"Elden Ring: Shadow of the Elder Tree" is hard. This DLC is the opposite of the "easy win" that From Software DLC tends to be. It's not insurmountable, but it is the opposite of the easy win that From Software DLC tends to be.

In a genre known for a series of controversial difficulty spikes, this controversial difficulty spike has led to an immediate "Mixed" review on Steam.

Complaints are the usual: bosses attack too fast, damage is too high, camera is bad, Black Gaol Knight beat me up and stole my lunch money, no need to hunt for scud tree pieces, etc. As someone who just beat the expansion without ash, I think many of these woes will fade with time. The performance is not great, and I have mixed feelings about the scaling of the scud tree fragments (a DLC-specific power system that increases the damage you do and considerably reduces the pain you receive).

Perhaps in response, Namco Bandai tweeted a devastatingly polite reminder to its close combat player base: "This is a suggestion to level up the scud tree blessing. It's simple, efficient, and devastating.

This is the most civilized way to say "git gud" imaginable, but it's not without merit; I've seen numerous videos of players furious at being two-shotted by Blackgaol Knight. Like Margit in the base game, I feel that Blackgaol Knight (and to some extent Lenara) is there to teach you to go exploring first.

Still, the difficulty of the DLC is definitely a step up. Once you figure out the patterns of the bosses, you can dodge most of their strings fairly reliably (with the exception of the last boss), but it still requires as much memorization as Marenia. They are fast, incredibly aggressive, and the old combo is up to 11.

This difficulty has caused some of the notables to either tap out or change their previously glowing reviews. Noted Souls tuber Iron Pineapple was an all-time praiser of the expansion, but as seen in the comments section of his review video, his opinion changed to more nuanced over time: "The honeymoon phase is real." However, he still maintains that people "ignore the Scud Tree blessing too much. [Personally, I think people's opinion of "Shadow of the Erdtree" will decline as time goes on. Especially as From Software's typical patch tweaks kick in and people get, well, better. Nowadays, there is absolutely no such thing as a level 1 playthrough at the highest scaling of New Game+. Knowledge is power.