As Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree continues to pound players into the dirt, Bandai Namco calls them out in the most devastatingly polite way possible

GamesRPGAs Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree continues to pound players into the dirt, Bandai Namco calls them out in the most devastatingly polite way possibleWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Messmer from Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree looks at his hand, pained, garbed in a flowing red robe.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtreeis hard—real hard, in fact. Having just wrapped up my ashes-free playthrough myself, I definitely feel like everything in it is a major step up when compared to the base game. Nothing insurmountable, but the exact opposite of a cakewalk, asFromSoftwareDLCs tend to be.

This controversial difficulty spike—in a genre known for being a series of controversial difficulty spikes—has led to"Mixed" reviews on Steamfor the time being.

Bandai Namco, seemingly in response, has tweeted a devastatingly polite reminder to the player base among the melee: “This is a suggestion to level up your Scadutree Blessing”. Simple, efficient, ruinous.

(Image credit: @BandaiNamcoUS on Twitter/X.)

A post that reads: “This is a suggestion to level up your Scadutree Blessing”.

It’s the most civilised way of saying “git gud” imaginable, though it’s not without merit. I keep seeing videos of players raging at the Blackgaol Knight two-shotting them, and thanking the tree above that I decided to come back with a few more blessings under my belt. Like Margit in the base game, I feel the Blackgaol Knight (and to an extent, Rennala) are there to teach you to go explore first.

Still, the DLC’s difficulty is absolutely a step up. You can dodge most bosses' strings (save for the final one) pretty reliably when you get a handle on their patterns, but that doesn’t change the fact that they all still require rote memorisation on par with Malenia. They’re fast, incredibly aggressive, and the ages-long combos have been turned up to 11.

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Personally, I think we’re going to see people softening on Shadow of the Erdtree over time, especially as FromSoftware’s typical patch adjustments kick in and people, well, get good—I remember the discussions about Margit’s long, fake-out filled attack chains, and how they were a step up from the studio’s usual pedigree. Now there are absolutely absurd level one playthroughs on thegame’s highest New Game+ scaling. Knowledge is power.

Erdtree map fragments: Uncover the Land of ShadowScadutree fragments: How to level up in ErdtreeErdtree bosses: A full hit list for the DLCLeda quest: Track the Erdtree main questSir Ansbach quest: Help the former servant of MohgHornsent quest: Complete the quest for vengeance

Erdtree map fragmentsScadutree fragmentsErdtree bossesLeda questSir Ansbach questHornsent quest

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PRODUCTSElden Ring: Shadow of the ErdtreeElden Ring

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