Elden Ring Theory Perfectly Predicts How Many Bosses Hidetaka Miyazaki Hid in the Game: “By today’s standards, the DLC should be a $70 game”

FromSoftware’s action-RPG juggernaut of the generation, Elden Ring, is set to get a massive expansion in less than a month with the upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Anticipation is running high among fans, especially after the recent story trailer.

The DLC is confirmed to plunge players into the Shadow Lands, a seemingly dark mirror image of the base game’s Lands Between. Many wonder how many boss fights it’ll have, and a recent clue may have given it away from the unlikeliest part of the expansion: the soundtrack.

Shadow of the Erdtree‘s Soundtrack Is Huge

The official announcement for Shadow of the Erdtree confirmed a soundtrack featuring over 30 unique songs. What was an apparently innocuous detail has the Elden Ring community up in stitches, with many theorizing that it signifies a much larger expansion than previously anticipated.

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For context, the base game boasts a whopping 67 songs on its soundtrack, just over double the DLC’s. However, Elden Ring can provide hundreds of hours of playtime, so Shadow of the Erdtree coming in at just under half of that would make for an expansion of massive scale.

Elden Ring Fans Think The DLC Should Cost $70

Dataminers and fans alike have been drawing connections between the soundtrack size and the potential content within Shadow of the Erdtree. Based on the number of musical pieces in past FromSoftware titles, dataminer Sekiro Dubi estimated that the DLC could introduce 15 to 20 new bosses, with each likely having multiple phases reflected in the soundtrack.

30 songs in the OST… 15 to 20 new bosses at least? Between first phase, 2nd phase, variations like ER songs vs Radagon song…? damn, by today standards the DLC should be a 70 bucks game probably https://t.co/u4c0HtyhuV

— Sekiro Dubi (Elden Ring DLC at home) (@sekirodubi) May 22, 2024

This significant increase in musical cues compared to previous FromSoftware games, like the remake of Demon’s Souls (21 songs) and Dark Souls (31 songs), further lends credence to the notion of a gargantuan DLC. It’s quite bonkers to think Shadow of the Erdtree alone has more unique tracks than the entirety of Demon’s Souls, but such is the beauty of FromSoftware.

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The excitement surrounding the soundtrack size is particularly noteworthy considering the studio’s previous statements about Shadow of the Erdtree. Hidetaka Miyazaki, Elden Ring‘s director, has maintained a characteristically cryptic approach regarding the DLC’s length.

He previously downplayed the base game’s playtime, claiming it could be completed in around 30 hours. This estimation was hilariously contradicted by the actual experience of many players who found themselves sinking hundreds of hours into exploring the Lands Between.

While Miyazaki has stated that the DLC’s map will likely be larger than Limgrave, details beyond that are basically non-existent as of now. Whether Shadow of the Erdtree lives up to the speculation of being an “Elden Ring 1.5” with a wealth of new content remains to be seen, but it looks very likely.

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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree releases on 21 June 2024.