FromSoftware’s expansion,Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, not only introduces challenging new bosses but also expands the world with an entirely new map, the Land of Shadow. This landscape has many new areas to explore.
The art direction of FromSoftware games have always been some of the best in the industry, and they blow us away with consistently beautiful areas in their games, like Anor Londo in the Souls series or Siofra River in Elden Ring. But they took it to a new high in this DLC and set a new standard for themselves and the industry as a whole, highlighting a focus on art direction instead of visual overhauls.
10Ancient Ruins Of Rauh
The Final Area You’ll Explore Before Enir-Ilim
Forget crumbling castles; these ruins are just as pretty, if not more. Overgrown with greenery and shrouded in an eerie mist, Rauh is a maze of collapsed structures and hidden passages. Enemies lurk around every corner, ready to ambush unsuspecting players.
The Ancient Ruins of Rauh lead to the Church of the Bud, an area where you may fight Romina, and is a mandatory area to remove the shade from Enir-Ilim, where you confront Miquella once and for all. There’s a lot of verticality in this location, but it still leaves more to be desired.
9Cerulean Coast
A Huge Piece Of Land Covered With Blue Flowers
The Cerulean Coast is a beautifully unique place in the Land of Shadowthat doesn’t have much in terms of content for its size when compared to other areas like Gravesite Plain. But what it does have is that awe factor with the blue hue of the ground and the color scheme of the horizon.
This area is home to Stone Coffin Fissure, where you can face down one of the remembrance bosses, Putrescent Knight, and find Miquella’s discarded half, St. Trina at the end. She reveals some lore about the Empyrean that was previously only speculated about.
8Gravesite Plain
Gaze Upon The Scadutree And Be Mesmerized By The View
The DLC’s Limgrave, Gravesite Plain successfully captures the same magical feeling of walking into the Lands Between for the first time when the game released. As the starting area, it’s chock-full of content and things to do before heading to your first dungeon.
With the Scadutree in full, glorious view,you can face down the Furnace Golem right in front of youand then move towards Belurat or Castle Ensis to progress the game. There are many bosses to face and many places to explore in Gravesite Plain, easily sucking up hours of your time.
7Scaduview
The Closest You’ll Get To The Scadutree
Scaduview is another new location you can access through multiple pathways, but the main one leads from the Shadow Keep where, upon defeating Commander Gaius, you’re given access to the region.
The main selling point of Scaduview is the secret location only revealed to you through a gesture that clears a path to the Hinterlands. This is a beautiful and colorful area that’s mostly empty but tells the story of Marika and her kind and gives us the reasoning for the purge of the Hornsent, making this area one of the most important places in the DLC in terms of story.
6Jagged Peak
Orange Skies Mark The Territory Of Bayle The Dread
Jagged Peak is another location that requires you to travel an obscure path and defeat a decently strong boss to enter. It is here that you’ll find the Grand Altar of Dragon Communion. The color scheme of Jagged Peak itself should earn an award or two for leaving an impression on any player who wandered into this area by pure chance.
As you travel through Jagged Peak, you’ll realize there’s not much to do here besides fighting a boss or two. But reaching the summit is one of the best experiences in a FromSoftware game ever.You’ll be greeted by the new king of Dragon boss fights, Bayle the Dread, a cinematic and unforgettable experience and one of the hardest bosses in FromSoftware history.
5Castle Ensis
Rellana’s Place Of Guard
Castle Ensis is the second legacy dungeon that leads to the main region of the game, Scadu Altus. Design wise, Castle Ensis is very reminiscent of Raya Lucaria, giving the same general feel along with some Lothric castle vibes from Dark Souls 3.
It makes perfect sense, too, as the main boss you face here is Rellana, sister to Rennala, having a connection to the Carian Royalty that she abandoned. As one of the coolest boss fights in the game, Rellana adds to the overall experience of Castle Ensis in a spectacular way.
4Belurat Tower Settlement
The Face Of The Hornsent Persecution
Perhaps one of the best legacy dungeons of the DLC,Belurat Tower Settlement is the first major area in the Land of Shadow, where you gaze upon the horror Marika inflicted upon the Hornsent and battle the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, one of the more epic bosses FromSoftware has designed for Elden Ring.
Like other areas in the game, Belurat has a lot of verticality and secrets, some being uncovered after defeating endgame bosses like Messmer and Romina. It’s a great introduction to the DLC and one of the best locations in Elden Ring as a whole.
3Abyssal Woods
FromSoftware’s Brilliant Way Of Making A Scary Atmosphere
The Abyssal Woods is a madness-themed region that does the horror vibe perfectly and reminds us a lot of Bloodborne in some ways. You can’t even summon Torrent here, because he’s too afraid, and you’ll see why when you face the Aged Ones. The Aged Ones in the Elden Ring DLC are untouchable enemies that can run faster than you and won’t stop till you’re dead, with your best option being to avoid them entirely.
FromSoftware really took the ‘Less is More’ golden rule of the horror genre to the max with the Abyssal Woods location and also added a legacy dungeon and a remembrance boss at the edges of the area, really elevating the experience as a whole.
2Enir-Ilim
Godhood Awaits Those Who Reach The Gates Of Divinity
Enir-Ilim is the final area and one of the most well-designed legacy dungeons in Elden Ring, with layers upon layers of secrets to uncover and lore to understand. Enir-Ilim is the place where Marika ascended to Godhood, with Miquella following in her footsteps after abandoning everything.
You get to face many unique enemies, like the Divine Beast Knights, and with so much detail and verticality, there are a lot of places to visit. At the end, you’ll even face Needle Knight Leda, her allies, and eventually the final boss of the DLC, wrapping things up with a bang.
1Shadow Keep
Messmer’s Castle From Where He Exacts His Mother’s Wishes
One of the most impressive legacy dungeons in the game, Shadow Keep, is the penultimate dungeon, and it has so many layers and secrets that it will take hours for an average player to fully uncover the lore of the place.
You face here one of the most well-designed bosses FromSoftware has ever put out, and it’s a face you’ve already seen: Messmer the Impaler. The Shadow Keep even has its own alternate entrance that leads to multiple areas and other Remembrance bosses, like Commander Gaius and the Scadutree Avatar, paths to whom are found by exploring well-hidden areas of the keep.
