Gaming
No guys, ‘Shadow of the Erdtree’ is not too difficult
The controversy is overblown
The dlc to the massively popular soulslike ‘Elden Ring’ is finally out, and as always people have found something to complain about, but this is far from what I thought the controversy would ever be.
For some context before I get into the meat of it, ‘Elden Ring’ is the most popular soulslike FromSoftware game to date. While many other soulslikes sell 5 million to 10 million copies in their whole lifetime, ‘Elden Ring’ has sold over 20 million and is one of the highest selling games of all time.
The reason ‘Elden Ring’ got so popular is due to its ease of accessibility to the average player. FromSoftware’s soulslikes are ridiculously difficult, requiring focus, skill and memorization to make it through, but Elden Ring was somewhat different. Being open world, you can travel anywhere you please and take down the games bosses and other major landmarks in any order, letting people experience the punishing difficulty at a more player controlled and easy pace. ‘Elden Ring’ also introduces summons, which are like an optional easy mode, which lets spectral avatars help you fight.
These additions brought thousands of newcomers to the genre and let people enjoy the masterpieces that this studio cranks out, so with the announcement of the dlc, ‘Shadow of the Erdtree’ hype was inevitable.
But for some reason, there seemed to be controversy. Shocked, because I had thoroughly enjoyed the dlc with no issues, I checked my social media to find that many found the game much too difficult.
Now, initially, I brushed this mass controversy off because there was no way people were calling a series known notoriously for its intense difficulty too hard, right? That’s ridiculous.
But the more I thought about it, it kind of made sense.
‘Shadow of the Erdtree’ is much more difficult than ‘Elden Ring’, to be completely honest. ‘Elden Ring’ will give you openings to heal and think up a counterattack, but ‘Shadow of the Erdtree’ offers no mercy. Bosses in this game like the Putrescent Knight and Scadutree Avatar will not give you any breaks and mercilessly dispense attack after attack, giving you no space to do anything but guard or take damage.
It’s brutal, but completely manageable if you play your cards right by grinding and collecting Scadutree fragments.
However, I do believe there is one boss that is a little too difficult. The final boss, Radahn, will mash you into a gooey paste, eat you for breakfast then spit you out. Radahn might just be the most difficult boss FromSoftware has ever developed. For series veterans, he’s doable, but for newcomers I think his difficulty is a little too steep.
Having an option to toggle assists or something for his fight would be nice, but if you memorize his attacks and learn his moves through hours of practice, he is beatable.
So the source of this controversy? Personally, I think it’s just whiplash. While ‘Elden Ring’ was on the more forgiving side and open to beginners, ‘Shadow of the Erdtree’ shoves players back into the fire and is incredibly unforgiving. Many players obviously didn’t expect that and most likely got angry, which I personally think is stupid, but feel free to make your own judgement.
Now, don’t let its difficulty deter you. ‘Shadow of the Erdtree’ is still a wonderfully polished, well-made and enjoyable experience that shouldn’t be missed out on. Take me, a relative beginner. I have only played base ‘Elden Ring’ and the original ‘Dark Souls’, and I managed to squeak by. Just expect a couple deaths here and there.
