Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is just what I wanted: more Elden Ring
My first steps into Elden Ring’s new Shadow of the Erdtree expansion feel like coming home again. After traveling there, by touching a withered arm, I step out into a grassy plain, and see a crumbling giant tree in the distance. The land is pocked with intangible gravestones and spirit-world versions of enemies I’ve faced before: dogs and wandering nobles. But it isn’t long until I face something terrifying in this new region, the Land of Shadow, in the form of a giant walking iron brazier filled with embers and burning prisoners.
As I try to slash at that hundred-foot monstrosity, I learn pretty quickly that even the highly leveled, generously equipped knight I’ve been given to play as part of a three-hour preview of the DLC is no match for the thing. It kicks huge, unavoidable piles of flaming debris at me as I try to run away. A handful of other unfamiliar monsters — Gravebirds, smaller cousins of the Death Rite Birds from Elden Ring, and lithe ash-skinned humanoids armed with twin circular blades — pile on and thrash my poor knight.
Even at a high level, I’m underprepared for what awaits in the Land of Shadow. But there’s a new kind of power-up scattered around the Gravesite Plain and in dungeons nearby: Scadutree Fragments. These new consumable items are splinters from this world’s version of the Erdtree. They bestow Scadutree Blessing on my knight, boosting virtually all of his stats. Shadow of the Erdtree players will need to hunt these fragments down to contend with the powerful enemies here. In my three hours of playtime, I found a half-dozen of them with relative ease. I also found plenty of the DLC’s other new power-up, Revered Spirit Ash, an item that makes my Spirit Ashes and my steed, Torrent, stronger.
Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes can be used at sites of grace in the Land of Shadow to become stronger, similar to how players use Golden Seeds and Sacred Tears to empower their flasks in Elden Ring. The blessings provided by those new
Read more on polygon.com
