Elden Ring, the highly anticipated action role-playing game from the legendary game developer Hidetaka Miyazaki and author George R.R. Martin, has been out for quite some time ago now.

With the announcement of the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, new buyers face several choices regarding the available versions. Let’s go over all of them to make things clearer.

ELDEN RING

  • Base Game ✔
  • Shadow of the Erdtree ✘
  • Digital Artbooks & Soundtracks ✘

ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree Edition

  • Base Game ✔
  • Shadow of the Erdtree ✔
  • Digital Artbooks & Soundtracks ✘

ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree Deluxe Edition

  • Base Game ✔
  • Shadow of the Erdtree ✔
  • Digital Artbooks & Soundtracks (from Elden Ring Base and SotE DLC)  ✔

ELDEN RING

This is the standard edition of the game. No additional bells and whistles, but the game is fine without them. It’s a compelling, epic-scale story set in a carefully designed world filled with exciting and challenging combat, larger-than-life personalities, and incredible art direction.

All of that will be up for you to discover, as you’ll be exploring this game as a customizable “Tarnished”, a person drawn back to the Lands Between as the region is thrown into ruin by conflicted demigods.

ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree Edition

Buying this version of the game gives you both the base game and access to the massive Shadow of the Erdtree expansion once it launches on June 21st, 2024.

The expansion features new weapons, a new story, new dungeons to conquer, and, of course, lots of new enemies to face. There will be no shortage of giant monsters, twisted mutants, and creepily elegant foes.

SotE will require sharp reflexes and mastery of Elden Ring’s systems, as it most likely won’t pull any punches.

ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree Deluxe Edition

Replacing the former ER Deluxe Edition, it includes both the base game and the expansion, but also adds in digital content for people who can’t get enough of the artistry of the game.

Specifically it includes the artbooks and soundtracks for both Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree.

As the Elden Ring Deluxe Edition became unavailable for purchase on most retailers, purchasing SotE Deluxe is the most direct way to acquire the artbook and soundtrack for the base game.

The DLC options:

People who already own Elden Ring do not need to re-purchase it with the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion included. There are two DLC options they can choose from:

  • ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree – contains just the expansion.
  • ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree Premium Bundle – contains the expansion as well the artbook and the soundtrack specific to SotE.

WARNING: Shadow of the Erdtree Premium Bundle does NOT include artbook and soundtrack for the base game.

To buy them you would need to pick on of the two options:

  • Purchase ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree Deluxe Edition for the full ER experience (once the expansion launches)
  • Find Elden Ring Deluxe Edition outside of the major platforms such as Steam or Xbox store and purchase the game again just for the digital extras.

In both cases it would mean acquiring the base game for the second time, the difference is the amount of extra content you’d receive.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this cross-section of editions, versions, and content options available for Elden Ring will help both first-time and returning fans make the optimal choice.