With Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree, developer FromSoftware has packed over 10 bosses and "around 100" new weapons into the new Land of Shadow area.
That's according to publisher Bandai Namco, who discussed the scope of Shadow of the Erdtree at a recent event attended by 12DOVE. Speaking of which, you can read our Elden Ring DLC hands-on preview for details on what we learned after three hours in the Land of Shadow.
"Around 100 new weapons, including eight new categories, each with several variations," as one Bandai representative put it, is a staggering figure in and of itself. FromSoftware's previous DLCs, like Bloodborne's Old Hunters or Dark Souls' Artorias of the Abyss, generally added a few dozen weapons at most. This is an imperfect comparison since these games were nowhere near as large as Elden Ring to begin with and these add-ons were scaled to match, but it does put the scope of Shadow of the Erdtree into perspective.
The boss count needs a little more unpacking. It appears that FromSoftware isn't including everything that has a health bar at the bottom of your screen. To get a little more specific, that's over 10 major bosses, with minor bosses seemingly in their own category. I've reached out to Bandai for clarification and exact details on this, and will update if I hear back.
"Just like in Elden Ring, not all bosses need to be defeated, but there will still be plenty of difficult challenges for the brave Tarnished who wish to test themselves," Bandai said.
The key takeaway here is that Shadow of the Erdtree is a lot bigger than many players anticipated. I remember seeing optimistic estimations in the 30 - 50 range for new weapons, and we've somehow ended up with double the higher end of that range. There is a lot to find and test here, and I got the impression that a lot of the new gear will rank among the best weapons in the whole game.
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