It’s ridiculously dense, darkly majestic, and popular among masochists.
Come then, touch the withered arm and be transported behind door number 18…
It’sElden Ring:Shadow Of The Erdtree!
The new gold standard for open world environment design, and it comes from a DLC.
That’ll be offputting to some, but to me it’s an impressive testament to the world design.
This is a truly ancient and complex place.
The birthplace of a goddess’s people, before she ascended to godhood.
The Land Of Shadow does not know you or owe you anything, until you give it reason to.
It’s marvellous, truly extraordinary worldbuilding.
Of course, the combat and boss fights themselves are still best-in-class.
Entirely new weapon classes and schools of magic are free to explore or entirely ignore as you wish.
Organically unfurling, DLC-spanning side quests offer you more unforgettable journeys if you desire them.
I’ll likely play it through again every year until we finally get Elden Ring 2.
Nic:Good worms.
The absolute best worms.
Ed:It’s super dense and at times, maybe a bittoodense.
I wish the base game had this level of weird.
Also yeah, great worms.
James:I, uh, misunderstood the voting rules and didn’t think this was eligible.
But if I’d bothered to check, this would get many, many James votes.
Graham:Soulslikes: like roguelikes, but for cowards.
(I have not played Elden Ring or Erdtree.)
Headback to the advent calendarto open another door!
