When Shadow Of The Erdtree Takes Place On Elden Ring’s Timeline

’s story is not spoon-fed to players, so it’s particularly difficult to know when certain events, like the new DLC, are supposed to take place. Like with most FromSoftware games, much of ’s story leaves some room for interpretation, and it has to be gleaned from a variety of sources other than just the gameplay and cutscenes. That said, there are some hints that can point to when takes place in relation to the rest of the game.

[Warning: Spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.]

To try and pinpoint a place in ’s story when is meant to take place requires looking at the events of the story that concretely take place before and after. Certain events in 's timeline have to take place before players are able to access the DLC. Similarly, there are parts of the story that definitely take place after, as players are not able to return to 's Land of Shadow at a certain point.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree takes players to the Land of Shadow, which has a significantly different scale and design than the Lands Between.

Radagon of the Golden Order is the second to last boss in. Once he is defeated, players are immediately forced to confront the game’s final boss: The Elden Beast. Once the Elden Beast has been defeated, players are only left with two options: go back to a point before defeating it, or start New Game Plus. As players are not allowed to continue after defeating the Elden Beast, the events of must take place before the end of ’s main game.

While it is nice to have a definitive point that must take place before, players need more information to pin down exactly when it happens. Still, thanks to not allowing players to continue on to the DLC after beating the final boss, it becomes a bit easier to try and figure out when it takes place. Since the story has a definitive end point, players next just need to look for what has to come before.

Several events must take place in ’s base game before players can travel to the Land of Shadow in the DLC, one