Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC: A Double-Edged Sword of Difficulty and Praise
While Shadow of the Erdtree has received critical acclaim, its Steam reception is more divisive, with players voicing concerns about difficulty and performance.
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Elden Ring's DLC: A Mixed Bag on Steam
Despite pre-release accolades and a high Metacritic score, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree launched to a wave of negative player reviews on Steam. Released June 21st, the challenging gameplay, while praised by some, has frustrated many due to intense combat, perceived imbalance, and performance issues across PC and consoles.
Performance Woes and Difficulty Debate
A major complaint centers on the expansion's significantly increased combat difficulty, often described as disproportionate to the base game. Reviews cite 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 struggle to maintain 30 FPS in crowded areas, impacting playability. Similar frame rate drops during intense moments have been reported on PlayStation consoles.
Currently, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree holds a "Mixed" rating on Steam (36% negative reviews). Metacritic shows a more positive "Generally Favorable" rating of 8.3/10 (based on 570 user reviews), while Game8 gives it a 94/100 rating. This disparity highlights the differing perspectives on the DLC's quality.