Despite receiving widespread critical acclaim, the Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, has encountered mixed reviews on Steam and ongoing criticism from players regarding its challenging difficulty and performance issues across PC and consoles.
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Despite earning the highest Metacritic score for video games before its release, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree launched to a wave of negative feedback from players on Steam. Released on June 21, the DLC was lauded for its challenging gameplay, yet many players voiced frustration over its demanding combat, perceived issues with difficulty balancing, and performance problems on both PC and consoles.
Players Cite Performance Issues and Perceived Disproportionate Difficulty
Many players highlighted the intensity of the expansion's battles as a significant concern, noting that encounters felt even more challenging and sometimes disproportionately difficult compared to the base game. Some reviews on Shadow of the Erdtree suggested that enemy placements seemed "rushed" and not thoroughly designed, with "bosses having overinflated health bars."
Players also reported performance issues, with numerous PC users experiencing crashes, micro-stuttering, and capped frame rates. Even those with high-end systems reported frame rates dropping below 30 FPS in dense areas, making the game challenging to play. Similar issues were noted by PlayStation users, with significant frame rate drops during intense gameplay moments.
As of Monday, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree holds a 'Mixed' review status on Steam, with 36% of reviews being negative. On Metacritic, it is rated as 'Generally Favorable' with a score of 8.3/10 based on 570 user ratings. Meanwhile, Game8 has awarded Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree an impressive overall rating of 94/100.
