Elden Ring Expansion Faces Difficulty Concerns

Despite critical acclaim, Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has received mixed player reception on Steam, drawing criticism for its difficulty and performance issues across PC and consoles. While lauded for its challenging gameplay, many players express frustration with intensely difficult combat encounters, perceived imbalance, and technical problems.

Video: Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree - Unexpected Challenges

[Embedded YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZVQNWEZQwsY]

Mixed Reception and Player Complaints:

The DLC, released June 21st, initially enjoyed high Metacritic scores. However, Steam reviews quickly shifted towards negative territory. Players cite several key problems:

• Excessively Difficult Combat: Many describe battles as significantly harder than the base game, with enemy placement feeling rushed and bosses possessing overly inflated health pools.

• Performance Issues: Numerous PC users report crashes, stuttering, and frame rate limitations, even on high-end systems. Frame rates below 30 FPS in crowded areas are common, impacting playability. Similar performance drops during intense moments have been reported on PlayStation consoles.

Review Aggregator Scores:

As of Monday, Steam shows a "Mixed" rating for Shadow of the Erdtree, with 36% negative reviews. Metacritic displays a "Generally Favorable" rating of 8.3/10 (based on 570 user reviews), contrasting with Game8's 94/100 score. The disparity highlights the significant divergence between critical and player opinions on the DLC's overall quality and accessibility.

[Image: Steam Review Screenshot] [Image: Reddit Discussion Screenshot] [Image: Metacritic Score Screenshot]