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I really do love Shadow of the Erdtree. I love its varied, spectacular environments. I love how its dungeons are more convincingly integrated into the world design, the map as a whole a puzzle to solve.

I love the visual style, how emerging into each area is framed like a renaissance painting of a post-battle autumnal dreamscape. But I have to admit, the Elden Ring DLC has a problem with progression. And it's a problem some inspiration from Nintendo could solve.



After all, Elden Ring is just Breath of the Wild - Dark Souls, right? I jest. Since its release, much of the Shadow of the Erdtree discourse has focused on difficulty. And that's to be expected for a Souls game.

But really, the perceived challenge is exacerbated by the DLC's new Shadow Realm Blessing progression system, which limits player agency in favour of a singular mission. That's somewhat antithetical to the Elden Ring experience, the beauty of which is in the options it provides players. Struggling with a boss? Go explore elsewhere, find some new gear, or simply grind for runes to level up your stats.

It's this built-in approachability that, in part, led to the game's meteoric success. Yet this is lost in Shadow of the Erdtree. At this late point in the game, levelling stats requires hundreds of thousands of runes for a minimal improvement.

And as any gear found must tie back to the base game, it rarely offers defensive improvements over what's already been acquired. That's not to say there aren't options - I'm.

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