Bandai Namco has a pleasant FYI for all of the Elden Ring gamers on the market: The massive Shadow of the Erdtree enlargement arrives on June 20, which is lower than two weeks away, and an terrible lot of you will have work to do earlier than you are able to take it on.
Minor spoilers observe:
Again in February, Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki mentioned gamers will entry Shadow of the Erdtree by way of Miquella’s cocoon, which is discovered within the palace of Mohg, Lord of Blood. Naturally, Mohg is just not cool with folks such as you messing with Miquella, so step one of many course of is placing the thump on him.
And that is the place the issue lies. As streamer Cohh Carnage identified, lower than 38% of Elden Ring gamers on Steam have earned the achievement for amassing Mohg’s head, which implies that practically two-thirds of you will have some work to do earlier than you possibly can entry the DLC.
And thus, Bandai’s PSA:
Now, this quantity does bear somewhat additional evaluation. First and most blatant, it solely represents Steam, so whereas it is most likely an excellent barometer of the state of affairs throughout the board, it does not precisely replicate how issues are going for console gamers, who could or is probably not extra conscientious god-killers than us.
It additionally does not imply that two-thirds of Steam gamers are fully unprepared for the Erdtree enlargement. Mohg is an elective boss, that means it is potential (and really fairly straightforward) to complete the sport with out ever operating into him. For gamers who bypassed him on the way in which to turning into Elden Lord, popping round for some housecleaning in Mohgwyn Palace must be no large deal. I did not meet up with him till fairly late within the sport myself, at which level Mohg was a really simple deletion courtesy of ye olde Comet Azur.
And naturally there might be some portion of gamers who simply have not acquired there but: They began taking part in final week, or they’ve actually been taking their time with it, or no matter. Give ’em time, they’re going to get to it once they get to it.
In any occasion, needing to stomp out Mohg earlier than getting into Shadow of the Erdtree actually is not all that uncommon. Recreation expansions usually require that gamers have made some progress earlier than they change into accessible: The sensible Blood and Wine enlargement for The Witcher 3, for instance, is not accessible till you are nicely into the principle storyline. There are exceptions, CD Projekt’s different large sport amongst them (you may make a brand new character and soar straight into Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty if you’d like), however usually talking, needing to be knee-deep in Elden Ring’s marketing campaign (and extra particularly, Mohg’s blood and guts) actually comes as no shock.
That mentioned, it is value being conscious: If you wish to soar into Shadow of the Erdtree the second it goes dwell, you may need to drop the hammer on Mohg upfront so you may get straight to the great things. It is a message that gamers appear to be internalizing already. Lower than 24 hours after Cohh Carnage’s tweet, the share of Elden Ring gamers on Steam who’ve kicked Mohg’s ass has already climbed to 38.7%. It nearly makes me really feel unhealthy for the man.
