Elden Ring - The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC

Previous DLC for Dark Souls games have added 2 or 3 bosses and a new area, and I wasn't really expecting a whole lot more than that.  What the DLC ended up being was a LONG, perfect escalation to the original game that tied up some loose ends brilliantly.

The game tells the story of Miquella and his attempt to ascend to godhood.  It's hard to judge true motivations when you're speaking of the will of demi-gods, especially one whose magical abilities are to subvert the will of others.

Previously one of the more "hated" in Elden Ring was Mohg, who kidnapped the eternally youthful Miquella and imprisoned his seemingly dead body in a cocoon to attempt to revive with blood magic, but apparently Miquella was manipulating Mohg to give up his own soul and use it as a vessel for Miquella to install his brother Radahn as the god consort.

What's great about it, is that "maybe" that's the story -- environmental storytelling has got to be the cooler ways to reveal a story.  You serve as a video game archaelogist as you guess what transpired to create a battleground scene from the tattered remnants, the fact that one tent has a rival soldiers armor set, or a bunch of unexploded gunpowder helps you come up with a guess and support it by descriptions of the tattered remains you uncover.

10/10 and I can't wait to replay this again.