Earlier this morning, just days after Elden Ring celebrated its one-year anniversary, developer FromSoftware and publisher Bandai Namco announced DLC for the blockbuster game. Unfortunately, we don't have any details other than it's titled Shadow of the Erdtree.
The announcement came by way of a single tweet confirming the game's first official expansion is in development. But no release date or gameplay details were shared. We did get a single teaser image, though, which you can see below.
Elden Ring was released last February and has sold over 20 million copies. Given the game's commercial success, an expansion seemed inevitable.
Although the game had received DLC previously, it came in the form of multiplayer PvP through the Colosseum. This new DLC will almost certainly focus on the single-player story of Elden Ring, introducing new lore to uncover, lands to explore, characters to meet, and beasts to vanquish.
Even though it was just announced today, it's likely that FromSoftware has been working on Shadow of the Erdtree for at least a little while. Assuming it's been in development, a release window for later this year doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility.
Elden Ring is an open-world action role-playing game in which you traverse The Lands Between on a journey to repair the titular Elden Ring and become the new Elden Lord. Gameplay is in the same vein as that of FromSoftware's other hit franchise, Dark Souls, but expands on these mechanics by giving players unprecedented freedom to explore the game world as they best see fit. Like Dark Souls, Elden Ring also challenges players with difficult boss fights.
Elden Ring was a massive success, both critically and commercially. In addition to its 20 million copies sold, it also was Game of the Year at the 2022 Game Awards, beating out the likes of God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray, Xenoblade Chronicles, and A Plague Tale: Requiem.
Details for Shadow of the Erdtree will likely be shared in the coming months, but it has already been confirmed that the expansion will be available on all the same platforms as Elden Ring. This means last-gen players on Xbox One and PS4 will still be able to enjoy the new content alongside those who are playing on Xbox Series X|S and PS5.