Summary
FromSoftware’s open-world SoulslikeElden Ringhas now been impressing its audiences for over two years, but with its Shadow of the Erdtree DLC expansion just around the corner, it is as relevant as ever. As 2022’s Game of the Year award winner,Elden Ringhas received a considerable amount of praise since its release, so the release of Shadow of the Erdtree is justifiably highly anticipated. There are plenty of things thatElden Ringgot right, like its approach to accessibility and its art style, but one prominent feature arguably stands out among the rest: its open world.
At the center ofElden Ring’s praise has understandably been its open world.Elden Ringmanaged to give gamers an open world that many other games in the genre struggle to provide — one that not only impresses in its size but also its execution. Now, with Shadow of the Erdtree adding the new Land of Shadow location to the game, the DLC needs to ensure it maintains the reputation thatElden Ring’s open worldworked so hard to obtain. After all, Shadow of the Erdtree has been confirmed to be a rather sizable expansion, so there is plenty of room for error here.
Shadow of the Erdtree’s Open World Needs to Continue What Elden Ring Started
Elden Ring’s Open World Promotes Curiosity-Driven Exploration and Discovery
Elden Ring’s open world can’t necessarily be credited with revolutionizing the open-world genre, as games before it have already made leaps to accomplish that very feat. For example,Elden Ringhas often been compared to 2017’sThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, simply on account of its similar approach to open-world design.
Specifically,Elden Ringpromotes a sense of curiosity-driven exploration and discovery that many modern open worlds fail to implement and largely avoids common open-world criticisms by essentially leaving exploration in the player’s hands and never pressuring them to go this way or that.
Much like inThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, players are encouraged toventure off the beaten path inElden Ring, but not with map icons, compasses, and quests. Instead,Elden Ringtakes advantage of players' curiosity about what secrets might lie in the ruins ahead or around the next corner. It primarily accomplishes this by not readily providing too much information on its map and all but requiring players to explore and discover for themselves, though it isn’t without some form of a guide.
Elden Ringhas a unique way of guiding players from one major location to the next. As players discover Sites of Grace scattered throughoutthe Lands Between inElden Ring, their map will be updated to show which direction they should travel from some of the game’s Sites of Grace by displaying a yellow, flame-like marking jutting out from a Site of Grace in a particular direction. Unfortunately (or fortunately), that’s about as specific as it gets, as actually finding the next major milestone is entirely up to the player.
Shadow of the Erdtree Needs to Continue Leaving Discovery in the Hands of the Player
It hasn’t yet been confirmed whetherShadow of the Erdtree’s Land of Shadowwill have the same Sites of Grace thatElden Ring’s base game world had. What has been confirmed is that players will be following in Miquella’s footsteps, and these, like the Sites of Grace did in the base game, will serve as their guide through the Land of Shadow.
If Shadow of the Erdtree wants to maintainElden Ring’s stellar reputation, it needs to ensure it doesn’t hold the player’s hand too much so they can still experience that same feeling of self-led discovery that they had in the base game. It’s unclear what “following in Miquella’s footsteps” will entail, but Shadow of the Erdtree would do well to ensure this new guidance system will only continue whatElden Ringstarted.
Elden Ring
WHERE TO PLAY
ELDEN RING, developed by FromSoftware, Inc. and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set within a world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin. Danger and discovery lurk around every corner in FromSoftware’s largest game to date. Hidetaka Miyazaki - President and Game Director of FromSoftware Inc. Known for directing critically-acclaimed games in beloved franchises including Armored Core and Dark Souls.George R.R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire - A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows, and A Dance with Dragons. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with the lovely Parris in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
