With Shadow of the Erdtree out, players are taken aback by how large Elden Ring’s first and only DLC really is. It’s at the point where people have just defaulted to calling it Elden Ring 2.
Leading up to the release of Shadow of the Erdtree, FromSoftware was very tight-lipped on what players could expect, especially regarding the scope of the DLC.
Sure,content creators were taking educated guesseson how big the Land of Shadow would be, and sure, Director HidetakaMiyazaki said in an interview with IGNthat it would be around the size of Limgrave, or a little larger than it.
Yet, upon sauntering into the Shadow Realm, it became clear to players that Miyazaki undersold how massive the new setting would be.
Elden Ring layers far and wide have been left speechless by Shadow of the Erdtree’s scope. Some have even gone on to say it should be titled Elden Ring 2.
“It was too large to be called a DLC, too polished, too based. It was more like a huge sequel,”one Reddit user shared.
Another added: “Yeah I am very overwhelmed with how big this sh*t is. No way in hell is this a DLC.” One comment even mentioned how much the video game industry has changed, as they likened Shadow of the Erdtree to an expansion rather than a DLC.
The size of the DLC isn’t the only shocker, as players have learned howhard Shadow of the Erdtree is. Incredible builds are being demolished left and right, andcontent creatorsaround the world are rage-quitting the game.
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If you ask Miyazaki, however, that’s because he wantsplayers to have a sense of achievementafter overcoming insurmountable odds.
Our very ownreview gave it a 5/5, dubbing it a “sublime swansong” from Elden Ring’s DLC. It’s also dethroned The Witcher 3’s Blood and Wine expansion to claim the label ofhighest-rated DLC of all time.
John Esposito was a Games Writer on Dexerto’s US team, specializing in Call of Duty, Valorant, and other first-person shooter games. He also has bylines at GameRant, Twinfinite, and Jaxon, covering everything related to gaming.
