Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Gets New Story Trailer, Teases History of the Realm of Shadow

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, the much-awaited expansion for the acclaimed action RPG, received a new trailer Tuesday, detailing the game's story and teasing pieces of lore. The story trailer delved further into the backstory of Miquella brother of Malenia, and offered yet another look at its primary antagonist, Messmer the Impaler. Shadow of the Erdtree will launch June 21 across PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X.

The three-minute-long cinematic trailer dives into the history of the Realm of Shadow, the new location where the expansion takes place. The trailer mentions a betrayal that led to the birth of both Gold and Shadow. The trailer then talks of the fiery war in the Land of Shadow, a “purge without grace or honor.” We get another appearance from Messmer and his destructive flame that left the land in ruins.

The cryptic trailer doesn't give away much, but sets up the pieces of its story, teasing a new adventure in the land of Shadow, a completely new world within Elden Ring. Shadow of the Erdtree is said to be FromSoftware's largest expansion till date. The DLC's map will be large, with plenty of things to do. Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki had hinted at the size of the expansion back in February. “It's hard to answer without giving away too much and to a high degree of accuracy, but if you think in terms of scale or size, it's probably comparable, if not larger, than the area of Limgrave from the base game,” he told IGN at the time.

The first major expansion for Elden Ring was announced in February 2023, teasing eager fans with an image. Shadow of the Erdtree received its first trailer in February 2024, detailing new gameplay features, story and the world. The first trailer also confirmed the release date for the expansion.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is currently available for pre-order across Steam, PlayStation and Xbox storefronts, with a release set for June 21. It's worth noting that the base game would be required to play the expansion.