Elden Ring DLC ‘Shadow Of The Erdtree’ Receives Mixed Reviews As Fans Blast Performance Issues And “Unbalanced” Bosses

Highlights

Shadow of the Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring praised by critics but criticized by players for unbalanced boss fights and performance issues on PC.
Some players struggle with difficulty ramp-up in DLC, stating new bosses can defeat them in just two hits.
Developers unlikely to lower difficulty due to belief that overcoming challenges is integral part of experience.

Shadow of the Erdtree, Elden Ring‘s first and last DLC, launched to critical acclaim earlier this week. The gigantic expansion was praised by critics for being a “perfect DLC,” but PC users don’t appear to be as fond of the expansion as critics are.

Over on Steam, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has almost 12,000 reviews at the time of writing this article. Unfortunately, only 64% of those reviews are positive, which has led to the expansion receiving a “mixed” review badge on the platform. While this could easily be swayed either way with more reviews, the current consensus by players is that the boss fights are “unbalanced” and the DLC is let down by some severe performance issues.

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20 Minutes of Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree Gameplay | The Rundown

Beyond the Lands Between.

It’s no secret that Elden Ring is a hard game. After all, it is a Soulslike, which means you’re going to be in for some gruelling boss battles and a lot of deaths. But Shadow of the Erdtree has apparently ramped up the difficulty to the point that players just can’t handle it. With many stating that they are being destroyed by the new DLC bosses in just two hits.

Should we be surprised? Probably not. FromSoftware‘s president, Hidetaka Miyazaki, has already gone on record prior to the DLC’s launch to warn players about the increased difficulty. “We’ve kind of really pushed the envelope in terms of what we think can be withstood by the player,” Miyazaki said in a recent interview with CNET.

Heck, even just starting the DLC requires you to defeat two incredibly difficult and once ‘optional’ bosses in Starscourge Radahn and Mohg, Lord Of Blood. So how much harder can The Land of Shadow really be? A lot, apparently.

Shadow Of The Erdtree Blasted For Poor Performance On PC

Shadow of the Erdtree might have just become the highest-rated RPG DLC of all time, but that hasn’t stopped fans from expressing their disappointment with the game’s unbalanced boss fights and poor performance issues on PC.

“Erdtree is sadly overshadowed by some performance issues,” a negative reviewer states. They then cited noticeable micro-stuttering, no ultra-wide support, FPS that dips to 40-50 with an RTX 4080, and more as the reason for their negative review. And they weren’t the only one to have issues with the DLC.

Many believe the performance issues are related to the pre-launch patch that was released earlier this week. “Game used to run well. Started playing again a couple months ago to prepare for this DLC. I have no idea what they have done since I last played. The game is stuttering like crazy and I’m sporadically dropping down to 30 fps with a 3080,” another negative review reads.

A similar review was left by somebody else, explaining that they now experience lag, stuttering, frame drops, and graphical issues but had none of these issues prior to the pre-launch patch.

But Wait, There’s More

Still from Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree of a glowing-eyed boss with a lion's mane.

While many of the negative reviews cite poor performance issues, there are plenty of others who feel like Shadow of the Erdtree is simply too difficult.

“I really want to like this DLC but those enemies and boss fights are the worst parts of the whole game,” one reviewer says. “I’m genuinely surprised whoever play-tested this approved the golden hippo boss fight.”

Another reviewer said that there is “a big problem with balancing.” They then went on to explain how they were being “bi-shotted” by nearly every enemy they encountered. And while the negative reviews go on and on, it’s not just confined to Steam. Over on the Elden Ring subreddit, there are floods of posts and memes discussing the crazy difficulty.

Unfortunately, you’ve got absolutely no chance of FromSoftware lowering the difficulty. In a recent interview with The Guardian, Miyazaki said that “the sense of achievement that players gain from overcoming these hurdles is such a fundamental part of the experience.” He went on to explain that if FromSoftware were to turn down the difficulty it “would break the game itself.”

In other words, it’s time to git gud.