Too hard? Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s difficulty debate needs some nuance

It wouldn’t be a complete FromSoftware game launch without a debate over difficulty, would it?

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is out now, and dedicated players have spent the past few days bashing their skulls against its fierce bosses. Those foes are no joke; they offer some of the most punishing fights the action RPG has to offer. Even streamers like Asmongold gave up almost immediately, saying that it’s “too hard to be fun.” Naturally, that’s opened up an inescapable discourse about difficulty in FromSoftware games. You’ve heard it all before, and it’s not worth dredging up the same talking points forever.

The more often the debate arises, though, the more nuance is stripped away from it. Complaints about games like Elden Ring being too difficult have been reduced to a shallow meme. If a critic, streamer, or Steam review so much as uses the word hard, the take is bound to be pulled out of context and reactively mocked. That internet ritual has flattened out insightful criticisms that deserve to be heard and discussed. When someone calls a game “too hard” or even “too easy,” there’s much more to the story than some like to admit.

Cherry-picking criticism

The more popular FromSoftware’s games have gotten, the more heated arguments around it have become. On one side, you have long-time fans who are fully bought in on FromSoftware’s formula and unwilling to see it budge. The other side of the coin is more nebulous. It isn’t just total newcomers who lob occasional complaints against the studio for its difficult design choices. The critique is echoed across the spectrum, from your average Steam user leaving an enraged review to a seasoned veteran writing a more detailed criticism. It can’t be written off as an outsider take, yet that doesn’t stop fans from trying to paint that disingenuous picture.

One primary target of this year’s tired debate is Eurogamer critic Alexis Ong, who awarded Shadow of the Erdree three stars in a dissenting review. It didn’t take long