Elden Ring Celebrates 1st Birthday: Is Shadow of the Erdtree Miquella DLC What We've Been Waiting For?

Check out on for our best assumptions on all of that as well as a lot more, yet prior to we do allows initial address that last point: it's Miquel?

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What we do not know with concerns to the single photo teased on the video game's main Twitter feed is, well, pretty a lot every little thing else. As well as so now we hypothesize. Is it a direct follow-up to the base game, or does it unravel on a brand-new timeline?

Last week, Elden Ring celebrated its very first birthday. Here at +, we noted the event by recalling at our 12 favorite functions in the Lands In between; while the video game's author Banzai NAMC commemorated with a livestream event which, to the discouragement of numerous gamers, did not supply an anniversary DLC statement. Quick forward three days, nonetheless, and also official Elden Ring DLC has currently been confirmed.

Review between the lines

THREE-WAY CENTURY

I'm 300 hours into Elden Ring and also have actually only currently found its variation of Dark Hearts' worst location

In our Elden Ring DLC wishlist in 2014, we contemplated exactly how it'd be great for future web content to allow us check out new areas that explore existing tradition. Miquel fits that bill rather perfectly. Because of all the key players in Elden Ring's speculative lore, Miquel stays unheard as well as hidden-- playing a main duty in the overarching narrative (being Malaria's twin sibling, as well as all), however being resigned to background character condition.

By offering us Miquel's Filigree as an optional, fiercely difficult and challenging to unlock location at the end of the base game, we're already knowledgeable about the character and also his history, not least the reality that he's cursed to be forever young. Without wading unfathomable into Elden Ring's challenging tradition, Miquel built the Filigree to damage this curse, to become a grown-up, and to remove the rot from his sister Malaria. Instead, a demigod called Moog, Lord of Blood kidnapped Miquel in cocoon form, as well as planned to turn Miquel into a god that Moog would certainly function under. With Miquel secured slumber, none of this functioned out as prepared-- leaving this particular narrative door open.

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When late video game manager Sir Gideon OFNI points out Miquel's sleep, it's suggested that he's not simply sleeping, however living or worldwide of his dream. As pointed to on the Elden Ring wiki, if Miquel exists in his desire (and not fact), this would explain why Moog might not efficiently reach Miquel despite kidnapping his actual, physical body from the Filigree.

As expected, the web is already ablaze with Elden Ring DLC theories on the where's and also what's and how's of Darkness of the Eritrea, with some recommending the horseback character is a young Maria (Queen Maria the Eternal, the ruling divine sovereign of the Lands In Between) yet, for my cash, I do not believe that's right. Others additionally reckon it's Miquel, but that he's currently woken up from his rest and also that the world illustrated in the photo is just how things care for the base video game's Age of the Dusk born ending. I'm not marketed on that either, but instead subscribe to the idea that this is Miquel's dream-- a separated globe that allows us to discover Miquel's storyline without affecting or impinging directly on whatever we have actually currently experienced in Elden Ring.

I enjoy just how open to interpretation simply regarding whatever FromSoftware does, and I'm actually thrilled to see how much bigger it goes in Elden Ring, as a video game so much bigger in stature than anything the developer has actually accomplished in the past. Last year, Emma Kent stated Elden Ring is an impossible enigma that definitely should have to be acknowledged for its narrative.

In our Elden Ring DLC wishlist last year, we pondered how it would certainly be cool for future web content to allow us see brand-new locations that discover existing lore. Without wading too deep right into Elden Ring's challenging tradition, Miquel developed the Filigree to break this curse, to grow right into an adult, and to purge the rot from his sis Malaria. On looks alone, the individual riding through the fields on the back of Torrent has the very same lengthy blonde and braided hair as Miquel, and the truth that intrepid data miners exposed unused Miquel discussion not long after Elden Ring's launch last year most definitely underscores this personality's possibility. I'm not sold on that either, yet rather subscribe to the concept that this is Miquel's desire-- an isolated world that lets us check out Miquel's storyline without impacting or impinging straight on whatever we have actually currently experienced in Elden Ring.

On appearances alone, the person riding through the areas on the back of Torrent has the very same lengthy blonde and also braided hair as Miquel, and also the fact that brave data miners exposed extra Miquel discussion not long after Elden Ring's launch in 2015 certainly underlines this personality's potential. To this end, tales of rumored Elden Ring reduced material have featured current cycle consistently over the in 2015, consisting of a Mimic Tear that was readied to come to be self-conscious, a cut quest for Tyke (the cover art character), and also the reality that there's room for approximately 30 brand-new employers in future growths. The specifics of the most awful kept key in the Lands Between-- the long-rumored opening of the video game's Colosseum devoted PVP fields-- were very first proclaimed 2 months before their official launch, with Senior Dub's data mine being bang on all points.

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I love just how open to interpretation just concerning every little thing FromSoftware does, and also I'm truly delighted to see just how much larger it goes in Elden Ring, as a video game so a lot bigger in stature than anything the designer has achieved in the past.