Alright, so everyone’s buzzing about the Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, right? Me too. Huge fan of the base game, sunk way too many hours into it. So, naturally, when the pre-orders or just the store pages went live, I went looking.
First thing I noticed was, okay, there’s the standard version, just the DLC. Cool, simple. But then there’s this ‘Premium Bundle’ or ‘Premium Edition’, something like that. Had to figure out what the deal was.
Digging into the Differences
So I started poking around, trying to see what exactly made the ‘Premium’ one premium. It wasn’t super complicated, thankfully. Here’s what I gathered:
- Normal Edition: You get the game expansion. That’s it. Shadow of the Erdtree. Plain and simple.
- Premium Edition: You get the expansion, plus some digital goodies. Usually, this means a digital artbook and the digital soundtrack.
Pretty standard stuff for special editions these days, honestly. No crazy in-game items that give you an advantage, which is good. Just bonus digital content for the folks who really love the art and music.
My Thought Process – To Premium or Not To Premium?
Now, I had to decide. I sat there thinking, okay, how much extra are they asking for the premium stuff? I checked the price difference. Wasn’t huge, but it was definitely extra cash.
I thought back to other games where I bought fancy editions. Sometimes, I looked at the digital artbook once and never again. Soundtracks? Yeah, I like game music, but I usually just listen on YouTube or Spotify if it’s available there eventually. Was I really going to sit down and flip through a digital artbook often? Probably not. Would I specifically load up a separate application to listen to the soundtrack? Maybe a few times?
But, Elden Ring’s art direction and music are absolutely top-notch. Part of me, the collector part, the fan part, was whispering, “Come on, it’s FromSoft, the artbook will be amazing, the music is epic!” It felt like a way to show extra support, you know?
I weighed the pros and cons. Extra money versus potentially cool digital stuff I might rarely look at. It’s always this little battle, isn’t it?
What I Ended Up Doing
In the end? I actually went with the Normal Edition. Yeah, just the standard DLC.
My reasoning was pretty practical. I figured the main thing I wanted was the game itself, the new area to explore, the new bosses to get wrecked by. That’s the core experience. While I appreciate the art and music immensely, I realized I probably wouldn’t engage with the digital extras enough to justify the extra cost for me. My backlog is already huge, and my free time isn’t exactly unlimited.
I decided I’d rather save that little bit of cash. Maybe put it towards another game later, or just, you know, keep it. I know some folks absolutely live for those artbooks and soundtracks, and that’s awesome! For them, the Premium is probably a great deal. But for me, this time, sticking to the basics felt right.
So yeah, that was my little journey figuring out the Shadow of the Erdtree editions. Just got the standard expansion, ready to dive in when it unlocks. No regrets so far!
