Shadow Of The Erdtree’ gets ‘mixed’ reviews because it’s too harsh

FromSoft games are notoriously difficult. The first Elden Ring had many very difficult areas and fights. But it seems that Shadow of the Erdtree has broken a significant number of players, even longtime veterans.

I was actually quite surprised to see this, given that most players have given FromSoft some leeway, but Shadow of the Ertree reviews currently put the game in “Mixed” on Steam, far from the “Very Positive” by Elden Ring, the reason being that it’s… too hard.

Almost all negative reviews cite difficulty, with players complaining that their stats or level don’t protect them against 2 or 3 shots from early enemies. Some people think it’s no fun, others say it’s so bad they give up altogether. Here is a small sample of several of these reviews:

• “The gameplay makes the game difficult to recommend – spastic bosses with jerky movements and a plethora of physically absurd moves make this DLC’s bosses difficult to endure… As someone who has beaten every Fromsoft game with characters of level 1 gimped for fun (the base game included), I’m going to stop this one.
• “While the world design and colors are really beautiful, as well as many of the enemy designs, there is a big balancing issue. Right now, even with 60 stamina, you’re getting crushed by almost all of them enemies that are not pure fodder.”
• “I really want to like this DLC, but these enemies and boss fights are the worst parts of the entire game. I’m really surprised whoever tested this approved of the golden hippo boss fight.
• “I managed to beat it, but the bosses were so unbalanced and aggressive that even being almost maxed out with the Scadutree Shards didn’t make it any easier.”

With the latter, I absolutely don’t believe anyone is “maxed out” with Scadutree Fragments 24 hours after release, but the overall feeling is extremely similar in almost all of these negative reviews (although some complain about performance).

I’m just…sorry, I can’t agree with that. I am not a hardcore Souls player, and I too was getting shot 2-3 times when I started Erdtree, just like level 700 people. That’s how it starts, and after 45+ hours, I I’ve beaten every boss I previously thought was impossible. There are many, many things to do to beat these tough fights, and I just think people aren’t taking the time to do it, because again, it’s barely been a day since the official launch. My recommendations:

• I absolutely don’t believe people found all the Scadutree Shards and Spirit Ashes in the available areas in this short time. It’s the second day. This is largely what will make the difference even if yes, you will still suffer significant damage.
• Matching talismans to damage type is extremely important here and can be the one thing that makes a fight tolerable, even more so than before.
• You may need to modify your build. Just because you relied on certain go-to moves or strategies in the base game doesn’t mean you can just wing your way through things now. The same goes for Spirit Ashes, as some may be more valuable than others now, and you’ll need to increase them significantly to be useful. Also be sure to take advantage of the sometimes hard-to-spot NPC ally summons during bosses.
• Some bosses you shouldn’t fight right now. At all. There’s no reason to kill the infamous Knight of Blackgaol now, no matter how close he is to the start. There is no reason to go after the Giant Fire type as it will 100% kill 99.99% of players for a long time. Come. Back. Later.

If you leave Shadow of the Erdtree now, that’s your right, but I just don’t think most of these people are patient enough. I too was wondering if I would be able to progress during the exam period thanks to the embargo due to the difficulty of the situation, but slowly, over time, I understood, I became stronger , I changed tactics, I did it. And if I can, you can too, I believe in you.

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Collect my science fiction novels on Herokiller series And The Earthborn trilogy.