"At the very outset there were a lot of possibilities, but one of the things that was determined very early on was that size," said FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki. "We wanted that sense of scale for this map, because we wanted an experience for the player that was going to match that of the base game. We wanted them to experience that sense of discovery, and that sense of wonder and exploration again. We needed a map that was going to uphold that and bolster that."
I had a chance to venture further into Shadow of the Erdtree than anyone else for the cover feature of the next issue of PC Gamer, on sale later this month. I also got to ask Miyazaki for insight into the design of the Land of Shadow, and how it compares to the original map.
"Obviously it being exactly the same, but smaller, wouldn't quite cut it, so we wanted to approach from a sense of granularity, is the word we're using," he said. "How dense this map is, and the ratio of legacy dungeon to open field areas, and how they intertwine. This is something we wanted to explore anew in the DLC: In terms of recapturing that sense of scale but in a slightly different way with a slightly different granularity."