Reviews for Elden Ring's massive new expansion have been dropping over the last couple of days and they are strong. It's a 95 on Metacritic and 94 on OpenCritic which, according to Insider Gaming and others, makes it the highest-rated DLC of all time (surpassing The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine, which has a metascore of 92).

Here are the one-line verdicts of a few selected outlets:

• Dexerto: 5/5: "A sublime swansong that removes all Tarnish"

• Game Informer: 9.75: "one hell of a mic drop that cements this adventure as one of the finest."

• Gamespot: 10/10: "an entire new game's worth of content, exceptionally executed."

• The Gamer: 5/5: "This is From's linking the flame moment, their magnum opus."

• GamesRadar: 5/5: "At this point, it's almost getting boring praising FromSoftware every time."

• GLHF at Sports Illustrated: 10: "if the main game was an experiment, this is From perfecting the formula."

• IGN: 10/10: "Like the base game, it raises the bar for single-player DLC expansions."

• Kotaku: unscored: "nothing short of magnificent."

• PC Gamer: 95: "FromSoft proves itself unparalleled once again."

• PCGamesN: 9/10: "sits proudly among the best videogame expansions of all time"

• Polygon: unscored: "a gift for the faithful."

• RockPaperShotgun: unscored: "A knotty, dense expansion with some of the best moments in Elden Ring, but also some of its most frustrating."

• VG247: 5/5: "A terrifying trove of everything FromSoftware has to offer - lag, lore and lions"

• VGC: 5/5: "A sublime follow-up to one of the best games ever"

• Video Gamer: 10: "a sensational, remarkably fresh, and subtly progressive evolution of the formula."

• Washington Post: 4/5: "nearly as big, just as exhausting, and even more challenging"

Though RPS notes some "frustrating" moments, Eurogamer is essentially the only major outlet to not be bowled over in spite of them. They give Shadow of the Erdtree only 3/5, saying: "Much of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is more of the same gruelling beauty - but a shift to explict storytelling and signposting means its essence as a living, evolving shared text is lost."

Pretty emphatic all around, then.