It's the best videogame thing of the year, but there's also like genuinely no competition (well except maybe if the new Zelda is really good (which it probably will be) (ok also stalker 2 might be good)).

It genuinely makes me feel like the base game wasn't half of what they wanted to ship: The map design and openness of the DLC make the base game map feel ancient and like a giant compromise. It's definitely the closest they've gotten to Dark Souls 1 in terms of level design, while also being an open-world game. Dark Souls 1 was a bunch of winding paths that cut through a world, Dark Souls 2 was just nonsense, Dark Souls 3 were like plates of level put next to each other, base game Elden Ring was one really big really wide corridor. The DLC is like a bunch of winding paths all stacked on top of another. There's so much verticality to it and so many twists and branches to every path you can take. That alone makes it 100% worthwhile.

I find the "oh there's nothing to find in the world boo-hoo it's so empty" complaints to be ridiculous. I guess that's what happens when every other game that comes out nowadays is skinner-box first and game second. The game is fun to play, the world is fun to explore, I don't need a dopamine treat every five minutes. The game is better for not giving you one. I don't need to see number go up. Stop playing shit like vampire survivors or balatro, your brain will thank you.