Shadow of the Erdtree’s Official Launch Trailer Focuses on Bosses and Locations

Today’s the day: at time of writing, Shadow of the Erdtree is mere hours away. And with that comes the Launch Trailer, which dropped on YouTube just about half a day before the DLC’s full release. And, in contrast to some other Launch Trailers of From Software’s past, it had a lot to show us. Every single part of it makes us want to play it all the more.

Just focusing on the new stuff that we haven’t seen before, the trailer is most excited to show off bosses and enemies. In order of appearance, we have:

• The most twisted sunflower we’ve ever seen.
• A better look at a giant skeleton, riding a horse, rising out of a swell of black. We’ve seen this boss before, during Shadow of the Erdtree’s Gameplay Trailer.
• A creature with twin circular blades, attacking out of a black mist. We know this one to be Curseblade Labirith, who some streamers had the chance to fight as part of Red Bull’s Levels stream last week.
• A knight with a flaming sword.
• An undead, unarmed creature with spectral wings and a brutal-looking command grab.
• A knight with Carian coloration wielding swords imbued, respectively, with fire and frost.
• The coolest, beefiest looking dragon fight we’ve seen in the series yet.

The focus on bosses should be no surprise in a DLC for a game known for its boss battles, but we’ve got to say: these enemies look brutal and wickedly cool. Especially that featured fight with the toughest looking dragon we’ve seen since Midir in Dark Souls 3.

And that is all to say nothing of the tens of locations that the trailer seemed keen to show off, as if to say “just look at how much more game we were able to fit into this game.” And, I mean… Yeah, it’s kind of mind-blowing that an expansion has just this many new locations and areas.

And so, as we count down the hours until Shadow of the Erdtree launches (and until it finishes downloading) before we can see it for ourselves, this trailer is doing nothing but getting us even more excited. Check it out, make sure you have a save file at the ready that sees Mohg defeated, and get ready to embark into the Realm of Shadows. See you there, Tarnished.