Where is Miquella?

This expansion of the original Elden Ring story takes place in a forgotten land veiled by the Shadow of the Erdtree. After defeating Mohg Bloodlord and approaching the cocoon in the Mohgwyn Dynasty, you will be greeted by Leda and invited to join her compatriots as they follow in the footsteps of Miquella through the Shadow Realm in the hope of finding him, investigating the fate of the missing god.

The DLC story follows the same pattern presented in the base game, where the basic dialogues are quite enigmatic and not very direct, requiring the player to explore the map and find items for a deeper explanation of the lore, something that From Software loves to do in their games.

A very interesting peculiarity about the DLC release was the requirements set to access the additional content, less than 40% of players had defeated Mohg, one of the bosses needed to enter the shadow realm, forcing many people to finally explore at least one more area they had not visited in the base game.

Something else that was quite interesting and created for the DLC, is that you don't only rely on the base points of your character, as a completely new system was created, where you need fragments to improve the damage level and resistance of your character in the shadow realm and another that increases the resistance of the mount and also of the summons.

But don't worry, your dedication in the base game is not lost, skill points, stamina, and mana are maintained, part of the damage as well, and we must not forget that you do not lose the effects of talismans and items, so your build is still functional even with the new system, besides the fact that this new system only works in the DLC.

Succumbing to the shadow realm

The DLC, as expected, came with a large amount of content, including an excellent amount of weapons and spells, something that From Software always does and never disappoints, with unique move sets and effects that bring immense dynamism to the player, giving the possibility to play in different ways and impressing with the variety.

Another thing that also surprised me, is that the enemies, for the most part, are completely new. It may seem a bit silly to say that this is a positive point when we think about a DLC having new enemies, it's something expected, however, analyzing the game market and the vastness that the map of this additional content has, it was expected that a good portion of enemies would be reused from the base game.

A good amount of dungeons was also added, both the ones we already knew and now the ones the developers called "Legacy Dungeons," which are part of the normal exploration map, but have some stronger enemies and better rewards, not following the standard of the normal dungeons found in the base game.

The bosses are also incredible, with impeccable aesthetic themes as we imagined, however, even though we expected them to come in a high standard, I was still surprised by the bosses, which are very intriguing and some even quite bizarre, but mostly they are definitely impressive and unique.

There are also new patterns and mechanics that added an extra level of complexity to boss fights, such as the jump, which was introduced in the Elden Ring game, and which was not simplified in the other souls-like games from From Software, and that ended up not being explored much in battles, something that in the DLC has a greater focus, being a fundamental mechanic to face some bosses.

Another important detail that has a lot to do with combat mechanics is the beloved level of difficulty of the souls games, which was something that Elden Ring spiced up with bosses with more random patterns, and now in the DLC intensified this even more, mixing new move sets with an even greater unpredictability of the bosses, raising the level even more.

And this increase in the level of complexity of the fights consequently raises the level of difficulty as well, something widely discussed by various players in the community who think that the difficulty has now reached another level in several of the game's bosses, being an even bigger problem for those who are not accustomed to the genre.

And this does not only affect the bosses, many minor enemies throughout the map are also more difficult, and apparently From Software learned a bit from the base game, making some enemies counters to certain builds, such as the mage build, which was quite overpowered and broke the game a bit, but in the DLC, some bosses are quite challenging for it.

The beauty of the ErdTree

Elden Ring by itself already had jaw-dropping scenarios, and in Shadow of the Erdtree it was no different, as you explore the vast map of the game, each new area is a different surprise, the way the maps are composed, the level of detail and the combination of colors create very impressive scenarios, making you want to explore every corner of the game even more.

The landscapes are almost always immense, giant trees, large castles, colossal dragons, and all of this combines with the gameplay, where you die many times, making you, the player, feel small and insignificant in such a vast world.

Something that also impressed me a lot were the effects, in the fight against the Dancing Lion, one of the bosses of the game, I was amazed by the absurd level of quality of the elemental attacks effects he uses, especially the lightning attacks, I admit that I even died a few times because I was stunned by some attack and didn't pay attention to dodge.

The sound part is not left behind, the effects are impeccable, the soundtrack is also impressive, but the part that catches my attention the most in the game is still the voice acting, the characters speak to us in such a unique way that I can't explain, all conveying a certain tone of melancholy and calm that convey very well the feeling of being in a world like that.

For all this, I affirm with great certainty that this DLC is one of the best I have ever played, it exceeded my already high expectations, managed to keep up very well with the quality level of the base game and still added a whirlwind of incredible things to the game.

We thank Bandai Namco for providing the key and making this content possible.