Shadow of the Erdtree Doesn’t Feature New Material from George R.R. Martin

When Elden Ring was first announced, the collaboration between director Hidetaka Miyazaki and author George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame got many curious. Martin’s contribution focused on the overall setting and backstory, with the current events handled by FromSoftware’s narrative team.

With Shadow of the Erdtree receiving new details, it’s confirmed that the author doesn’t provide any new story content for the expansion, with events playing out according to his established lore. “As for George Martin’s involvement, essentially it is the same as it was with the base game,” Miyazaki told Eurogamer. “The DLC Shadow of the Erdtree is based on one part of that original mythos he penned for us.

“It’s not a brand new mythos that he’s written specifically for Shadow of the Erdtree. He has not created something new which informed the design of the DLC. It’s simply another part of the original story we thought fit to tell as a new expansion.” Not much is known about the plot, but the Land of Shadow is the first area that Marika arrived at.

Miyazaki also confirmed that the team formulated ideas for Shadow of the Erdtree following the conclusion of the base game’s development. Once more updates and patches were released, production on the expansion began to ramp up in earnest.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree launches on June 21st for $39.99. As FromSoftware’s largest expansion to date, it features more than ten new bosses (including a challenge on the level of Malenia, the Blade of Miquella), eight new weapon categories and new dungeons. Check out the first gameplay trailer here.