Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree 'Too Difficult' for Players

While lauded by critics, Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has received a mixed reception from players on Steam, facing criticism for its difficulty and performance.

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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Falls Short of Player Expectations

Steam Reviews Mixed for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Steam Screenshot Despite achieving high Metacritic scores pre-release, the Elden Ring DLC, launched June 21st, has encountered negative player feedback on Steam. While its challenging gameplay is praised, many express frustration with excessively difficult combat, questionable balancing, and performance issues across PC and consoles.

Performance Problems and Difficulty Concerns

Reddit Screenshot Intense battles are a major point of contention, with players describing them as significantly harder than the base game, sometimes unfairly so. Criticisms include poorly designed enemy placement and excessively high boss health pools.

Performance problems are widespread, particularly on PC, with reports of crashes, stuttering, and capped frame rates. Even high-end systems experience frame drops below 30 FPS in crowded areas, impacting playability. Similar frame rate drops during intense moments have been reported on PlayStation consoles.

Metacritic Screenshot As of Monday, Steam shows a "Mixed" overall rating for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, with 36% negative reviews. Metacritic's user score stands at 8.3/10 ("Generally Favorable") based on 570 ratings. Game8, however, gives it a 94/100 rating.