Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree disappoints in technical check with known problems

The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion for Elden Ring also gives Digital Foundry a new way to evaluate FromSoftware's work on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Series S, and PC, as the game's original release suffered performance issues on all platforms.

In view of this, the question arises whether FromSoftware has worked on solving these problems since the game's release. Do the various graphics modes offer a stable 60 frames per second? Digital Foundry took another look at the game for the release of the expansion closer look and is somewhat disillusioned.

Elden Ring still has technical problems

On PS5, the new areas in Shadow of the Erdtree still show frequent drops below 60 fps, even in framerate mode. This leads to unstable performance, especially in demanding areas such as certain fights or spawning in specific locations. The quality and ray tracing modes also do not reach the desired performance standards and often run in the 30 to 40 fps range, which is far from a smooth gaming experience.

On the Xbox Series X, the performance is similarly mixed. Here, too, the new areas usually run between 45 and 60 fps in frame rate mode, although according to Digital Foundry, the console often performs worse than the PS5. The ray tracing modes lead to even greater drops in performance, especially in intensive graphics scenes, which makes the Xbox Series X not recommendable in these modes.

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As expected, the Xbox Series S performs the worst. The frame rate mode often only reaches 45 fps and the loss of quality due to lower resolutions is clearly noticeable. There is no ray tracing mode, which is understandable given the performance losses on the other consoles. Overall, the Series S remains the weakest of the current consoles for Elden Ring.

The performance values on PS5, Xbox Series X and S. No mode achieves a perfect 60 fps on the consoles in the new areas of Shadow of the Erdtree. In addition, the quality and ray tracing modes often fall outside the ideal VRR window.

Little has changed on PC either. Performance remains comparable to the base game, with stuttering issues still present and no support for modern upscalers such as FSR2 or DLSS. CPU bottlenecks still lead to frame time spikes and there are reports of extreme frame rate drops that affect the gaming experience.

Although Elden Ring was a huge financial success for FromSoftware, Digital Foundry believes that no significant investment was made to fix the technical issues on console and PC. This is disappointing, especially given the impressive world design and combat mechanics that set FromSoftware apart. Despite the frame rate challenges on consoles, the PC version remains the bigger disappointment due to constant performance fluctuations.

The PC situation has not changed since the launch of Elden Ring, but there are still stuttering issues when traversing the game world.