Mohamed Hassan 
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC speculation is intensifying and a person who claims to be a leaker claims that the DLC will be even bigger than fans were expecting.
In February 2023, FromSoftware officially announced Shadow of the Erdtree. Little is known about the DLC beyond its existence. FromSoftware’s previous DLC for Dark Souls and Bloodborne introduced new locations, maps, weapons, and characters, and addressed lingering story questions. Almost all have been critically acclaimed, so expectations are high for Shadow of the Erdtree.
Adding to the anticipation is the length of time the Shadow of the Erdtree has taken to develop. While previous expansions launched in less than a year, Elden Ring is almost two years old. Recent rumors suggest that the extended development time may be reflected in the expansive size of the upcoming DLC.
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is said to contain a whole new world
An unconfirmed leak from 4chan reports that the Elden Ring DLC will introduce a duplicate world in the shadow of the current game map, and will feature large, loosely connected zones.
The anonymous source behind the leak claims to be working on Elden Ring and that FromSoftware is outsourcing environment and item assets to their studio in Singapore. FromSoftware has worked with Singaporean studios in the past. However, there is no way to confirm the legitimacy of the leaker or their claims.
The rumored Shadow Realm is described in the leak as the same world with a gloomier aesthetic, similar to the Dark World in old 2D Zelda games. Unlike the original Elden Ring world, this new Shadow Realm is characterized by fragmentation, with each zone being largely detached from the others. Players would have to access these areas through different points on the map and see different versions of present locations. The specific area the individual discusses is Stormveil Castle, which is ripped in half in the shadow version of Limgrave.
The leaker doesn’t mention how many areas there will be or how long it will take to explore them, but it does say something interesting about the state of the base game and how it will change in a way reminiscent of an old Dark Souls game.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC reportedly has Dark Souls 2: Scholor of the First Sin-style mode
The same leak from the alleged Singaporean developer claims that Shadow of the Erdtree will introduce changes to all of the game’s enemy and item locations, similar to Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin.
Dark Souls 2 received three expansions after the main game’s release. Later, the game and DLCs were combined into one game called Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin. This final version included all the content, and also a new version of the base game that changed enemy and item placement, with this new version of the game being significantly more popular than the original.
FromSoftware may do this to encourage players to start a new run and enjoy Elden Ring in a new way along with the added features from the expansion. It would essentially make for an entirely new experience, even if it’s on identical maps.
That said, this is all unconfirmed and could be completely false. Still, the timing of the leak is coinciding with a new Steam update and The Game Awards 2023 is interesting.
Regardless, all indications are that the Elden Ring DLC isn’t coming out any time soon. One of Elden Ring’s developers recently spoke at the PlayStation Partner Awards Show and said that the DLC is still way off from being released, so it might end up being a teaser trailer and nothing more.
The good news is that Elden Ring recently received new dev branches starting on November 30, which are theorized to refer to the game’s development progress. Elden Ring received a similar update on SteamDB on the same day last year, at a time very close to the Game Awards. That served as a scion for the Colosseum Update. There’s a good chance that Elden Ring fans will have something to enjoy.
