The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion for Elden Ring has officially launched across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms, enticing players to re-enter the challenging landscape of the highly regarded action-RPG. Released on June 21, the DLC has already sparked discussions among players, with many expressing their concerns regarding its difficulty level. Game director Hidetaka Miyazaki emphasized that adjusting the game’s difficulty would fundamentally alter the experience.
Ongoing Difficulty Discussions
In an interview with The Guardian on the day of the expansion’s launch, Miyazaki stated that making Elden Ring easier is not a viable option for its gameplay. He suggested that the challenge is integral to the game’s identity, despite feedback from players about its taxing nature.
“If we really wanted the whole world to play the game, we could just crank the difficulty down more and more. But that wasn’t the right approach,” he explained to The Guardian.
Miyazaki further noted, “Had we taken that approach, I don’t think the game would have done what it did, because the sense of achievement that players gain from overcoming these hurdles is such a fundamental part of the experience. Turning down difficulty would strip the game of that joy – which, in my eyes, would break the game itself.”
The FromSoftware titles are well-known for their steep learning curves and absence of adjustable difficulty settings. Games like the Dark Souls trilogy, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice have consistently posed significant challenges, even for seasoned players.
Elden Ring, released in 2022, marks the developer’s first foray into open-world design while maintaining the punishing difficulty for which they are famous. With the introduction of the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, players are faced with some of the most difficult boss encounters crafted by the studio. Prior to the DLC’s release, Miyazaki stated in a different interview that FromSoftware had “pushed the envelope” regarding player endurance within the game.
Community Reactions to Shadow of the Erdtree
Publisher Bandai Namco has also addressed the issue of difficulty, offering advice to players struggling with the toughest challenges in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. Through a recent post on X, the publisher recommended that players “level up your Scadutree Blessing.”
This is a suggestion to level up your Scadutree Blessing
— Bandai Namco US (@BandaiNamcoUS) June 22, 2024
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree became available on June 21 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X, garnering acclaim and achieving an overall review score of 95 on Metacritic, marking it as the highest-rated DLC of all time.
