Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is dividing players. Many say it’s the best experience FromSoftware has ever made, while others decry the PC performance, balancing, and overall difficulty. Player opinion is so split that the DLC debuted with a ‘mixed’ Steam rating, but, after a week of playing, the reception has vastly improved. In fact, it now has a ‘mostly positive’ rating on Valve’s platform.
When Shadow of the Erdtree dropped, we all quickly found out our best Elden Ring builds couldn’t carry us through the Land of Shadow. The scaling of the DLC is so different that the RPG feels like an entirely separate game once you step into the new area. This led to confusion, with many players finding the Elden Ring DLC far too challenging.
Then Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree dropped to mixed on Steam, but with more and more players understanding the value of Elden Ring Scadutree fragments, the reception is starting to turn around. As of publication, Shadow of the Erdtree has over 61,000 user reviews, 71% of which are positive. The scales have tipped from mixed to mostly positive, and it’s easy to see why.
“This is peak FromSoftware,” one player writes. “The environments are absolutely stunning and fascinating to explore. The bosses are flashy and very fun to fight (albeit very hard). And the weapons are just chef’s kiss.”
“I don’t know how they can have so much creativity with all the locations and environment, but it never stops to ‘mesmerize’ me,” ‘Snow-Order66’ agrees.
Many players are still having problems though, with PC performance issues such as loading times, fps drops, audio glitches, and input delay plaguing gameplay. Outside of these concerns, however, Shadow of the Erdtree is being lauded and the DLC is even the best-reviewed videogame of 2024.
With some of the best bosses in FromSoftware history and an open world focused on verticality, the Land of Shadow is my favorite Souls game location yet. The DLC is basically Elden Ring 2, because there are so many new weapons, NPCs, regions to explore, and game mechanics to master.
Without the new Scadutree fragments you do struggle, but FromSoftware recently buffed the upgrade item to make the game easier. You are stronger in fights across the board, as the attack power and damage negation from Scadutree fragments are improved. Even then, Elden Ring is supposed to be too hard, that’s the whole point.
Meet the challenge of Shadow of the Erdtree with the best Elden Ring weapons across the entire game, alongside the most useful and overpowered Elden Ring spells imaginable.
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