Summary
The Depths are without a doubt one of the pinnacle experiences ofThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, offering a different atmosphere and experience from the rest of Hyrule’s surface and skies. In fact, the Depths are one of the most distinct environments in the history oftheLegend of Zeldaseries. Upon diving into one ofZelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Chasms, players enter the darkness of the Depths, where they are faced with tougher enemies that can’t even be seen without a proper light source. It’s one of the most notable locations in the game, and it just so happens thatElden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC includes a location that is strikingly similar to the Depths in its visual and mechanical features.
Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC introduces the Realm of Shadow, a rather sizable region with a full game’s worth of locations to explore. As players venture toward the southwestern edge of the map, they may eventually arrive at the Cerulean Coast. Traveling further south will see them coming upon the Fissure, which they can platform down into to reach a massive underground area called the Stone Coffin Fissure. The Stone Coffin Fissure is one of Shadow of the Erdtree’s minor dungeons, but it is anything but minor in size. While they explore it, players may find it to be very similar toZelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Depths.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s Stone Coffin Fissure Feels Like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Depths
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s Stone Coffin Fissure Is a Massive Underground Cavern
Likethe Depths inZelda: Tears of the Kingdom,Shadow of the Erdtree’s Stone Coffin Fissure is a massive underground cavern. While the Stone Coffin Fissure isn’t as dark as the Depths, it still gets fairly dark at night, which can limit visibility. Giant stalactites hang from the cavern’s ceiling, while what are supposedly countless stone coffins the dungeon is named after are lodged into the cavern’s walls. The enemies here are quite aggressive, much like those found in the Depths inZelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
When players aren’t fighting massive ogres, they’ll be fighting Abnormal Stone Clusters that relentlessly fire purple lasers from their eyes and rarely offer players an opportunity to attack or move in closer without being struck. Once players reach the end of the Stone Coffin Fissure, they’ll arrive at the Garden of Deep Purple where they can progressSt. Trina’s questline. They’ll only be able to do this after defeating a tough boss, however, which happens to be reached by performing an act similar to one players perform inZelda: Tears of the Kingdomas they enter the Depths.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s Stone Coffin Fissure Shares Mechanical Similarities With the Depths
As if platforming down the giant Fissure in the Cerulean Coast wasn’t already similar enough toZelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Chasms, upon reaching the Fissure Depths, players may believe they’ve reached a dead end only to eventually realize their only shot at progression is to jump down into the foggy chasm below them. This is one of the few times something like this has happened inElden Ring, and the animation of the player character careening down into the chasm feels almost identical to Link’s own dive into one ofZelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Chasms.
Hidetaka Miyazaki has been open in the past about how he was inspired byThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildduringElden Ring’s development, so it would come as no surprise ifZelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s Depths inspired Shadow of the Erdtree’s Stone Coffin Fissure. If nothing else, it’s just another of the unique and worthwhile locations thatElden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLChas added to the game for players to explore.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
WHERE TO PLAY
Shadow of the Erdtree is the first and only DLC expansion for FromSoftware’s groundbreaking Elden Ring. It takes players to a whole new region, the Land of Shadow, where a new story awaits the Tarnished.
