Despite the difficulty discourse, Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree's first two bosses have already been beaten using mind control

Ok, so it's fair to say the current verdict about Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is that it certainly isn't easy, even in the eyes of the kind of FromSoft vets who might've expected to be able to breeze through without thinking. That said, as one streamer's busy demonstrating, it is possible to scythe through the expansion's bosses using just your brain.

The streamer in question is Perrikaryal, and if you're unfamiliar, they're the creator that managed to beat the entire base game last year using a headset that measures their brain's activity and turns those bursts of energy into inputs for the game. Basically, they think in a certain way, their Tarnished does a certain thing - as you can imagine, it adds an extra layer of challenge to an already notoriously difficult game.

Naturally, since Shadow of the Erdtree dropped, Perrikaryal's dug straight into a "mind control" run through it using their carefully-honed setup, and it looks to be going pretty well so far. While they haven't blazed through the DLC in a weekend like some folks, the streamer has already managed to beat the first two bosses.

First up was the Divine Beast Dancing Lion, which the streamer finished off with some well-timed slashes and a bit of help from Redmane Freyja. "It may have taken me seven and a bit hours to do this, but I did it, in one day," Perrikaryal said after this very hard-earned win, adding that they'd been trying very hard to stay calm towards the end of the fight, as has proven to be they key to these runs.

Since that victory, they've also beaten Rellana the Twin Moon Knight, this time squeaking out the W with only one hit worth of health left, leaving them physically shaking and pretty puffed out, as you might expect. "I knew if I played it safe, and backed out, that I would die," they said once they'd regained their composure a bit, "he was one hit, I was one hit, I thought 'we have to go for it'. I got so lucky!"

If you want an idea of just how tough it's been for the streamer to beat both of these bosses so far, just watchj them struggle to even pick up the rewards from the Dancing Lion fight without their character moving or facing the wrong way a couple of times. They've also done a handy rundown of exactly what their setup currently requires them to think to do different actions, admitting in the tweet about it: "Getting to the boss is often harder than the boss."

It'll definitely be interesting to see how Perrikaryal fares as they get further and further into the expansion, especially given the fearsome repuations the final couple of bosses have already developed. If you're battling you way through Shadow of the Erdtree yoyrself and need a bit of help, make sure to check out our huge array of guides that should be able to aid you regardless of what you need a hand with.