The Three Biggest Reveals From Elden Ring’s DLC Gameplay Showcase

FromSoftware has been ramping up its marketing efforts for Elden Ring’s first expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree as its release date, June 21, 2024, approaches. Recently, they had multiple content creators play an early preview of the upcoming expansion. The studio also showcased never-before-seen gameplay footage that gives us some pretty big revelations about what we can expect to see.

Safe to say, we’ve learned tons of new details, including the amount of content present in the expansion, as well as the names of all the new weapon types and a closer look at some of the main story elements. If you don’t mind spoilers, then there’s a lot to dive into.

It’s Utterly Massive

There was some discussion about just how big the DLC would be, especially after a statement Miyazaki revealed that it’d be about as big as Limgrave. Fans were worried if the expansion would thus offer enough content to chew on. That being said, with the new gameplay videos, it’s now confirmed that there are at least more than two legacy dungeons available, as well as multiple open-world regions.

The two that have been revealed so far are Belurat, The Tower Settlement, and Castle Ansus. There’s good reason to believe that there will be more dungeons beyond this. VaatiVidya, who got to try out a preview of Shadows of the Erdtree mentioned that he was only allowed to play through these two. However, the gameplay videos shown by FromSoftware highlight more areas beyond what VaatiVidya explored.

So there’s clearly a lot more to see in the DLC beyond the small portion of the content early previewers were allowed to see. It’s worth noting that even that much couldn’t be completed in the 3-hour window given to folks like VaatiVidya. This could help us understand the sheer scale of the content we should be expecting in the upcoming expansion, which is likely huge.

The New Weapon Types Are Wildly Different

Alongside new open-world zones and legacy dungeons, players will also be gaining access to a total of 8 new weapon types. Some of these had previously been revealed in the Shadows of the Erdtree trailer. However, now all 8 have been showcased. And some of these dynamically change up how you approach combat in the forthcoming expansion.

The most interesting ones, for me at least, are the Hand-to-Hand styles that are being added. One weapon of this type, called Dryleaf Arts, allows players to take on enemies in the style of a monk. It’s a fighting style that is very unique, especially in Soulslikes. Another worthy mention is Beast Claws, which gives players the option to move around at high speeds while making attacks similar to the Beast Clergyman in Caelid. 

As per VaatiVidya, these weapons will become available to players very early on. So, you’ll likely be able to make new builds and slay enemies with them for most of the new content. While the exact locations for each of these weapons will likely need a bit of exploring to discover, they’re so unique and interesting that I think players will likely scour the map on day 1 and locate each of them. 

There Are Huge Story Ramifications

Understanding the story of Elden Ring, or any FromSoftware storyline, requires a lot of homework on the part of the player. And while players believed they’d understood most of what Elden Ring had to offer, it seems likely that the forthcoming expansion will change a lot of how players view characters like Marika and Miquella. Shadow of the Erdtree is set in a new shadow realm that is seemingly reeling with the aftermath of a massive war.

Players are told to enter this realm and search for Miquella, but clearly all is not what it seems. Apparently, just the first two open-world areas have multiple NPCs that players can interact with and learn new lore from. So it’s clear that FromSoftware is making the story a huge focus in the DLC, maybe even giving players something close to the “true ending” of Elden Ring.

While the original endings in Elden Ring were decent, players still felt that none of them completely addressed the core issues the game posed. It looked like the Lands Between was more or less going to be ruined, no matter how you slice it. It’s possible Shadows of the Erdtree might change that with its upcoming content. But we’ll have to wait and see just how much it truly offers.