Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Drops to a Mixed Rating on Steam
Although it remains the highest rated videogame expansion ever on Opencritic, Elden Ring’s only DLC ‘Shadow of the Erdtree’ has faced greater difficulty with fans on Steam. As of the time of writing, the £35 content addition is sitting at a mixed 65% rating on Steam, which is far below the very positive 92% for the base game. This disparity in review score comes down to two main issues: poor performance and an enhanced difficulty level that players are finding to be too much- even compared to the harder endgame bosses from the original release.
Image by FromSoftware
Starting off with the performance issues, the base game of Elden Ring very rarely had any problems in this regard. It ran at a consistent 60fps on both PC and consoles with a lack of any real problematic bugs or graphical glitches. Whilst the lack of bugs remains true in the DLC, the same cannot be said for the smooth 60fps experience. There are frequent stutters across all platforms and even players with the highest end PC have been reporting issues that weren’t there when the original game launched. Problems also include grass not loading in when you fast travel and lagging when enemies attack, which can be far more infuriating when fighting the incredibly powerful bosses on show.
Image by FromSoftware
Regarding this difficulty, this is the second issue that a lot of fans have ben pointing to as something that is ruining their experience of the game. Shadow of the Erdtree takes the difficulty of bosses like Mohg, Radagon and even Malania from the base game and cranks them up to eleven. Even with a severely overpowered character, most players have found that they can be quickly killed by even the most basic of foes. Even worse, the bosses have been taking out players with maximum health in as little as two or three strikes. While seemingly very overtuned power-wise and, as a result, completely, unfair, it does seem that a lot of these bosses are designed to be insurmountable from when players first start the expansion.
This is where an interesting but controversial feature of the DLC comes in: Scadutree fragments. With players already collecting all of the flask upgrades and rune levels they needed in the base game, FromSoftware realised that a lot of characters would steamroll through the DLC. This is why they decided to introduce a new power levelling system exclusive to the DLC area. By exploring around different locales and killing select bosses, players can find ‘Scadutree fragments’ which both increase player damage and decrease damage dealt to the player. Through this system, players are rewarded for exploring by being given a slight edge over the tougher bosses.
This has been praised by some fans as a return to the compelling ‘come back when you’re stronger’ system of Elden Ring but, for those who want to experience the main bosses and story of the DLC with minimal exploration, it has led to frustration. If you’re struggling so far with any boss in the expansion, I’d highly recommend seeking these upgrades out since, they can make a large difference between frustration and fun when it comes to most bosses. As time goes on, we’ll likely see the Steam score rise but, considering how frustrated a lot of fans are, don’t be surprised to see a nerf to some of the more overpowered bosses in the coming weeks.
