Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree New Zealand trick: How to play early

Depending on which console you’re on, the New Zealand trick can work and allow you to play games early. In preparation for the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, here’s how you play it early using the New Zealand trick.

How to play Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree early on Xbox

There are many ways to prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree, and one of them is to access it early. The New Zealand trick works easiest on the Xbox, so anyone with an Xbox Series X|S should be thrilled. Here’s how it works:

1. Go to your system settings.
2. Choose System.
3. Select Language & Location.
4. Set your location to New Zealand.
5. Restart your console.

After restarting your Xbox, you should be able to start playing Shadow of the Erdrtree at 4 AM PT/7 AM ET on Thursday, June 20. Just make sure the trick works by checking your Microsoft Store. If you notice that the prices are in NZD rather than USD (or whatever your currency is), that means it worked!

How to play Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree early on PlayStation

Luckily, the New Zealand trick can still work for PlayStation users, but it’s a little more complicated. The unfortunate thing is that you must buy the Elden Ring base game through the New Zealand store first to unlock Shadow of the Erdtree on the NZ store as well. This means you must make a new account and buy both Elden Ring and its DLC through that storefront.

If you already have Elden Ring on your main account, it’d be best not to do the NZ trick to not waste your money. But if you’re okay with buying Elden Ring again, or it’s your first time buying it, you should try the NZ trick.

Once you purchase Elden Ring and the DLC through the NZ store, you can still play on your main account after the game unlocks if you have Console Sharing and Offline Play enabled. You can do this by going to your PS5 settings on your NZ account, selecting “Users and Accounts,” then going to “Other,” and enabling “Console Sharing and Offline Play.”

How to play Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree early on Steam

Unfortunately, the New Zealand trick won’t work on PC, whether it’s a game through Steam or the Epic Games Store. Although you may be disappointed, PC players technically get the game early on Thursday, June 20 instead of on Friday! PC players can start downloading and playing Shadow of the Erdtree at 3 PM PT/6 PM ET on Thursday, June 20.

This was revealed in a post on Twitter/X on the Elden Ring account. If your timezone isn’t ET or PT, check out what time you can access Shadow of the Erdtree on PC in the image above. So although you won’t be able to start playing as early as New Zealand players, you’ll still get a good enough head start.

Now that you know how to play the Elden Ring DLC early using the New Zealand trick, you may also be interested in duplicating or backing up your Elden Ring saves on PC in preparation for Shadow of the Erdtree.