Book Review - Elden Ring: Official Art Book Volume III
- 4 hours ago
- 7 min read
March 8th 2026
The dark and deadly world of FromSoftware’s Elden Ring returns for another art showcase in the West, this time focused on the DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree. After being released in Japan in 2024, Elden Ring: Official Art Book Volume III has now arrived in English and allows players to take in the visuals of the game without worrying about the brutal enemies standing in your way.
Released on March 3rd 2026 from publisher Udon Entertainment, this is a localised version of the Kadokawa original and follows Volume I and Volume II, both of which covered the base game. A copy is now here for me to dive into and share my thoughts on!
Build Quality
Unlike the original, this version comes as a hardcover and that is always preferred, especially when it comes a high page count as seen here with 320 pages inside. It matches the 21.6cm x 30.2cm dimensions of the previous volumes and comes with a glossy cover. It feels well made and I appreciate the binding being as flexible as it is to allow the pages to lay flat without needing to be held down, something that can often be a criticism of books with a lot of pages. I am overall very happy with the physical quality of this release from Udon.
Content
It’s worth noting at this point that you need to know what you are buying, as artbooks can be different things. If you’re checking out this review, you may know what to expect as you have the previous volumes, if not though, keep in mind that while this does feature concept art, it’s presented as an illustration book, which may not be for everyone.
Before getting into that though, you can’t review an artbook without speaking about the art itself, which in this case is superb. The environments are wonderfully detailed and contain a mix of bleak environments, decrepit structures, and gothic architecture, none of which would look out of place in a frame on a wall. The enemies and characters are also full of incredible designs, especially the bosses that contain the brutal, yet strangely captivating, style of the studio. If you enjoyed the visuals of the game when it wasn’t relentlessly trying to kill you, then you’ll enjoy the art here. Don’t expect any early sketches though, as I will now get into.
Elden Ring: Official Art Book Volume III presents ‘The Land of Shadow’ chapter with ‘Concept Art’ in the title, but in most books that would mean a look at a collection of unused and variations of designs. Unfortunately, FromSoftware don’t take this approach, so what you see across the book is very similar to, or almost exactly what you see in the game, with very few exceptions. It is a shame as there is no doubt a lot of very cool unused ideas they are hiding away, perhaps to use for a future release, but that’s why it is somewhat best to view this as an illustration book, as opposed to a look at the concept art.
This is the case in each all of the chapters, from locations and enemies, to weapons and items. The pages for Grand Altar of Dragon Communion and Enir Ilim have fantastic pieces of artwork, but it isn't anything you haven’t seen in the game, and that is consistent throughout the 320 pages. For the enemies and characters you get poses at different angles, but lacking the concepts that didn’t get used as you can see in the photos in this review.
This is most evident in the weapons and items chapters, in which they get a single image each and are my least favourite chapters as a result. This is because you almost certainly get a better look at them in the game, and although these are pieces of art and not models and final UI elements, they don’t add anything new for players.
There are also no concepts or illustrations for moments of gameplay either, making the book very much focused on the designs of the world, inhabitants, and assets. There is nothing showing battles and encounters, how they envisioned the moment to moment gameplay, animations, or even the Tarnished wielding the weapons you can use. Perhaps the team didn't work on this type of art, but it something else worth pointing out as describing this as more of an illustration book may lead people to believe this would be included, as seen in other books. There are a few spreads of key art found at the start of the book though.
If you’re expecting insights, you won’t find that either, in fact, I’m certain this review contains more words than the entire book. It’s for this reason I believe it is licensing that causes the books to take so long to come as English editions, because translating the book would not take long to do at all. It feels like another missed opportunity, which I will highlight more in the Use of Space part of the review shortly.
Fans of the first two volumes and those buying this expecting a showcase of exceptional artwork for the game will like what they get here. However, if you’re hoping to see early unused designs and insights as seen in books for other games, this may not be for you. They had a specific goal in mind for this release and it's lost between being an 'Art of' book and a true illustration book, which for me personally is to its detriment. It's the talent of the artists that shines though, and it is an artbook after all, but it's down to individuals as to whether you like the final concepts enough to pick this one up, as there isn't much else to see.
Credits
Sadly there is no indication of who is responsible for each piece of artwork, which is consistent for the game studio. I hate to see this, but what is odd in this case is that they are listed in the back, but only in Japanese. The last page has the English Edition and Japanese Edition credits for the publisher, with the artists listed underneath. If it wasn’t for the fact that UI was the only part written in English, I wouldn’t have thought to check the translations at all, because they look like they are included as part the Kadokawa publishing credits. In a book with so little to translate, it isn’t great that this was overlooked.
Use of Space
This is the most frustrating part for me of Elden Ring: Official Art Book Volume III, because you can see in the previews that space is wasted, especially for environment art. While the larger sizes of the images does well to show all of the details, it does leave some large empty areas as seen below. There is no reason the book couldn’t have included small insights or artists credits on the pages in these areas, which makes their omission worse than it could have been. There is a large page count to accommodate the fact that many pieces take up a full spread, but I’d personally prefer to see images made smaller to accommodate more artwork, the print quality would certainly allow for it.
The binding does come into play here though, because the image loss in the centre fold is minimal and a huge improvement over the previous volumes that suffered from this a lot. This is great for a book with 320 pages, as more pages can often exacerbate the problem. I also like that the book includes all of DLC’s artwork instead of splitting it into two volumes again.
Value
This new release has an RRP of $59.99 or £53.99, putting it at the high end of the artbook pricing range, especially in the UK as it is the equivalent of around $72. I do think this is probably too high, because although the quality of the physical book is good, it is presenting itself as an illustration showcase while lacking the premium print and paper quality found in other books with the same goal. It also includes less content overall that an typical ‘Art of’ book, some of which match or exceed the print and build quality at a lower price. It finds itself in an awkward pricing spot as a result, so unless you’re a hardcore Elden Ring fan, searching for a discount is recommended.
Good news then that discounts are already available less than a week after the book's release. Checking Amazon again for consistency, the books is 16% off in the US and 28% off in the UK at the time of writing this, which makes it much more appealing. At around $50 or £40, it puts it at what would have been a more reasonable RRP for the book and therefore easier to recommend. This isn’t a steal, but fans would do well to take advantage of price drops like these as and when they happen.
Verdict
Elden Ring: Official Art Book Volume III is full of more incredible artwork from the team at FromSoftware that is finally here for English speaking fans. Those that own previous two entries will find more to enjoy from the artists, with some welcome improvements to the binding. Those that are new to the books may also enjoy seeing the artwork, but as it’s unlike most video game artbooks in its presentation and featured content, it would be recommended with a caution of what to expect.
For me personally, I continue to enjoy the designs of the world the developers have created, but the page design from the original publisher Kadokawa continues to frustrate me as there a lot of missed opportunities here. A couple of chapters feel like page fillers and the price is a sticking point as well, leaving me feeling that a game as popular and well received as Elden Ring and the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC could have been better served. The art is exceptional, but as an artbook, I can’t help but feel they could have done so much more.
If you are someone that enjoyed being punished by Shadow of the Erdtree and would like to add the book to your own collection, you can order it here;
