The impending arrival of Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree promises new adventures in the Lands Between, but it will be a one-off adventure for all Tarnished. In an interview with Chinese publication Zhihu, game director Hidetaka Miyazaki confirmed its place as the “first and last DLC” for the beloved RPG, with the possibility of a full sequel up in the air.
“[Shadow of the Erdtree] is the first and last DLC, and we have no plans to add more content to Elden Ring,” he said. “As for the larger universe, we haven’t decided on the next course of action yet, but as with all FromSoftware projects, there’s always room for potential sequels in the future.”
This statement corroborates with an earlier sentiment in an interview with IGN, reinforcing the desire to keep his options open. “We don’t want to this is the end of the Elden Ring saga for now. I think we said a similar thing at the end of Dark Souls 3,” shared the industry veteran.
“We didn’t want to flatten those possibilities or put a pin in them just at that time. And it’s a similar story with Elden Ring. We don’t want to discourage the possibilities for that. There might be more ideas in the future.”
As it stands, there were already plans for an expansion since the very beginning of development. According to Miyazaki, Elden Ring was inspired by the mythology of George R.R. Martin’s works, but the team found it difficult to include all of the lore and worldbuilding elements into the base game. With Shadow of the Erdtree, they were able to build on an established framework and flesh things out more.
“We decided to make one big expansion in order to preserve the experience that comes with navigating a vast world,” he said. “If it was split into several parts, players wouldn’t be able to enjoy the full extent of exploration and adventure, since it’d be watered down”.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree bows in on 21 June with a separate progression system, eight new weapon categories, and other new content in tow. A week later, Tarnished in Singapore will celebrate their return in style with the Elden Ring Symphonic Adventure concert, taking place on 28 and 29 June at the Esplanade Theatre.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Gerald
