Size was always a priority in Shadow of the Elden Ring, “to match” the scale of the Elden Ring, says Miyazaki

The numbers for Shadow of the Erdtree, the upcoming expansion to Elden Ring, are absolutely staggering: 10 main bosses, 100 new weapons (8 new types), and about 30 to 40 hours of gameplay. Can we almost call it a new release rather than an expansion? With this massive amount of content, it doesn’t seem far-fetched, and according to Hidetaka Miyazaki, From Software’s priority has always been size, and when it comes to Elden Ring, it matters.

“At the very outset there were a lot of possibilities, but one of the things that was determined very early on was that size,” says the Nippon director. “We wanted that sense of scale for this map, because we wanted an experience for the player that was going to match that of the base game. We wanted them to experience that sense of discovery, and that sense of wonder and exploration again. We needed a map that was going to uphold that and bolster that.”

Some time ago, Miyazaki confirmed that the Land of Shadow, where this expansion takes place, is similar in size to the initial area of the Elden Ring, Limgrave, which is already quite large.

Full screen

We’ve already played Shadow of the Earth Tree

After three hours of gameplay, which is only a small part of the expansion, it is clear that Miyazaki and his team will live up to the fans’ already high expectations.

“You might see a patch of map in the distance, or a castle that you could just walk straight to, but Miyazaki’s team has designed Land of Shadow so that in order to progress, you must make your way through several areas that act as checkpoints,” we said in our impressions. “The castle in the center of the screen is, shall we say, the way out of the starting zone, while the other one on the left serves as an important warm-up for what’s to come as the challenge increases.”

Shadow of the Erdtree arrives on June 21 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and PC.