Elden Ring: 'Shadow of the Erdtree' Challenges Players

Despite critical acclaim, Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has received mixed player reception on Steam, with significant criticism aimed at its difficulty and performance.

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Steam Screenshot While lauded by critics and boasting a high Metacritic score 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 left many frustrated by its demanding combat, perceived imbalance, and performance issues across PC and consoles.

Performance Problems and Excessively Difficult Encounters

Reddit Screenshot A major complaint centers on the increased combat difficulty. Many players describe encounters as significantly harder than the base game, with some citing poorly designed enemy placement and excessively high boss health pools.

Performance problems further compound the issue. PC users report widespread crashes, stuttering, and frame rate limitations. Even high-end systems struggle to maintain 30 FPS in crowded areas, rendering gameplay difficult. Similar frame rate drops during intense moments have also been reported on PlayStation consoles.

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 reviews), while Game8 gives it a 94/100 rating.