The dark fantasy action RPG Elden Ring, in true FromSoftware fashion, is full of grotesque, eerie enemies and locales; from the fungal rot-infested Caelid Wilds, to the scurrying severed hands called the Fingercreepers, and anything to do with the Frenzied Flame. The recently announced DLC for Elden Ring, Shadow Of The Erdtree, promises new storylines, new areas, and new enemies for players to overcome. It's highly likely the Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC will add even more nightmarish perils, biomes, and secrets similar to, or even grosser, than the ones described below.
So far, the only information players have about the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is a single illustrated image released by FromSoftware, depicting a field of golden grain, a blond-haired youth riding a Spectral Steed, and a distant tree leaking golden sap. Elden Ring fans instantly identified the youth as Miquella, the eternally young brother of Malenia, and speculated that the DLC would take place in some kind of Dream World (since Miquella, under the guise of his St. Trina persona, cultivates sleep-inducing weapons and consumables). If the DLC is instead set in a Dream Realm, FromSoftware is free to introduce any number of nightmarish additions.
10 New Types Of Godskin Enemies
Nightmarish on both a mechanical and narrative level, the Apostle and Noble Godskin enemies of Elden Ring are both members of a god-slaying species who cloak themselves in the skin of their deific victims and stretch their bodies in nauseating ways while fighting the player. The Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC could shine more light on the Godskins and their Gloam-Eyed Queen ancestor by letting players discover and explore their homeland (or underground hive). There, players might encounter swarming juvenile Godskins or elders who've gained truly non-human physical characteristics such as claws, more tails, or draconic Blackflame-breathing maws.
9 The Shadowbound Beasts Of Miquella And Malenia
In the world of Elden Ring, worthy candidates for godhood such as Queen Marika or Lunar Princess Ranni gifted with Shadowbound beasts - wolf-like servants engineered by the Two Fingers from their Divine Towers to be watchdogs for their "Empyrean" masters. In the base game of Elden Ring, players encounter Marika's Empyrean, Maliketh the Black Blade, and Ranni's Empyrean, the earnestly loyal Blaidd. Theoretically, the twin Demigods, Miquella and Malenia, who are also Empyreans with the potential to become gods, should also have Shadowbound beasts of their own, which may appear in the Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC as Rot or Abundance-inflicted canine horrors.
8 New Kinds Of Starspawn Enemies
All across the Lands Between of Elden Ring, players can stumble across literal extraterrestrial lifeforms born from falling meteors and capable of wielding strange gravitational magic. The Alabaster and Onyx Lords, elf-like creatures of living rock and magic tutors to the misunderstood Starscourge Radahn, are hostile in-game, yet clearly sentient. The ant-like Fallingstar Beasts and the dragonfly-like Astels they evolve into are animalistic and capable of warping space and time. New, alien-looking "Starspawn" enemies along these lines would be a fun addition to the Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC, while also giving players ways to unlock new Gravity Sorcery spells and weapons.
7 The Manticore-Shaped Avatar of Rot
Certain talismans, weapons, and armor sets in Elden Ring tell tales of a wandering warrior blessed by a river spirit who faced down an Avatar of Rot and sealed it away underground. In the underground Lake of Rot, players can discover a Rot-inflicting Scorpion's Stinger dagger weapon described as being "crafted from the relic of a sealed outer god" defeated by the Blind Swordsman character of Elden Ring and "fashioned from a great scorpion's tail." This has led some players to believe the Outer God known as the Scarlet Rot is a scorpion or giant manticore of some kind. If true, such a boss would be both terrifying and difficult for players to beat in Elden Ring's future DLC.
6 New Kinds of Poison Swamps
Every FromSoftware dark fantasy RPG from Demon's Souls onward has had a poison swamp area where merely walking along the ground can afflict player characters with a health-draining contagion. This tradition of game design, which frustrates players and apparently delights creative director Hidetaka Miyazaki, shows up in Elden Ring's Scarlet Rot-infested Caelid Wilds, the Shaded Castle, and Lake of Rot areas. The Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC may introduce new poison swamp areas or other kinds of status-effect-inflicting hazard zones players must traverse - deep space moons where darting outside inflicts Frosbite, briar patches where movement afflicts Hemorrhage, could be two ways to implement this.
5 Nightmare Realms Like In Bloodborne
In Bloodborne, the alien deities known as Great Ones exist in both the material worlds and realms of dream, their eldritch minds generating nightmarish lands players can explore. Elden Ring, which borrows many gameplay mechanics and lore ideas from Bloodborne, might use DLC to flesh out Bloodborne's idea of Hunter's Dreams and nightmare realms (already seen in the Godwyn, Prince of Death dream realm where Lichdragon Fortissax can be fought). In these Nightmares, be they from Outer God or Demigod, players may discover dark secrets or confront monsters spawned from a deity's traumas.
4 A Hostile, Spell-Weaving Two Fingers Entity
Few entities are as vital to the story of Elden Ring as the Two Fingers, literal twin-fingered hand creatures who convey messages from the Greater Will and manipulate the fates of mortals, Tarnished, and Demigods in order to maintain the Golden Order. Besides the twitching Two Fingers entity who resides in the Roundtable Hold and the Frenzied Flame-granting Three Fingers Tarnished can meet below the Royal Capital, players only encounter Two Fingers entities who are dead. A living, hostile, and mobile Two Fingers enemy, scurrying around like a Fingercreeper and weaving strange spells floating golden glyphs would be an unnerving DLC enemy.
3 Items That Transform The Player Character Model Into Something Monstrous
Another cool concept Elden Ring's upcoming Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC could grab from older FromSoftware games is items (or Runes) that transform players from their familiar human forms into shapes that are decidedly alien or animalistic. In the Dark Souls games, players could use Dragon Stones to transform into draconic humanoids with breath and claw attacks (prototypes of Elden Ring's Dragon Communion Cathedrals and Incantations), while Bloodborne's own DLC offered players two Caryll Runes used to transform into werewolves and alien flowers while also upgrading the attacks of certain weapons. Similar DLC items could transform Elden Ring's gameplay in fun ways.
2 An Area That Reflects The Future Of The Frenzied Flame Ending
In the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending, one of the darkest and bleakest end scenarios in Elden Ring, the Tarnished player character, head replaced by a sickly yellow ball of fire, incinerates the Erdtree, the capital surrounding it, and potentially the entire world, a crime so vile that Melina, once a friendly aid to the Tarnished, vows to kill them with the power of Destined Death. One of the areas or future timelines in the Shadow Or The Erdtree DLC could let players wander through this apocalyptic future, fending off amalgamated monsters fused together by the Frenzied Flame, and maybe even fight a furious Melina as a boss.
1 A Phantom Of Queen Marika In Her Prime
Smithing Master Hewg, the Misbegotten Blacksmith at the Roundtable Hold, sometimes talks about how Queen Marika, vessel of the Elden Ring, once commanded him to forge a weapon capable of slaying a god, reminiscing about the "sheer terror of her." This goes to show just how terrifying and powerful Marika must have been in her heyday as god-empress of the Lands Between. Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, if it lets players travel back in time to the past, could challenge them with a boss battle against a mimicry of Queen Marika The Eternal in her prime or a pre-divine Marika who is simply a fearsome Numen with a stone hammer.