Elden Ring DLC Under Fire for Over-the-Top Difficulty, Steam Users Say
Despite rave reviews from critics, the highly anticipated Shadow of the Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring has been met with a more lukewarm reception from players, with many citing the game's unforgiving difficulty as a major drawback.
Since its release last week, the DLC's rating on Steam has quickly dropped to "Mixed." At the time of writing, only 65% of the 33,000 user reviews are positive. While criticism has targeted various aspects of the expansion, including some technical issues, the most common complaint revolves around the hardcore gameplay: even regular enemies can take down players with a single blow. Interestingly, the loudest criticism seems to be coming from Chinese users, a fact that has perplexed many FromSoftware fans.
Why So Difficult?
Analyst Daniel Ahmad provided some context for this phenomenon. He believes that Chinese gamers are partly frustrated by the lack of comprehensive guides available in their language. Additionally, due to the unique way Steam operates in China (with the Steam Community being blocked), local users tend to treat reviews more like forum posts, freely expressing their dissatisfaction on any matter without hesitation.
However, Chinese gamers aren't the only ones who feel FromSoftware went overboard with Shadow of the Erdtree's difficulty. Western bloggers and even some journalists have noted that the DLC's punishing difficulty spikes can be so extreme that they detract from the overall experience, discouraging players from progressing further.