Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is no doubt one of the most anticipated titles of 2024. This is an expansion of the already famous 2022 blockbuster. And that means this DLC already has a very large fanbase waiting for it with very high expectations. The first trailer for the expansion was released recently, and it appears director Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team have put as much effort into this DLC as they did in the original game.
FromSoftware sure took their time before showing this DLC, though. They announced it a while ago but kept their fans waiting for any update for this long. And now, Hidetaka Miyazaki has revealed the reason for such a delay.
Hidetaka Miyazaki says Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is much larger in scope
Dark Souls 3 launched back in 2016, and it was a massive game in many ways. Much larger levels, larger enemies to defeat, and a dragon at every turn waiting to make the lives of players hell. This game expanded previously seen areas of Dark Souls 1 in very exciting ways, and that’s why it got such a glaring response too.
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No doubt FromSoftware was going to follow it with an expansion, and that’s exactly what they did. Within months of the original game’s launch, Ashes of Ariandel launched in October 2016. It added a brand new location to Dark Souls 3.
If that was not enough, fans got another DLC in March 2017. It was named The Ringed City, and it was massive. A mammoth new city was added to the game, with numerous legendary new bosses to battle. It was commendable how FromSoftware launched two expansions for this one game within a year of its launch.
Bloodborne is considered by many to be the best game FromSoftware has made; it was only overtaken in popularity by Elden Ring. Bloodborne launched back in 2015, and its DLC, The Old Hunters, was also launched the same year. Both got glowing reviews and ended up being immensely successful.
After this series of successes, someone decided to ask Hidetaka Miyazaki why those DLCs launched within a year of their respective games. And why is Shadow of the Erdtree released more than two years after the launch of the original game?
The answer was a simple one: Hidetaka Miyazaki said, “very sorry for keeping you waiting. But speaking about the volume of the DLC, it is clearly larger when compared to DS3 or Bloodborne. It is no mistake to say that this is our biggest DLC ever.”
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Elden Ring is a game that is very large; it might even be larger than both Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne combined. And its DLC was no doubt going to be an open world; hence, Shadow of the Erdtree too ended up being what it is: a sprawling open world.
As Miyazaki suggests, developing an open-world title is not the same as developing a DLC with a singular area and bosses that can be counted on fingers. This is not a dig at Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne and their DLCs either; they are excellent games, but in size, they are much smaller, and that’s why this DLC took this long to develop.
After all, if anything is proven by Elden Ring, it’s the fact that FromSoftware loves crowding its maps with secrets, caves, and catacombs to find and explore. This DLC would be surrounded by such things, without a doubt.
An open-world Bloodborne would be something else
Elden Ring is seen by many as the next step in Dark Souls’ journey. Similar gameplay mechanics, a similar gloomy world, and a story featuring an undead hero. These games have more in common than anyone would care to accept.
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In a similar vein, it would be excellent if Hidetaka Miyazaki decided to bring Bloodborne to the open world too. That game’s environment would just blow up in an open-world setting. Let’s see what Miyazaki and the folks at FromSoftware have in mind, though.
