CD Projekt Red congratulates FromSoftware after Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree success

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt developer, CD Projekt Red, has offered a message of congratulations to FromSoftware after Elden Ring’s recently-released expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, has eclipsed The Witcher 3’s acclaimed Blood and Wine DLC as being the best-reviewed expansion for a role-playing game.

Here's a live view of REDs this week trying to prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree. pic.twitter.com/Ixb3rxrpyZ

— The Witcher (@witchergame) June 21, 2024

In a message posted on X, the official account for The Witcher stated that “For the last eight years, The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine had the honour of being the best-reviewed expansion for a role-playing game – but Elden Ring gets to wear that crown now. Congratulations to the entire team at FromSoftware on their stellar work!” The post includes fun original art of The Witcher protagonist, Geralt of Rivia defeating Mogh, the challenging endgame boss of the main game, which is required to access the expansion’s content. The developers also posted a fun collage of its developers speeding through the mandatory content in the main game so they can play Shadow of the Erdtree themselves.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has indeed been critically acclaimed since its release last week. Checkpoint Gaming’s writer Omi described the expansion in his review as “one of the best FromSoftware experiences to date, capturing everything that made Elden Ring special and more.” Notably, at time of writing, the review average on the expansion’s Steam store page is “Mixed“, with the more negative reviews criticising the high difficulty, as well as some concerns regarding performance on PC. Players hoping for patches to make Shadow of the Erdtree easier will probably be waiting a long time, however; in a recent interview with The Guardian, FromSoftware President Hidetaka Miyazaki stated that turning down Elden Ring’s infamous level of challenge would “break the game itself“. As such, it seems that the studio is unlikely to embrace optional difficulty levels anytime soon.

At any rate, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree appears to have earned its accolades, and its nice to see CD Projekt Red acknowledge its success. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is currently available on Xbox One, PS4, PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.