The highlight of every Souls game is the collection of grotesque and challenging bosses, and Elden Ring is no different. In fact, it had a whopping 238 bosses to cleave through – though this includes duplicate bosses and optional encounters. Well, the new Elden Ring DLC bosses look to up the ante – and frustration – even further by adding over ten encounters that will give players Malenia-level battles.
In an interview with Eurogamer, FromSoftware boss Hidetaka Miyazaki explains that Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdree DLC will deliver over ten “challenging encounters” and “menacing threats”. Most importantly though, in reference to the brutally challenging Malenia – the hardest of Elden Ring’s bosses in the base game – Miyazaki claims that “players who look for that sort of challenge in our games will find a challenge on equal footing in the DLC.” In other words, you can expect to face off against some incredibly challenging bosses once the Shadow of the Erdtree release date on PS5 and Xbox.
Though having the difficulty kick off on a similar footing to the endgame of Elden Ring sure sounds like a challenge, getting destroyed several times over before finally beating the boss is half the fun of the best Soulslikes. Plus, the DLC bosses look to be some of the most unique boss designs yet.
From eldritch beasts to corrupt knights, you can get a glimpse of some of the menacing new Shadow of the Erdtree bosses in the gameplay reveal trailer below:
However, Miyazaki also explains that the team want players to “feel free in how they choose and when they choose to approach and tackle these hardships.” Remember, Elden Ring is one of the best open-world games too, expanding the scope of the Souls series to a larger map than ever before. Pair this with a new progression feature unique to the DLC area and you will have much more freedom to walk away and live to fight another day. So worry not, Tarnished, take advantage of the new open area ( which is “larger even than Limgrave”, for a sense of scale) and level up before taking on these brutal bosses.
With Shadow of the Erdree also adding eight new weapon types, you’re certainly going to be spoilt for choice in the colossal new expansion to one of the best RPG games. Given its surprising $40 price tag, the Elden Ring DLC could almost feel like a whole new PS5 game and new Xbox game. Unfortunately, we’ve still got to wait a little longer before we can explore the next fetid swamp and get stomped by a towering troublemaker, though that gives you time to dig into Hi-Fi Rush and two other Xbox exclusives that are arriving on PS5 and Switch very soon.