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

Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC: A Challenging Debut

While lauded by critics, Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has received mixed player reception on Steam, primarily due to difficulty and performance issues across PC and consoles.

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Steam Reviews Reveal a Divided Playerbase

Steam Screenshot Despite pre-release critical acclaim and a high Metacritic score, the June 21st release of Shadow of the Erdtree was met with a wave of negative Steam reviews. While the challenging gameplay was praised, many players criticized the demanding combat encounters, perceived imbalance in difficulty, and performance problems.

Performance and Difficulty Concerns

Reddit Screenshot A significant complaint centers around the expansion's intense battles, described as excessively difficult and disproportionate to the base game. Reviews highlight poorly designed enemy placement and excessively high boss health pools.

Performance issues further exacerbated the negative feedback. PC players reported frequent crashes, micro-stuttering, and frame rate limitations. Even high-end systems struggled, with frame rates dipping below 30 FPS in crowded areas, rendering gameplay difficult. Similar frame rate drops during intense combat were reported on PlayStation consoles.

Metacritic Screenshot As of Monday, Steam shows a "Mixed" overall rating for Shadow of the Erdtree, with 36% negative reviews. Metacritic displays a more positive "Generally Favorable" rating of 8.3/10 (based on 570 user reviews), while Game8 awarded it a 94/100 score. This disparity highlights the significant difference between critical and player reception.