Now that FromSoftware's latest title has been picked apart, speculation for the first wave of Elden Ring DLC is in full swing. While there are a few obvious directions for Elden Ring's DLC like diving into a Miquella backstory or heading to the Badlands, there is an area that is still open for expansion. The forgotten corners of the world buried beneath the Lands Between specifically could lead the way to a memorable DLC adventure.
Fortunately for FromSoftware, there is plenty of unexplored space beneath the Lands Between in Elden Ring that could be the key to carving out more map for players to adventure through. This could range anywhere from discovering lost sections of the Eternal City of Nokron to giving more backstory to the mysterious Mohgwyn Dynasty and the lore of Miquella. However, the best option might follow in the footsteps of previous games for expanding on the current lore.
Places to Explore Under the Lands Between
The Lands Between is a strangely built world, with the overhead area of Elden Ring's map resting on top of several underground environments, as well as other ruins that occasionally peek out at the edges of cliffs. Most notable among these underground ruins are Nokron/Nokstella, Mohgwyn Palace, and the Deeproot Depths. Any of these areas could easily be expanded further if FromSoftware wanted to continue exploring the background of the Lands Between and the Demigods that players have already encountered.
Looking at the history of FromSoftware's DLC, however, exploring Mohg and Miquella might be the less likely option, since the developer tends to look backwards with additional content rather than push forwards. In that case, Nokron and the Deeproot Depths might be the two places that players can expect to return to while looking into the darker past of Elden Ring's Golden Order. Each of these have a backstory that some players have been able to piece together involving the Erdtree subjugating an indigenous population, which could easily fit into the Soulborne formula.
Exploring the Crucible Knights in the Deeproot Depths
For most players, the Crucible Knights are a dangerous enemy and little more. However, the details in this enemy type's design, and the backstory told from their gear, offers a small amount of insight into the origins of the Lands Between and even the Erdtree itself. The Primordial Crucible that the enemies earn their namesake from is something from beyond the explorable world in Elden Ring, and calls back to before the creation of the Greater Will itself.
From what we've seen of these knights in Elden Ring so far, they appear to have been cast out by Queen Marika as they once served Godfrey, the First Elden Lord. Since then, they now appear all over the world, but the leadership of these Crucible Knights seem to have made a new home inside of the Deeproot Depths. This could make exploring this place where Death has spread and the cast off soldiers of an old lord have found a new home into a perfectly dark narrative to follow while diving deeper below the Lands Between.
The section of the Deeproot Depths that can be visited from the base game only really gives a glimpse of how far down the underside of the Lands Between can get. Considering the motif of the many trees that exist across the expanding universe of Elden Ring, there's plenty more to see from the rotting roots below the world than just a single tangled ruin. This could also lead into a highly requested trip to the Badlands due to the Crucible Knight's connection to Godfrey and Hoarah Loux.
The Eternal City Has a lot more Space to Excavate
While it might not be part of the main quest to get to the credits, getting through both Nokron and Nokstella are a huge part of the Ranni the Witch side quest. During that time, players make two trips down below, one to retrieve the Fingerslayer Blade, and the second expedition chases after the Demigod in order to clear her path so she can kill her own Two Fingers. However, between these two adventures, players only explore a handful of buildings, and are only given a quick view of what the remains of this destroyed civilization looks like.
The lost past of the Eternal City might actually be the best fit for the FromSoftware formula when it comes to exploring new DLC areas. Looking back at the additional content from Bloodborne's Old Hunters to Dark Souls 3's Ringed City, the developer has a history of using these new locales and boss fights in order to explore the tragic mistakes of older generations. Whether it was the sin of slaying the pregnant Great One Kos, or Gwyn's fearful curse against humanity and its dark soul, many of these new additions focus on how the world fell apart and may have deserved it.
An Unseen Past Beneath the Lands Between
What might be more impressive than expanding on the previously explored areas that exist underneath the Lands Between, another great path forward could be to find something new. This could mean finding something that the Erdtree itself had long buried and only appears after the player sets it on fire towards the end of Elden Ring's base storyline. It would be a chance to explore even more secrets about the world that may have only been briefly hinted at from minor item descriptions, but never explored on the initial adventure.
Given the themes expressed in other Soulsborne content, much of FromSoftware's storytelling revolves around the cyclical nature of new beings coming into power, only to fade away as the next generation resets everything. Digging deeper below Nokrom or the Deeproot Depths, only to find another land that had been snuffed out by those above them would be exactly the thematic punch that Elden Ring needs to stand out above the Dark Souls trilogy. Beyond the narrative implications, a fresh area could also mean new enemies that aren't simply copy and pasted from the base game, which could easily give combat the fresh shot in the arm it needs.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.