It feels like a lifetime ago that FromSoftware officially announced Shadow of the Erdtree, the first portion of DLC en route to Elden Ring. Somehow, it's been less than a year. Nevertheless, when that single image was teased on social media – on February 28, 2023, less than a year after the base game arrived in March, 2022 – it sent the esteemed action-RPG's fervent fan base into a frenzy, with internet commentators across the board dissecting, twisting and turning the 16:9 still in innumerable ways in their bid to make sense of it.
I was one of those people, asking in the immediate wake of the DLC's unveiling: Is Shadow of the Erdtree the Elden Ring Miquella DLC we've wanted all along? A full 327 days later and I'm no closer to answering that, which for me, marks both a blessing and a potential curse for Elden Ring's next long-awaited and highly-anticipated steps – be that in the Lands Between or wherever else its sword may fall.
Time, the great teaser
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I've said this umpteen times before, but I'm a firm believer in developers taking their time behind the scenes. I'd much rather wait longer for something than pay for something that's been hauled from the oven too soon, and therefore will never criticize the decision to delay or sit on games until they're absolutely ready. That said, this stance never makes the wait itself any easier, especially when it applies to something like Elden Ring's first official slice of added content. I, like any Elden Ring fan out there, cannot wait to sink my teeth into whatever's next, and the fact that we still don't know, well, anything about Shadow of the Erdtree is equally wonderful and mind-bending.
Looking at FromSoftware's back catalog, there were six months between Dark Souls 3's worldwide release and its first expansion, Ashes of Ariandel. Dark Souls 2 rolled out Crown of the Sunken King just three months after its base game's launch; while Bloodborne's The Old Hunters arrived eight months after its source. The first Dark Souls, released in October 2011 on PS3 and Xbox 360 (September in Japan), waited 10 months for its Artorias of the Abyss DLC, which was rolled into the game's Prepare To Die Edition PC port in August the following year. The Activision-published Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the only FromSoftware game since Dark Souls not to receive any added content beyond official updates, making the Sengoku-period action RPG the outlier among an otherwise busy bunch.
Approaching the two-year mark without a sniff of official communication beyond a single image is unprecedented against FromSoftware's previous base game-to-DLC timelines, but Elden Ring itself is likewise unprecedented in terms of its stature and scale. It's a big game, with scores of characters, locations, baddies and bosses, so it makes sense that its first expansion matches that ambition and execution. The thing is: that's a bit of a double-edged Greatsword. Yes, it's good that FromSoftware is taking its time to get Shadow of the Erdtree just right, but the wait has also generated more hype than I've ever seen among the Soulsborne community – even more so than before the arrival of Elden Ring itself.
While we still don't know what to expect from Shadow of the Erdtree, the Elden Ring community knows what it wants: more of the same. But Elden Ring was so good, that simply delivering more, clearly, isn't as easy as it sounds. So, what we're left with is the dichotomy of patiently waiting and allowing our imaginations to run wild. Had FromSoftware fired out a half-baked DLC in the first six months post-launch, expectations would have been lower. If the quality wasn't there, fans would have spoken up, and the developer would have risked disrupting the base game's unshakable momentum – especially in that first year. Instead, FromSoftware chose to take its time, in turn raising the bar of expectation sky high.
Of course, if all goes to plan it's a masterful move from FromSoftware. If the developer manages to match the hype with groundbreaking DLC that's as enchanting and entertaining as the Elden Ring base game two-and-a-bit years down the line, then it's job done and everyone's happy. But if it misses the mark, it does so while shouldering the full weight of anticipation among its fans. That can't be easy on the developer's side, but given how accomplished Elden Ring is, not to mention the experience the studios brings from everything from Dark Souls to Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro and Armored Core 6, I reckon FromSoftware's up to the task. Assuming this is the case, I can't foresee a situation where Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is not my personal Game of the Year in 2024.
