Despite its critical success, most of the discourse surrounding "The Elden Ring: Shadow of the Eldestree" concerns the game's high difficulty, with many players scratching their heads at the brutal boss fights and unforgiving environments. Many players are of the opinion that the difficulty is too high to be enjoyable, so much so that the DLC is currently on Mixed reviews on Steam, but some fans still consider the high skill ceiling to be a great feature, and one that sets FromSoft's games apart.

One such person is Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestedt, who recently began replying to Shadow of the Erdtree players, discussing its difficulty and why he actually likes it. He said, "The gaming industry has gotten so big now that there are exciting experiences for all audiences. Imagine having such a wide variety of games when I was 10 years old: ....... I'm sure it would have been a degree of excitement!"

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Certainly, the DLC for "The Elden Ring," like many FromSoft games, may not be for everyone, but that doesn't mean it needs to change. It takes a special type of person known for banging their head against a brick wall to actually enjoy a fight with a FromSoft boss, but for those players who like it, the sense of accomplishment after somehow defeating whoever it is they are up against is irreplaceable.

"A game for all is not a game for anyone. It always caters to a chosen audience." The first part of these words is something of a motto for Arrowhead; if you look at the Helldivers 2 website, you will see the same words in large bold letters.

Both Helldivers 2 and FromSoft's game are very popular, despite their niche appearance; Helldivers 2 may not be as difficult as The Elden Ring or other Dark Souls games, but the long-running galactic war is quite complex and not for everyone It may not be for everyone. Players of "Helldivers 2" have even debated over whether shooters should be played casually or stick to the meta.

But there is no superior way to play or experience either game, and as Pilestedt points out, "good game design is about evoking emotion above all else."

Helldivers 2 aims to evoke a range of emotions. The game play is thrilling and exciting, turning into epic winners and losers. A shared laugh or a shout of "fuck yeah." The same is virtually true of the Elden Ring and its DLC. The most recent patch added a slight buff to players, but if that's not enough, they can also choose from a large number of mods that make them stronger. The latter may not be the official way to play, but suffering is an option.