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

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC Receives Mixed Reception

While lauded by critics, Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has sparked a divided response among players. Steam reviews reveal a blend of praise and criticism, primarily focusing on difficulty and performance issues across PC and consoles.

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Despite pre-release acclaim and a high Metacritic score, the DLC's Steam launch was met with a significant number of negative player reviews. While the challenging gameplay was appreciated by some, many found the combat excessively difficult, citing unbalanced encounters and excessively high enemy health.

Performance and Difficulty Concerns

Player feedback highlights several key concerns. The increased combat difficulty is a major point of contention, with reports of poorly designed enemy placement and inflated boss health pools.

Technical issues also plague the experience. PC players report frequent crashes, stuttering, and frame rate limitations, even on high-end systems. Frame rate drops below 30 FPS in crowded areas are commonly reported, significantly impacting gameplay. Similar performance problems have been observed on PlayStation consoles.

The current Steam rating reflects this mixed reception, with a "Mixed" overall rating and 36% negative reviews. Metacritic shows a more favorable "Generally Favorable" rating of 8.3/10 (based on 570 user reviews), while Game8 gives a significantly higher score of 94/100. This discrepancy highlights the wide range of player experiences with Shadow of the Erdtree.