Despite critical praise for Shadow of the Erdtree, the Elden Ring DLC has debuted to mixed reviews on Steam and continued to face criticism from players over its difficulty and performance issues on PC and consoles.
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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Debut Met with Mixed Reviews on Steam
- screenshot taken from Steam
Despite garnering critical acclaim and securing the top-rated Metacritic score for video games prior to its release, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree debuted to a wave of negative reviews from players on Steam. Released on June 21, the Elden Ring DLC received praise for its challenging gameplay, but many players have expressed frustration over its strenuous combat, perceived difficulty balancing issues, as well as performance issues on PC and consoles.
Players Cite Performance Issues and Perceived Disproportionate Difficulty
screenshot taken from Reddit
Many players cited the intensity of the expansion's battle as a key issue, stating that fights feel even more challenging and sometimes disproportionately difficult compared to the base game. Some players' reviews on Shadow of the Erdtree pointed out that that enemy placements felt "rushed," in other words not thoroughly designed, and that "bosses have overinflated health bars."
Players likewise reported performance problems, with numerous PC users reporting crashes, micro-stuttering, and capped frame rates. Some players, even those with powerful systems, reported frame rates dropping below 30 FPS in dense in-game areas, making the game difficult to play. Similar issues were also reported by players on PlayStation consoles wherein frame rates drop significantly during intense moments.
- screenshot taken from Metacritic
As of Monday, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has an overall Mixed review on Steam, with 36% negative reviews. It is currently rated as 'Generally Favorable' with a score of 8.3/10 on Metacritic based on 570 user ratings. Meanwhile, Game8 has given Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree an overall rating of 94/100.
Elden Ring Creator Reminds Players They Have Numerous Ways to Tackle Difficult Challenges
Months prior the expansion's launch, Elden Ring creator Hidetaka Miyazaki told Eurogamer that Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's difficulty is "relative" to the gruelling endgame portion of the base game, though the general approach to tackling challenges, wherein players have much agency, remains the same.
"We wanted to provide these challenging encounters and these menacing threats, and in order to do that, we wanted to give the player a lot of freedom of approach," he told the site. "We wanted them to feel free in how they choose and when they choose to approach and tackle these hardships." He added, "So players who look for that sort of challenge in our games will find a challenge on equal footing in the DLC as well."
FromSoftware's games are known for their highly challenging nature, a design choice that Miyazaki has continued to defend. In a recent interview this month with The Guardian, Miyazaki explained that lowering the game's difficulty would undermine the sense of achievement central to the Elden Ring experience. "Turning down difficulty would strip the game of that joy," which would "break the game itself," he added.
"If we really wanted the whole world to play the game, we could just crank the difficulty down more and more. But that wasn’t the right approach. Had we taken that approach, I don’t think the game would have done what it did," Miyazaki said in the interview, "because the sense of achievement that players gain from overcoming these hurdles is such a fundamental part of the experience."
He echoed this rationale in his recent statements to The Verge. "The amount of freedom that we give players helps offset that difficulty curve and makes the game more accessible and engaging," he told the site. Miyazaki acknowledged that there is a need to balance fun and stress, noting that there are efforts to make boss encounters more engaging and enjoyable based on player feedback.
"We tried to make that the foundation of the boss encounters in the DLC, so hopefully, players will find it much more engaging and fun," Miyazaki said. "But if that is not the case, then I’m sorry."
Bandai Namco Tells Players to Be Better
Following reports of the expansion amassing negative reviews over its launch weekend, Elden Ring's publisher, Bandai Namco, took to Twitter (X) to tell players to level up their Scadutree Blessing, which increases attack power and damage negation. The Scadutree Blessing has a max level of 20 and can be accessed by using Scadutree Fragments.
The Elden Ring publisher's suggestion was met with mixed reactions, with some fans perceiving it as a lighthearted "call out" to those struggling with the DLC's difficulty. In response to Bandai's tweet, other players themselves also took the opportunity to call out Elden Ring players who head into boss battles under-leveled and unprepared.
Source:
The Guardian: Hidetaka Miyazaki Interview
Turning down Elden Ring's difficulty would break the game itself
, says Miyazaki
Even Elden Ring’s game director knows Erdtree is too hard
r/Eldenring
