Is the Elden Ring DLC really that difficult or are you just bad? The expansion was buried under an avalanche of criticism, even though many gaming sites praised it highly. We at MeinMMO are trying to find out where this discrepancy comes from.
With the announcement of the DLC “Shadow of the Erdtree” a dream came true for many fans. A sequel to the game that enchanted them so much.
Many gaming sites, including us, were able to visit the Shadowlands and test the expansion before any other fans. The result: reviews with very good scores and endless praise – on metacritic with an overall rating of 95.
On June 21, 2024, the players were allowed to play. They were eagerly awaiting a DLC that was on par with the base game. Now, a few days after the release, they are disappointed.
The expansion is being bombarded with criticism on Steam. The DLC is said to be far too difficult and poorly optimized. We have looked at both sides and will show you where the criticism is justified.
Elden Ring introduces the boss enemies of the DLC
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Masterpiece or pure torture? – What the critics say
What were the reviews on the websites like? Extremely positive. Many gaming sites praised the DLC and revealed their opinions on metacritic. With an overall rating of 95 points, the expansion catapulted itself to a must-have. The following was celebrated:
The scope of the expansion was also celebrated. The DLC feels like a game within the game and offers fans plenty of things to explore and lose themselves in for hours.
There was hardly any negative criticism. The difficult bosses were mentioned, but not portrayed in a bad light. Performance problems? There were no problems here either. However, the community sees things quite differently.
What did the fans complain about? The fans had a lot to complain about:
On metacritic, user ratings vary. A majority of fans (465 votes as of June 24, 2024) love the DLC, only a small portion of fans (95 votes as of June 24, 2024) are not satisfied with it.
Things are different on Steam. There, the expansion is bombarded with reviews and slipped from a “very positive” ranking to a “balanced” ranking. The main reason: the DLC is simply too difficult. The following opinions can be heard on Steam:
So it’s clear that the DLC is much harder than the base game and if you’re not used to such difficulty, frustration will set in sooner or later. Playing through the DLC can feel like pure torture. But why are the opinions of the players so different from those of the gaming sites?
One expansion, two gaming experiences
Why do opinions differ so much? One could now philosophize about why this might be the case, but for me the reason is clear: time and experience.
Players who are eagerly awaiting a release play the expansion in their own way as editors who have to report on it. Critics are given early access to such titles or expansions in order to test them and write about them.
The focus is on gathering as many impressions as possible in the shortest possible time in order to be able to report on them. However, many impressions can be overlooked or missed that would be important in a review.
Players, on the other hand, have all the time in the world. They enjoy games and expansions at their own pace and don’t have to figure out where the best dungeon or next meta weapon is hidden. This makes problems much easier to spot, as these things can spoil the fun of playing.
As for the difficulty rating, this could be attributed to the experience of the players. When Elden Ring was released, it attracted many new fans who had never had anything to do with the Souls genre before.
However, anyone who has been playing for a long time knows the approximate difficulty level of new expansions to the Souls games. Many players therefore seem to be overwhelmed, as the DLC is basically Elden Ring, but 10x more difficult.
Even I, with my 10 years of experience in the genre, was thrown into the dirt by the bosses and even had to spend several days trying to beat two bosses before I got past them. But that was something I’m used to. I liked the toughness and I think many veterans of the genre think the same. However, players who are used to the relaxed base game and are then overwhelmed by the Shadowlands will sooner or later look back in frustration.
Conclusion: An extension that is second to none
Shadow of the Erdtree is a topic in itself. Anyone who knows the lore of Elden Ring knows that the Shadowlands is no place to relax. Only the toughest have survived in this place and that is exactly what the expansion fits.
The “base game” of Elden Ring was relaxed and resembled a mystical wonderland full of freedom. The expansion is its distilled form, with only the hard core remaining. As a newcomer to the genre, it is understandable that you quickly feel overwhelmed.
Even veterans of the genre will have difficulty with the expansion, but I can tell you that if you take your time and collect most of the Scadu Tree Fragments first, the DLC will be a walk in the park.
As far as performance goes, there’s not much that can be done other than new hardware. Elden Ring runs on the engine that powered Dark Souls 3, and it’s ancient. Depending on which platform you’re playing on, you’ll have fewer or more problems. In our tests on the PS4 and PS5, we didn’t notice any problems other than a few stutters. Basically, these are the same performance problems that were present when Elden Ring was released.
If you ignore these and concentrate on the game, you can overlook the occasional stutter in the world of the Shadowlands. For my part, I have to say that the Elden Ring DLC is the hardest thing I’ve ever played from FromSoft and I’m loving it.
What do you think about it? Did you have fun or are you still playing? Let us know your opinion in the comments! You can find out more about the bosses here: The bosses in the Elden Ring DLC weren’t supposed to be harder than in the main game – but that was a blatant lie