The Legend of Messmer.
I really do loveShadow of the Erdtree.
I love its varied, spectacular environments.
But I have to admit, the Elden Ring DLC has a problem with progression.
And it’s a problem some inspiration from Nintendo could solve.
After all,Elden Ringis justBreath of the Wild- Dark Souls, right?
Since its release, much of the Shadow of the Erdtree discourse has focused on difficulty.
And that’s to be expected for a Souls game.
Struggling with a boss?
Go explore elsewhere, find some new gear, or simply grind for runes to level up your stats.
It’s this built-in approachability that, in part, led to the game’s meteoric success.
Yet this is lost in Shadow of the Erdtree.
FromSoftware’s predicament, though, is that pitching difficulty is a seemingly impossible task.
We’re not all on the same level, starting at the same point.
How do you satisfy all these players and offer a reasonable amount of challenge?
In this case the studio’s answer is Scadutree Blessings.
In short, players find fragments around the world that can be exchanged for a boost in overall stats.
Exploration is at the heart of Elden Ring, and discovery is often a reward in itself.
And that’s not very Elden Ring - but it is very Zelda.
What I really craved was the Hero’s Path feature from Breath of the Wild.
Instead, the search for fragments felt like shrine hunting across Hyrule with a blindfold.
An alternative would be the Metroid treatment.
I love how each Metroid game finds a new contrivance to strip Samus of her abilities.
Our Tarnisheds could have undergone a similar treatment in Shadow of the Erdtree.
It’s not as if FromSoftware hasn’t been inspired by Nintendo before.
Perhaps Zelda’s breakable weapons are a step too far for Elden Ring - or are they?
It’s as if Zelda and Souls games have a sort of ongoing dialogue.
Plenty of other action-adventure games have followed suit too, though none - arguably - quite as successfully.
