Waiting desperately for the arrival of Shadow Of The Erdtree? You’re definitely not the only one. The Elden Ring DLC release date is a closely guarded secret, and the hints are few and far between. This week though, a leak has suggested that you might need to hold on a bit more.
According to a rumor, Shadow Of The Erdtree will arrive on platforms on the 5th of February 2024. While this might disappoint anyone hoping for the DLC before the end of the year, all isn’t lost! If the leak is true, we’ll see some footage of the Elden Ring DLC before 2023 expires, with a showcase at The Game Awards, which kick off December 7th.
Unknown Sources
The rumors came from Ziostorm, a YouTuber who covers mainly From Software titles and games in the Soulslike genre, so it’s not from a completely untrustworthy place. The tweet where Ziostorm mentioned this indicated that his sources “have shown signs of insight, but nothing concrete”. So we’ll have to wait and see if they’re trustworthy.
Shadow Of The Erdtree is the much-anticipated DLC to the hugely popular Elden Ring, From Software’s foray into open-world RPGs. Anyone who’s played Elden Ring will know it excels at scale, and the DLC promises to be a beast, which might explain the long wait. If the sources from the tweet are correct, Shadow Of The Erdtree arrives nearly two years since the base game’s release.
Even factoring in Armored Core 6 in between, From is clearly cooking up something ambitious.
What Is The Lore?
Of course, for the Miyazaki worldbuilding fans awaiting Shadow Of The Erdtree, the speculation is all about the lore implications of the DLC.
We’ve only had one image to go on, though many people are hoping and speculating that the figure in the image, staring at the seemingly corrupted Erdtree, is the enigmatic demigod Miquella.
Miquella plays a huge role in the backstory of Elden Ring and the Lands Between. He is the son of Queen Marika and her consort Lord Radagon. (Well, if you know, you know.)
Miquella rebelled in a major way against his parents and the Golden Order that condemned many creatures in the Lands Between to a life of abuse and suffering. He set out to create his own holy tree, The Haligtree, which would provide a sanctuary for all those creatures outcast and enslaved in Queen Marika’s society. Miquella had one major flaw, he was cursed and trapped forever in a childlike form.
Miquella tried to create a new body for himself deep inside the Haligtree, but Miquella had a secret admirer, and not the good kind. The Omen Mohg snuck into the holy tree and stole the sleeping Miquella from his cocoon. You can find the huge egg with the corrupted body of the demigod inside the Moghwyn Palace in the base game. You can’t do anything with it, though. Miquella is arguable one of Marika’s most influential children, but we see very little of him in person. Many speculate the DLC could change this.
We’re excited.
Not yet tried out Elden Ring? It’s out on PC via Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles.
Want some more medieval RPG action to tide you over on the long wait for the Elden Ring DLC release date? Check out our piece on the Enshrouded demo.
