Shadow of the Erdtree Still Has a (Long) Shot at Game of the Year

It’s time to start making calls for Game of the Year (GOTY) 2024 front-runners, as most of the year’s major releases are out. From huge hits like Black Myth Wukong to exciting indie projects such as Hyper Light Breaker, this year has been a fantastic one for the world of gaming.

Among the plethora of games that have been released in 2024 to date, Elden Ring‘s Shadow of the Erdtree is the biggest standout.It was an incredible addition to the base game and completely shook it up from the ground up. You can consider it as a separate game altogether. While its DLC nature might knock it out for the GOTY race, there’s still a chance when you take everything into account.

Shadow of the Erdtree Can Still Snatch Game of the Year 2024 Award

Elden Ring‘s Shadow of the Erdtree is cited as a well-executed victory lap for FromSoftware and Hidetaka Miyazaki. It just isn’t an Elden Ring DLC for the sake of it; it’s the greatest orchestra of poison swamps, mountain ledges, and gimmicks ripped out of the company’s previous hits. The DLC truly surpassed the original game in every sense and proved FromSoftware’s commitment to the industry.

After the DLC’s success, gamers felt that there was no way that any other titles debuting this year would surpass it, and it would snatch the Game of the Year 2024. Even though Shadow of the Erdtree is massive, quite a game-sized expansion, few in the community felt that it’s still fundamentally categorized as a DLC rather than a game, and it wouldn’t take away the GOTY 2024 title.

However, there’s still hope. According to GOTY’s official guidelines, all kinds of DLCs and expansions are still eligible to contend for the award. Back in 2015, CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3 managed to get the GOTY award, and then in 2016, its DLCs managed to win the Best RPG of the Year award.

So far, no DLC or expansion has managed to nab the award before. However, if any DLC could do that, it’s undoubtedly Shadow of the Erdtree. It’s essentially two expansions combined into one and the highest-rated one that’s ever been released in the gaming industry.

You’ll be surprised, but 20% of the base game’s player base purchased the DLC in the first week, and that’s something we’ve never heard happening before. It’s safe to say that even if Shadow of the Erdtree doesn’t win Game of the Year 2024, it’s a sure-shot winner for the RPG of the Year award.

Shadow of the Erdtree is the End of Road For Elden Ring

It’s clear that Shadow of the Erdtree is the most popular expansion of the year, even outclassing many AAA games. Due to its success, the entire gaming industry thought that FromSoftware and Miyazaki would carry forward this momentum and bring more DLCs for the base game.

Unfortunately, that won’t be happening. While chatting about Shadow of the Erdtree, Miyazaki confirmed that it would be the final DLC for the base game. It’s quite disappointing but not shocking when you recall FromSoftware’s history. The developer doesn’t bring multiple expansions for its games despite their popularity.

It’s still not clear where FromSoftware and Miyazaki will go forward from here. We might not have a DLC for Elden Ring, but there’s a high chance that the studio could follow the game with a sequel. It’s the biggest IP for the studio, and it won’t let it slip like that.

With that said, do you think Shadow of the Erdtree is a worthy challenger for Game of the Year 2024? Let us know in the comments below.