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

Despite critical acclaim, Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has received mixed player reviews on Steam, with concerns raised about difficulty and performance. While lauded for its challenging gameplay, many players find the combat excessively strenuous and unbalanced compared to the base game.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is NOT What Players Expected

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Debut Met with Mixed Reviews on Steam

Despite achieving a top Metacritic score pre-release, the Elden Ring DLC, launched June 21st, has faced a wave of negative Steam reviews. While the challenging gameplay is praised, many players express frustration with intense, disproportionately difficult combat encounters. Criticisms include poorly designed enemy placement and excessively high boss health.

Players Cite Performance Issues and Perceived Disproportionate Difficulty

The intensity of battles is a major concern, with players reporting fights significantly harder than the base game. Reviews mention "rushed" enemy placement and "overinflated health bars" on bosses.

Performance issues plague both PC and console players. PC users report crashes, micro-stuttering, and capped frame rates, with some experiencing sub-30 FPS in dense areas even on high-end systems. PlayStation users report similar frame rate drops during intense moments.

As of Monday, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree holds a "Mixed" Steam rating (36% negative reviews). Metacritic shows a "Generally Favorable" rating of 8.3/10 (based on 570 user reviews), while Game8 gives it a 94/100.