Despite critical acclaim, Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC has received mixed player reception on Steam, sparking debate over its difficulty and performance.
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Steam Screenshot While boasting top Metacritic scores pre-release, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree launched to a wave of negative player reviews on Steam (June 21st). The DLC's challenging gameplay is praised, but many players find the combat excessively difficult, unbalanced, and plagued by performance issues across PC and consoles.
Performance Woes and Difficulty Concerns
Reddit Screenshot Intense battles are a major point of contention, with many describing them as significantly harder than the base game, citing rushed enemy placement and excessively high boss health.
Performance problems are also widespread. PC users report crashes, stuttering, and frame rate limitations, with some experiencing sub-30 FPS even on high-end systems in crowded areas. PlayStation users report similar frame rate drops during intense gameplay.
Metacritic Screenshot As of Monday, Steam shows a "Mixed" rating for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, with 36% negative reviews. Metacritic gives it a "Generally Favorable" 8.3/10 based on 570 user scores. In contrast, Game8 awarded it a 94/100 rating.
