Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree Trailer Reveals New Boss, Realm of Shadows

The grandest reveals from the Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay trailer!

BANDAI NAMCO finally revealed the official gameplay trailer for Elden Ring's long-awaited expansion, and it was,,

The upcoming “Shadow of the Erdtree” DLC was first announced a year ago, and now we finally have more context about the mysterious lands that were teased in our first look. Here's every reveal from Shadow of the Erdtree's gameplay trailer!

Shadow of the Erdtree Release Date

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree releases on July 21, 2024, with pre-orders now available on all platforms.

Elden Ring's DLC will be available on the PS4, PS5, Xbox and PC.

Miquella's Story Continues

As expected, Shadow of the Erdtree will center around one of the most elusive characters in Elden Ring's plot: Miquella. Cursed with eternal youth, this hidden demigod has been the subject of a lot of fantheories. And it looks like some of them have finally been confirmed.

As said in the trailer, the Tarnished will venture into the “Realm of Shadow” by touching the “withered arm” (pressumably Miquella's, which we first saw during our fight with Mohg). The narrator's voice remains unknown, but signs point towards Melina's return, or possibly another maiden entirely. Origins for this mysterious demiplane was also not confirmed, but if you leave a hugely powerful demigod in a state of comatose, his dreams are bound to be as potent.

The last frame of the trailer revealed a glowing tree of gold, pressumably Miquella's original vision of the Haligtree when he separated from the Golden Order.

Elden Ring won numerous awards in it's debut year, beating out other AAA titles like God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West for the 2022 Game of the Year award. The FROMSOFT hit managed to sell 10 million copies on Steam in a week, extending the hype beyond its typical playerbase and spawning some memorable memes.

Messmer's Flame

The next Elden Ring boss has been revealed, and he means business.

Messmer seems to be another red-haired antagonist in Shadow of the Erdtree who seems to also be searching for Miquella in the “realm of shadows”. Eitherway, the trailer implies that he is also a demigod born of Radagon and Queen Marika

Messmer's abilities were also showcased in the gameplay trailer. And while his speech confirmed his devotion to “the path of gold”, his arsenal seems to suggest otherwise.

Marked with a bat-winged helm, crimson flames and a long serpent companion, Messmer uses his powers to go against anyone who goes against the Golden Order. But we've seen similar motifs before with Praetor Rykard (who asked us to join his family non-threateningly that one time). Could Messmer have tapped into the same, blasphemous power to repurpose it for his mission?

Miquella's goal in leaving the Golden Order was to forge a new unalloyed path, whereas Messmer's presence in the Realm of Shadow is unknown. Will he act as another red-haired protector to the strongest of the demigods? Or will his mission be more nefarious?

Shadow of the Erdtree New Locations

The full gameplay trailer gave us a glimpse on the new locales coming in the massive Elden Ring DLC.

Shadow of the Erdtree New NPCs

The trailer also showed new characters that you'll get to meet in-game. While it's unclear whether or not they'll be friend or foe, we know that some of them are still faithful to the Golden Order. Could some of them have been sent by Marika to protect Miquella for those who would hunt him?

Shadow of the Erdtree New Abilities

Huge reveals aside, new weapons, spells and abilities for the Tarnished were showcased in the new gameplay teaser. From spinning kicks, a rapid-fire crossbow and a new sorceries, there's plenty of late-game content Elden Ring fans can look forward to. Here are the reveals:

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