Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has already dropped to a ‘mixed’ Steam user review score, as players cite PC performance issues and problems with the FromSoftware DLC’s difficulty. With the expansion quickly becoming the best-reviewed game of 2024 and even the highest-rated RPG DLC of all time, many players are still running into issues in the Land of Shadow.
Elden Ring has sold well over 20 million copies. While FromSoftware releases have been big events for some time, the open-world game is what made the Dark Souls maker’s formula truly mainstream. Shadow of the Erdtree is an extension of this newfound popularity, and even though the expansion has been a hit amongst players and critics alike, it’s not all perfect.
As the dust begins to settle many players are making their voices heard, with the Steam reviews for the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC dropping to 61% positive from over 13,000 entries. This means that right now the DLC is sitting at a ‘mixed’ rating. Elden Ring itself still has a staggering 93% rating from over 600,000 reviews, but the DLC is proving troublesome for many. Shadow of the Erdtree’s issues fall into two categories so far: performance and balancing.
“Right now even with 60 vigor you get one-shot by nearly every enemy that’s not pure fodder (like the classical wandering nobles in the base game),” Steam user ‘Flippikus’ writes. “And the Scadutree fragments that should make your damage and defense increase (exclusively while in the DLC) don’t help that much and are mostly locked behind bosses.”
The negative reviews, which also continually praise the world’s design and art direction, can’t handle some of the other choices, especially the boss fights. “Bosses in this DLC are exceptionally weak. While visually they are fantastic, their balance is totally off,” ‘Chanddy’ writes. “The combos they do are really annoying to learn [and] way too long – sometimes chaining up to ten different attacks before you get even a brief second opening to return damage.”
In terms of performance, players are upset that Shadow of the Erdtree is locked at 60 frames per second, with micro-stuttering and a lack of ultrawide or DLSS support as well. These things can be fixed or added down the line, but as of right now, it appears that the expansion isn’t incredibly well optimized.
“I have above [the] recommended specs and there’s a tremendous amount of frame drops, especially during boss fights,” ‘Crowley42’ writes. “I often get lag spikes below 30 fps so that my inputs are read too late and I get hit,” ‘DexyStorm’ adds.
Our own Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree review was a largely positive one, giving the DLC a 9/10 and saying, “It delivers more of what you love about its big brother” in almost every way.
If your rig is struggling with the DLC right now, our breakdown of the best Elden Ring settings should be able to help. Otherwise, the most overpowered Elden Ring builds can help you get started in the Land of Shadow.
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