FromSoftware
Elden Ring’s DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, will let players lower the difficulty according to Miyazaki
Elden Ring’s upcoming expansion has a way to lower the difficulty, but it’s not going to be an “easy mode” according to its creator.
Hidetaka Miyazaki, CEO of FromSoftware and creative director behind Elden Ring and the Soulsborne series, has just revealed that there is a way to lower the difficulty of the upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. But, before the old debacle about easy modes in games like Dark Souls fires off again, it turns out this isn’t quite like that.
“The difficulty of the DLC is probably equivalent to the level of the second half of the main game, because players need to defeat Mohg and Radahn. Players at this time should already have a certain understanding of the game. Generally speaking, since it is the second half, the difficulty is relatively high,” explains Miyazaki in a recent interview. “We also introduced a new leveling element in the DLC, allowing you to freely choose the challenge intensity.”
“For example, if the player’s level in the main story is already very high, they can choose to turn off growth and not upgrade this new attribute to challenge the enemy; but if they feel that it is already difficult for them, they can continue to improve the new attributes and character strength.”
In the interview, Miyazaki also confirms 8 new weapon categories that will allow “even experts” to try new ways of playing and develop new strategies. The director admits that he is looking forward to seeing how people master the new weapons and magic from the DLC to use them on the enemies of the original adventure.
Furthermore, Miyazaki comments that NPCs from the base game will not appear in Shadow of the Erdtree so that nothing depends on them and whether the user has killed them before or not. However, the expansion does delve into the lore of Radahn (which explains why he’s required to be dead for the expansion), as well as the relationship that unites Miquella and St. Trina, among other mysteries planted in the original content.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree will release on June 21, 2024. Will the game rise once more to the GOTY challenge?