5 things you might have missed in the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree gameplay trailer

After months of speculation, the trailer for Elden Ring‘s hotly-anticipated expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, is here. Although it’s barely three minutes long, it’s packed with details and significant lore implications about the DLC, many of which pass in the blink of an eye.

Much like in Elden Ring itself, there are a few particularly big reveals given only a few seconds that deserve to be broken down and analyzed. One thing is certain, though: FromSoftware is pulling out all the stops for this one.

5 easy-to-miss details in the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree trailer

Entering the DLC

Entering Soulsborne DLC is often the hardest part—just ask veterans of Dark Souls‘ Artorias of the Abyss DLC. Luckily, Shadows of the Erdtree is a good deal more straightforward. Elden Ring‘s first DLC seems to revolve around the “dead” demigod Miquella, so as many fans have predicted, you start it in the only place you see Miquella’s physical form in the base game—Bloodlord Mohg’s arena. At the end of the trailer, Miquella is heard telling the Tarnished to “touch [his] withered arm,” which then likely grabs them to pull them into the DLC or something of the like.

If that’s how it works, you’ll have to defeat Mohg to gain access to Miquella’s body and start the DLC, which may prove a significant barrier to entry. Mohg is an optional boss you’re likely to never meet if you don’t seek him out, and is more than capable of stomping low-level players. You’re going to have to fight hard before you even get to see any DLC content.

New open-world region

Whatever the truth behind how you get to the DLC, however, what awaits you once you do looks to be nothing short of stunning. The Land of Shadow, as it’s called, looks to be a perversion of the Lands Between we’ve come to know and love (or potentially hate) in Elden Ring‘s base game. It’s even got its own version of the Erdtree, a sickly, grotesque thing that might be the titular “shadow.” More importantly, however, the Land of Shadow looks absolutely sprawling, with several massive valleys and sweeping vistas shown off in the trailer. With Elden Ring‘s pivot to a true open-world format, it was likely the DLC would follow suit, but seeing a proper new region of the game rather than just a dungeon or two is immensely exciting nonetheless. With a price tag of $40, I expect nothing less than a rich world to get lost in, and FromSoftware seems ready to deliver.

It’s left up in the air whether the Land of Shadow is another era of the Lands Between, some far-off, as-yet unseen land, or even the dream of the slumbering Miquella. FromSoftware has done all three before, so it’ll be interesting to see which they go with—maybe something new entirely?

New potential builds, including unarmed

With new lands to explore and new enemies to face, however, come new ways to vanquish them. Shadow of the Erdtree will reportedly contain eight new weapon categories for players to get their hands on. Even at the conservative estimate of two or three weapons per category, that’s still a huge array of brand-new options, a few of which were shown off in rapid succession in the trailer.

Most exciting is a quick clip of an unarmed, monk-like character throwing hands with an armored knight and showing off a few weaponless kickboxing moves. This seems to indicate that hand-to-hand will be making a return from the Dark Souls series in a big way, likely through the use of a weapon like the Bone Fist from Dark Souls 2 or the Fist of Gratia from Bloodborne. If you don’t feel like being the Land of Shadow’s own Jackie Chan, however, powerful area-of-effect spells and explosive throwing weapons were also shown off. No matter your build or class, you’ll likely find something in the DLC to make you even stronger.

Another poison swamp

In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, the trailer shows off a player riding Torrent through one of Fromsoft’s trademark damage-ticking poison swamps. Elden Ring‘s base game pretty much had one of these with the Scarlet Rot-blighted region of Caelid, but Shadows of the Erdtree leans hard into the doom and gloom of previous iterations. On the one hand, this is doubtlessly going to be rage-inducing, but on the other, it’s almost heartwarming to see game designer Hidetaka Miyazaki returning to his favorite ways to punish players. It’s like a comforting, poisonous hug.

Messmer the Impaler’s hidden lore

The big bad in Shadows of the Erdtree seems to be a brand-new character called Messmer the Impaler, who looks about as vicious as the historical figure he’s borrowing that title from. While nothing is outright told to us about him, like what he’s doing in the Land of Shadow, what his beef with Miquella is, or why he wants to kill us so badly, plenty is shown. For starters, his red hair probably marks him as a descendant of King Radagon, which would make him the brother of Malenia and Miquella—so maybe this is just a sibling rivalry gone wrong. In that case, Miquella can wrangle his own brother.

Messmer is also seen using Bloodflame and appealing to the Formless Mother, the unseen god who serves as a source for that power. Mohg shares both of these traits, which could indicate the characters being connected to this DLC is more than a simple coincidence. Perhaps Messmer is a collaborator in Mohg’s plot to take over the Lands Between using Miquella, and has to step in now that Mohg is dead?

Whatever the truth may be, we’ll find out when Shadows of the Erdtree launches this June—but before then, it might serve you well to brush up on your combat skills.