Now that the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is out, players are discovering just how big the DLC is. Reddit user u/GilliamYaeger overlaid the DLC map on the Land of Shadow, and it perfectly matches the base game The Lands Between, showing that the game is much larger than Limgrave, which game director Hidetaka Miyazaki previously suggested was similar in size.
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Looking at both maps, it seems that the Land of Shadow not only includes regions the size of Limgrave, but also Liurnia, Caelid, Raya Lucaria, Altus Plateau, and Leyndell. These areas make up about 70-80% of the base game's content, so the fact that the DLC has these areas combined almost makes it seem like a separate game.
Another great thing, as pointed out by u/GilliamYaeger, is that the Land of Shadow fits perfectly with all the empty areas of the Lands Between, like a jigsaw puzzle. Regarding this, u/pichael289 said: "The Lands Between are the Lands of Golden Light. The Lands of Shadow are the inverse of that. It makes sense that the maps work this way too." FromSoftware definitely designed the DLC map to fit perfectly with the base game map.
Like the base game, the Land of Shadow is filled with a variety of great locations such as Belurat, Castle Ensis, Ellac River, and the Cerulean Coast. The overall atmosphere of the DLC also gives it a different feel compared to the base game; the locations from the last game such as Limgrave, Liurnia, Leyndell (before the ashes) are vibrant and make them much more appealing to explore, while the areas and surroundings in the Land of Shadow have a sort of grim feel to them (on top of the super difficult enemies).
