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 feedback on Steam, with significant criticism regarding difficulty and performance.

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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's Steam Debut Marked by Mixed Reception

Steam Screenshot While boasting top Metacritic scores pre-release, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree launched to a wave of negative player reviews on Steam. Released June 21st, the DLC's challenging gameplay, while praised by some, has frustrated many due to intense combat, questionable difficulty balancing, and performance issues across PC and consoles.

Performance Problems and Excessively Difficult Encounters

Reddit Screenshot A major complaint centers on the expansion's combat intensity. Players report battles significantly exceeding the base game's difficulty, with some citing poorly designed enemy placement and excessively high boss health pools.

Performance problems are also widespread, with PC users reporting crashes, stuttering, and frame rate limitations. Even high-end systems experience frame drops below 30 FPS in crowded areas, severely impacting gameplay. Similar frame rate drops during intense moments have been reported by PlayStation console players.

Metacritic Screenshot As of Monday, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree holds a "Mixed" rating on Steam, with 36% negative reviews. Metacritic shows a "Generally Favorable" rating of 8.3/10 based on 570 user scores. In contrast, Game8 awarded the DLC a 94/100 rating.