Elden Ring: 'Shadow of the Erdtree' Expansion Release Date Announced

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 nuanced, revealing a split between praise and player frustration. Many cite difficulty and performance issues as significant drawbacks.

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Steam Reviews Reveal a Divided Playerbase

Despite pre-release accolades and a high Metacritic score, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree launched to a wave of mixed Steam reviews (June 21st). While the challenging gameplay was lauded, many players voiced concerns about excessively difficult combat encounters, questionable enemy placement, and inflated boss health pools.

Performance Woes Compound the Difficulty

The intensity of battles was a major point of contention, with many claiming the difficulty surpasses that of the base game. Reports of "rushed" enemy placement and disproportionately large boss health bars further fueled the criticism.

Performance issues across PC and PlayStation consoles also plagued the release. PC users reported frequent crashes, micro-stuttering, and frame rate limitations. Even high-end systems struggled to maintain smooth performance in densely populated areas, with frame rates dipping below 30 FPS. Similar frame rate drops during intense moments were reported on PlayStation consoles.

As of Monday, Steam reviews for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree show a "Mixed" overall rating, with 36% negative reviews. Metacritic, however, presents a more positive user score of 8.3/10 ("Generally Favorable") based on 570 ratings. Game8 offers a significantly higher rating of 94/100.