New Elden Ring patch will make those early DLC hours a lot easier

By Carli Velocci Published June 27, 2024

One of Shadow of the Erdtree's bosses, Divine Beast Dancing Lion. — FromSoftware

A lot of people have been having trouble with Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, due to both general FromSoftware game difficulty and changes made to the leveling system once you get to the DLC area. A tiny patch issued Wednesday aims to help with that.

Calibration Update 1.12.2 tweaks two things regarding the Scadutree Blessing, a DLC-exclusive blessing that allows you to deal and take more damage as you upgrade it. The patch increases attack and damage negation for the first half of the upgrade tree, with the second half being “more gradual.” It also increased the blessing’s final level, so players who max it out will benefit more.

The Scadutree Blessing, according to a post from publisher Bandai Namco, is one of the key things players are missing with Shadow of the Erdtree. To use the blessing, you have to collect Scadutree Fragments, which are scattered throughout the Land of Shadow. The base game featured a more standard leveling system, while the DLC is focused more on attack power as a way to balance players at different skill levels.

FromSoftware and Bandai Namco issuing a patch seemingly in response to player feedback to make the game less difficult seems almost like a joke. However, while the point of Elden Ring‘s level design is to have you be defeated by bosses, forcing you to go back out into the world and explore, the patch should remove some of the frustration in those earlier hours — as long as you remember to use Scadutree Blessing and upgrade it, of course.

In smaller news, Calibration Update 1.12.2 notes that a bug where ray tracing being automatically on is contributing to some of the frame rate issues PC players have been experiencing. You can disable it by going into the game’s Graphics Settings and setting ray tracing to off.

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Contributor, Games

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

Gaming

Armored Core VI lives up to post-Elden Ring FromSoftware expectations

A boss fight in Armored Core 6.

I don’t envy the position FromSoftware is in with Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. It’s the first title since the release of Elden Ring, a monumental, critically acclaimed title considered one of the studio’s best. It’s also reviving a series that hasn’t been seen in a decade for modern platforms and game audiences. On top of those things, because this isn’t a Souls game, a microscope will be on the title as FromSoftware fans scrutinize if it’s as good as other games, while Souls haters will wonder if this is finally a good FromSoftware jumping on point for them.

ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON — Gameplay Trailer

Gaming

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon follows up Elden Ring in August

A mecha fights a giant mechanical worm in Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon.

FromSoftware and Bandai Namco Entertainment revealed when we can expect Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon to release at the end of a new trailer. After getting a first look at some of the game's bombastic mecha fights, we learned that Armored Core VI will come out on August 25.
Before Demon's Souls and Dark Souls became popular and increased FromSoftware's notoriety exponentially, Armored Core was the series the Japanese developer was best known for. This series of intense mecha shooters haven't seen a new entry since September 2013, though. That's why it was a nice surprise to see Armored Core VI announced at The Game Awards last year. It not only revived a long-dormant series but provided a nice change of pace for FromSoftware after it had perfected the Souls formula with Elden Ring.
ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON — Gameplay Trailer
As for the gameplay trailer, it begins with a massive rocket making planetfall by the command of a "Handler Walter". After that, we see some environmental shots of many of the levels players will be able to explore before hearing that augmented human C4-621, presumably the player, has awakened. The trailer is a non-stop action fest after that, as we see mecha boosting around levels fighting each other with powerful gunfire, rockets, and other weaponry from the ground and air. It certainly looks nothing like Elden Ring, but that makes us all the more excited.
A press release following the trailer also revealed more information about the game's story. It takes place on a planet called Rubicon 3, where an energy source called Coral was discovered but ultimately caused a planet-wide catastrophe. Armored Core VI takes place almost fifty years after that and follows a mercenary in the middle of corporations and resistance groups fighting over what remains of Coral.
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on August 25.

Gaming

Elden Ring’s first DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, is in development

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's key art.

Yes, Elden Ring is finally getting DLC. After over a year of speculation since the critically acclaimed game's launch, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is confirmed to be in development.
FromSoftware broke the news via its social media accounts for the game, simply affirming that Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree "is currently in development." No additional release window or story details were shared, but its Japanese website confirms the expansion will come to all of the same platforms as the base game, and the tweet does include one piece of concept art. In it, we see a darkened Erdtree in the distance as a mysterious girl on a horse rides toward it and some ruins. We don't know what any of this means just yet, but the key art appears to tease a darker tone and new character and reaffirm that Shadow of the Erdtree will take place in a massive open world.
https://twitter.com/ELDENRING/status/1630478058103734274
Elden Ring was released on February 25, 2022, and it was met with critical acclaim and lots of Game of the Year awards (including Digital Trends' own) because of how FromSoftware adapted its classics Souls series formula into a game with a massive open world that rivaled The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. As many previous FromSoftware games got DLC, fans were hoping that Elden Ring would get the same treatment.
Before now, we've mostly gotten small patches, with a Colosseum-adding update in December being the most notable. Although Shadow of the Erdtree doesn't have a release date, it's a relief for Elden Ring fans to now have some brand-new content to look forward to.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Shadow of the Erdtree does not have a release window yet.