Elden Ring is regarded as one of the best games of all time. When it came out back in 2022, it received rave reviews from critics and went on to sell more than 25 million copies. Shadow of the Erdtree, the first expansion for Elden Ring, is available from 20 June and critics have gotten to give it a try ahead of release.
But does Shadow of the Erdtree measure up to the precedent set by the base game? Well, reviews have been overwhelmingly positive with the general consensus being that it’s one of the best pieces of DLC of all time.
So, let’s take a look at what critics have been saying about it.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree review round-up
In a perfect 10/10 review, IGN‘s Mitchell Saltzman said that “it’s hard to imagine a better DLC than this.” He explained that it’s “the size of many standalone games all on its own” yet is “jam-packed with secrets, valuable treasures, challenging boss battles, and horrific monstrosities to face off against, as well as cool new weapons, spells, Ashes of War, Spirit Ashes, talismans, and more to play around with”.
In their 5 star review, Dexerto wrote that “Shadow of the Erdtree is worth the wait” as well as being a “fitting tribute to Elden Ring and a stunning finale that manages to surprise and shock us all over again.”
Gamesradar+ were equally as complimentary about Elden Ring‘s first and only expansion. “Shadow of the Erdtree has stuck the landing as smoothly as anybody could have expected, providing a whole new region and dozens of hours of refined content that in many places is arguably even better than Elden Ring itself,” wrote Joel Franey.
Alongside the spate of perfect reviews, there were also highly positive 9/10 scores that highlighted a few minor issues.
Dot Esports said that they noticed bosses occasionally standing still mid-fight, inconsistent collision detection, and reused enemies from the base game. However, despite these minor problems, they surmised that “Shadow of the Erdtree is an experience like no other that you shouldn’t miss out on” and that it’s “absolutely worth the 40-dollar price tag.”
Screen Rant‘s Christopher Teuton noted that Shadow of the Erdtree suffers from performance issues that aren’t present in the base game, explaining that there are “pretty noticeable texture pop-in issues, stuttering, and framerate drops”. Nevertheless, he concluded that “Shadow of the Erdtree is an excellent expansion of Elden Ring’s world – just turn off ray tracing before hopping in.”
In one of the DLC’s weaker reviews, Eurogamer wrote that one of the “biggest issues with this DLC is how explicitly it abandons the core appeal of Elden Ring as a living text to be read and learned, and ambiently, lovingly communicated across realms through vague multiplayer messages.” Instead, writes Alexis Ong, the DLC’s reliance on “unnecessary signposting” ultimately “undermines the hallmarks of its own genre”. They awarded a final score of 3/5.
Overall, reviews of Shadow of the Erdtree have been overwhelmingly positive. Per Metacritic, the DLC sits at a score of 95/100 on PS5 and 92/100 on PC indicating “Universal Acclaim”.
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