My first FromSoft game and I enjoyed the base game so much and I also managed to finish and 100% the game so I was pretty excited for the DLC and pre ordered it and definitely worth every single Dollar for sure.

The Level Design of Land of the Shadow is next level from the base game. The verticality is insane. I didn't even know that there was so much to do from Graveyard Plains, You can reach the Jagged Peaks, and then the Cerulean Coast and the River Cave, Charo's Hidden Grave etc. i initially just missed the dragon pit and the cerulean coast when I was first playing. All of that is accessible from Graveyard Plains. Which is such good map design and it's super rewarding and exciting to discover all of this on your first playthrough. Everysingle place has something above and below it. Even though the map looks small at first due to the verticality of the entire map the actual playable area feels like its double that.

All the Bosses were phenomenal except for maybe Gauis with his hitbox being a bit annoying. Prime Radahn or rather Consort Radahn as he's called in the game is pretty cool with all the lore implications and the fact that you can find out about it from Ansbach telling you about it is pretty cool. But most of the bosses can be actually skipped. Only Messmer, Romina are actually mandatory and then you have the Allies fight and the last boss Radahn himself.

The biomes were well designed too with especially the Abyssal Woods being super creepy and well designed. The Hinterlands is definitely my favourite scene with Marika leaving a small Erdtree.

The DLC levelling system with the Scadutree Blessings and the Revered Spirit Blessings systems are really nicely designed. It's basically the same as how we collect Golden Seeds and the tears for the mixed physick in the base game but here we collect Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Fragments to iincrease your character's damage and damage negation. Even a max level 713 player can still find the DLC hard and is forced to find the fragments. Which is what the DLC is supposed to be , Harder than the base game and its rewarding to slowly get progressively stronger as you continue the game. Since we already have collected Golden seeds in the base game, its already instinct for us so it's not weird to go finding these fragments which also can be found at Churches and near grace sites and the crosses and so on.

The lore is also pretty straightforward in this DLC that the base game, you can even find out the final boss from Ansbach in the Shadow Keep without looking it up. Only the St. Trina's quest which needs you to die multiple times is quite confusing and might need to require looking it up online.

The lore of the DLC is also pretty neat as the story is quite straightforward to understand with Ansbach helping you piece everything together and finding out what Miquella's plans are for his godhood is cool. You get to compare his plans with Ranni's plans and you can see the juxtaposition there, with Miquella wanting to compel and basically making everyone mindless puppets in the name of peace and prosperity, while Ranni's plan is to let everyone have freedom which is completely opposite of Miquella.

We also find out about Marika's background and how the Shamans , which are here people were ensalved by the Hornsent and stuffed into jars to make them 'Saints' because their Flesh is really good at meshing with other's flesh. So marika rises up against the hornsent and tells Messmer to lead a crusade against them and burn them all.
Which is why even Leda says " They were never saints, just happen to be on the losing side of the war ". and hence they are now angry at the erdtree and the tarnished as we too belong to the same faction I guess.
Which then ties back to the base game where it makes sense for Godrick to be grafting so many arms and the dragon head into his body since I guess his flesh also meshes well with other's flesh since he's a descendant of the Shamans. Even Rykard Meshes with the Snake and becomes a new entity altogether. I guess that's also the reason why Marika and Radagon are one and the same and how Miquella also has his other alter ego St. Trina. Cool lore all around to find out stuff which ties back all the way into the base game.

The art design is also next level in this DLC , literally everywhere you go , you can take a screenshot of the vista and set up a wallpaper with it. Absolutely gorgeous design.
Music and soundtrack as usual are top notch again , I especially like the music for when miquella make's his entrance as well since its similar to the radagon music but different at the same time.

I love the new weapon types, but personally the Light Greatsword type and the Great katana types are my favorite with the backhand blades being a close second. Also love the smithscript weapons which lets melee users have a range option by throwing the weapon at enemies at range.

Only the Furnace golems are the negative point in this DLC from my experience, the worst things to fight and simply way too boring with meagre rewards.

Definitely one of the Best DLCs and it completely lives upto the hype , makes sense they took 2 years to make it. 10/10.