It’s no secret that fans of FromSoftware are desperate for any news about the developer’s upcoming expansion for 2022’s smash hit, Elden Ring. The team recently made a change to Elden Ring’s backend on Steam, leading folks to believe a Shadow of the Erdtree DLC announcement could be right around the corner. Maybe? Finally?
Soulslike YouTuber Ziostorm posted to X/Twitter on January 15 an image of the game’s SteamDB page. He said that FromSoft has added “a new Elden Ring DLC package” within the open-world action-adventure files, the first time something like this has happened since the game launched in February 2022. This suggests, according to Ziostorm, that FromSoft may be prepping Elden Ring for Shadow of the Erdtree, the expansion rumored to let us meet Malenia’s twin brother, Miquella.
Elden Ring (Credits: Euro Gamer)
Over on Elden Ring’s SteamDB page, the new package is an “unknown app” that’s currently hidden from the public. Other than the fact that it was added to the game’s files earlier this week, there’s no other information on the website about the content.
That hasn’t stopped fans from tying this small change to Shadow of the Erdtree like that Pepe Silvia meme from the sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In Twitter DMs with Kotaku, Ziostorm speculates the Steam update is either the DLC itself or a webpage for preordering it.
He said that the particular section on SteamDB appears to be set aside for paid add-ons and preorder bonuses, making it unlikely that it’s anything other than Shadow of the Erdtree. Like many fans, he’s hoping that previous rumors of a February 2024 release prove accurate. Ziostorm also shared some of his desires for the DLC.
“My hopes for [Shadow of the Erdtree] are to recapture the magic of the world like playing through Elden Ring for the first time did,” he said. “Constantly unveiling new areas and secrets and making the world feel impossibly big was one of the most enjoyable aspects to me, but as for my biggest hope, I’d like to see the lore expanded upon and more depth added to characters that didn’t get enough detail in the base game, such as Miquella and Godwyn. There’s a lot of story to tell there.”
Since the Shadow of the Erdtree announcement in February 2023, FromSoft hasn’t said much about the expansion other than that development is “progressing well.” For now, all we have is a single image of someone believed to be Miquella riding the ethereal steed Torrent and a cavalcade of rumors.
