted to put in writing a information about easy methods to entry Shadow of the Erdtree’s content material, which may solely be accessed by progressing not less than a couple of hours into the sport and beating a demigod-class boss;
- On a lark, I had just lately revisited one other FromSoft sport, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and realized I had fully misplaced any muscle reminiscence I’d acquired by beating that sport a number of occasions;
- I had just lately spoken with a good friend who tried to revisit Cyberpunk 2077 after a yearslong pause between that sport’s troubled launch and the discharge of the Phantom Liberty growth. He discovered it disorienting to attempt to bounce right into a closely modified sport after prolonged away time.
Returning to Elden Ring and beginning with a brand new character helped me keep in mind a couple of issues. The early hours of the sport will be grueling, even when Limgrave, the primary space, is satisfying to discover on the again of your steed, Torrent. Battling robust enemies just like the Tree Sentinel and Margit, the Fell Omen had been particularly punishing at low ranges with the awful tools of my new character. I wanted to, as soon as once more, get good.
One of the best purpose for returning to an previous sport like Elden Ring is rediscovering — and in some instances, discovering for the primary time — its many layers and secrets and techniques. Throughout this new playthrough, I discovered a Crystal Tear I hadn’t encountered in my earlier 200 hours with the sport. What’s extra, I had barely paid consideration to Elden Ring lore as I hurriedly performed by the sport initially for overview. This time, I really listened to the dialogue disbursed by Melina, Ranni the Witch, and others, so I might be higher ready for no matter story beats await in Shadow of the Erdtree. I’m now going slowly, poring over merchandise descriptions and digesting lore movies in an try and make sense of Elden Ring’s opaque storytelling.
Ranging from scratch with a brand new character could profit me in one other approach: I received’t be beginning Shadow of the Erdtree at a brand new sport plus (plus plus plus) stage of issue — if that even issues. Recreation director Hidetaka Miyazaki says that Shadow of the Erdtree can have “a component of leveling distinctive to the DLC,” which can make my concern moot, however I don’t need to method the growth both over- or under-leveled. In an interview with Famitsu, Miyazaki likened the brand new leveling aspect to the assault energy system in Sekiro.
“Separate from the unique stage system there’s an ‘assault energy’ that’s solely enabled within the DLC areas,” Miyazaki said in comments translated from Japanese. “This was launched as a way to give freedom to satisfy the threats talked about earlier, so you are able to do one thing like exploring different areas earlier than going again to problem bosses that had been too sturdy the primary time, permitting you to extra simply expertise this even within the high-level vary.”
No matter that new leveling system seems to be, I’d wish to be ready. Whether or not that’s with certainly one of my superior high-level characters or my brand-new one, I’m glad to have a number of choices. I’ll be prepared and ready, inside arm’s attain of Miquella’s gross egg sac, for my first steps into the Land of Shadow.