Best Expansion 2024: Elden Ring – Shadow of the Erdtree

GamesRPGElden Ring: Shadow of the ErdtreeBest Expansion 2024: Elden Ring – Shadow of the ErdtreeWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Best Expansion 2024: Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

How do you improve on one of the best games of 2022? This is how. For more awards, check out ourGame of the Year 2024hub.

Tyler Colp, Associate Editor:My favorite expansions don’t just answer questions or continue the plot from the original game, they stretch your imagination for what is even possible within it. Shadow of the Erdtree completes Elden Ring like it was always supposed to be there, adding surprising new weapon types, gorgeous new areas, and brutal new enemies.

The entire thing is built like the original Dark Souls; it’s not exactly a corkscrew world, but it certainly feels like it as you drop down into dungeons and resurface in a place you caught glimpses of 20 hours before. The Land of Shadow is dense with secrets and structures that slowly unravel one final, masterful story inFromSoftware’s tremendous action RPG.

Fraser Brown, Online Editor:Shadow of the Erdtree lets you murder gods with your stinky feet. It’s very good.

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

shinobi assassin looking guy dual wielding under hand swords

Harvey Randall, Staff Writer:I beat Radahn, Promised Consort (Radahn was harder pre-patch) after hours of trying (he’s easier now). Obviously, everyone else struggled (it was way harder before), likely including you, dear reader (I beat him on release, it was harder).

Shadow of the Erdtree is excellent—like a window into what Elden Ring could’ve been with a tighter, closer-knit world. New records for blood pressure aside, I had a blast. While I did enjoy the breathtaking scope of the base game plenty in my first playthrough, I missed the days when so-called “legacy dungeons” were just the entire meat of the series' gameplay—please imagine me shaking my first at a cloud—and Shadow of the Erdtree came close to a complete return to that form.

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The entire expansion’s world is layered on top of itself like a pain lasagne, with outdoor environments that never overstay their welcome. There are a couple of spots where you can feel FromSoftware biting off more than it can chew, but on the whole, the deliciously dense delicacy made me very happy. Except for Radahn, he can taste my tarnished heel.

Sean Martin, Senior Guides Writer:Though I’ll always have a soft spot for how Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City perfectly conclude Dark Souls 3, or The Old Hunters' absolutely top tier bosses, Shadow of the Erdtree is undoubtedly the most intricate expansion FromSoft has ever produced.

As both Wes and Harvey note, exploring the map is a wonderfully layered experience. While guiding the game, I remember the all-consuming excitement of finding a tiny ledge in the final area and following it, crossing towers, jumping through a window, and taking lifts down until I eventually found a hidden shrine with a legendary weapon.

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

The funniest thing is I remember looking up at the same shrine 40 hours earlier from another area, wondering how I’d ever get there. FromSoft is fantastic at those down-the-rabbit-hole experiences and it truly perfected the craft with this expansion.

Ted Litchfield, Associate Editor:My own, personal game of the year for 2024. Mechanically a marvel: Some of the best weapons, levels, and bosses FromSoftware has ever made. Dex gang rise up, we needed overpowered beauts like the Backhand Blades or Rakshasa’s Great Katana to handle enemies like Ultra Instinct Brother-Husband and Bayle, the best videogame dragon ever.

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