Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree Boss Fights Are "On Equal Footing" With Malenia

thegamer.com:

Elden Ring's long-awaited Shadow of the Erdtree DLC was finally shown off in a lengthy gameplay trailer earlier today, showcasing the world we'll be exploring when it drops later this year. On top of the various weapons, locations, and horrible abominations that were shown off in the trailer, we also got a glimpse at several new boss fights, each one looking rather challenging and foreboding.

It begs the question as to how difficult these boss fights will truly be, with Malenia, Blade of Miquella having scarred FromSoftware fans in the base game. Turns out, we might end up with a lot more broken controllers and rage-induced tantrums than initially expected, as Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki recently explained in an interview with Eurogamer that several of Shadow of the Erdtree's boss fights will be "on equal footing" with Malenia herself.

In the interview, Miyazaki is asked about Shadow of the Erdtree's difficulty, given that most of FromSoftware's other DLC offerings for the Souls games and Bloodborne are usually much more difficult than their base games. Elden Ring will prove no exception, as Miyazaki made sure to fill Shadow of the Erdtree with "challenging encounters" and "menacing threats" that can be approached in a variety of ways. He goes on to name the Malenia boss fight specifically, explaining that players who look for "that sort of challenge" will be pleased.

"So players who look for that sort of challenge in our games will find a challenge on equal footing in the DLC as well." - Hidetaka Miyazaki

It'll be interesting to see just how difficult these new boss fights are, especially when Dark Souls and Bloodborne DLC have given us some beauties in the past. Slave Knight Gael from Dark Souls 3 and the Orphan of Kos from Bloodborne are considered some of the best work that FromSoftware has ever produced in the soulslike genre, so let's keep our fingers crossed that we'll get a challenge of similar magnitude to batter us silly this June.

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