The Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, may come out soon, a year after its announcement and two years on from Elden Ring’s release.
FromSoftware’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC was announced in February 2023 with a teaser image, but there have been almost no more concrete details since.
However, there may not be much longer to wait.
Shadow of the Erdtree DLC release date
According to the backend of PC gaming store Steam, FromSoftware is preparing a new DLC package for Elden Ring. It’s called “Unknown App 2778580” because it’s hidden from the eyes of the average Steam user but visible through data scraper website SteamDb.info.
It was spotted by Twitter/X user Ziostorm on January 15, but the shadow DLC has been updated since, according to our own searches.
There is no definite suggestion this release is Shadow of the Erdtree, but it does tie in with a report from December 2023.
Retailer DataBlitz posted a pre-order page for an Elden Ring Thrustmaster controller. This was described as being in “sync with the new Shadow of the Erdtree expansion release” and labelled with a “tentative release date” of February 2024.
This page has long since been pulled but is viewable through the WaybackMachine website.
At the PlayStation Partner Awards 2023 in December 2023, FromSoftware producer Yasuhiro Kitao said the DLC was “progressing well” but “still has a way to go”, according to Japanese site Game Watch.
We are in new territory here, as the release of Shadow of the Erdtree is in a completely different time scale to FromSoftware’s previous games.
Two years on from Dark Souls II, From Software had released not just three DLC packs, but also its sequel Dark Souls III.
The stakes are higher this time too. Elden Ring has sold upwards of 20 million copies, a landmark FromSoftware announced in May 2023. This is double the sales of FromSoftware’s second best-selling title, Dark Souls III, with 10 million copies sold.
Shadow of the Erdtree DLC news
FromSoftware has kept an impressively tight lid on what’s coming in Shadow of the Erdtree. Its initial teaser image is still the best indicator of what the DLC may focus on.
It shows the Erdtree of the title, which in Elden Ring proper is a giant, fantastical-looking tree visible from miles around. The DLC teaser image shows the tree bent, cracked and disintegrating, with what looks like a fiery light falling out of its core.
The foreground is packed with ghosts and the ghosts of gravestones. To the far right of the frame, there appears to be a woman with long, flowing hair riding a horned horse.
Elden Ring fans have suggested this person is Miquella, a minor character in the original game. Miquella is a “he” not a “she”, a demi-god whose twin sibling Malenia the player can fight in Elden Ring.
Outside of lore-heads circles, we wouldn’t be surprised if the presence of this character just means Miqella is one of the bosses you will need to defeat. And the state of the Erdtree? It suggests we’re looking at an era set after the main events of Elden Ring.
More importantly, the sheer amount of time that has passed since Elden Ring’s release suggests Shadow of the Erdtree is likely to be the most substantial piece of DLC FromSoftware has made.
The presence of the Erdtree in the teaser suggests we may be dealing with a world transformed, rather than a brand-new environment. However, we expect to see what — to the player — comes across as fresh areas. And more bosses, weapons and suggestions at Elden Ring lore? Absolutely.
And is it at our doorstep? If Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Edtree were to arrive in February, it’s starting to look like that would involve a “shadow drop” where a game’s release is announced as it happens. FromSoftware’s last major DLC, The Old Hunters for Bloodborne, had its release date announced a little under 10 weeks before it came out.
If that more conventional route is taken, at least a few months more remain until you can play Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.
