Returning to Elden Ring two years on, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion gives us a fresh chance to reassess developer FromSoftware’s work and see how the game now runs on PS5, Series X, Series S and PC across the new Shadow Realm map. The original game’s launch exhibited a string of performance issues on PC and consoles, so the hope is that this expansion offers a fresh opportunity to address these issues.
The big questions then: in the intervening years, has FromSoftware improved the game’s performance on console? Do any of the game’s modes – like the frame-rate, quality and ray tracing modes on PS5 or Series X – deliver anything close to a locked 60fps yet? And as for PC, what’s the current state of Elden Ring’s optimisation and has its long-standing stutter issues been solved?
There’s no doubt that Shadow of the Erdtree is a beautifully crafted extra slice of Elden Ring, adding around another 50 percent to the length of the main adventure via an 18GB download. The expansion’s world design and combat are standout, but in terms of improving game’s technical polish – in optimising the experience on console and PC – it’s fair to say that FromSoftware is far from addresing all of the game’s technical failings.
Starting with PS5, Shadow of the Erdtree’s new region sadly does not fix the frequent drops below 60fps, even running in the game’s frame-rate mode that renders at a dynamic 1512p to 2160p resolution. Around the Gravesite Plain opening area we’re often running in the 50s, with the silver lining being that these drops are disguised well enough on displays with variable refresh rate (VRR) support. The issue is that other areas have greater potential for frame-rate drops below the 48fps lower limit that PS5’s VRR can handle, such as the drop to 40fps when spawning at the gates of Castle Ensis or battling roaming golems. At these moments, PS5 falls outside the VRR window, and you’ll notice judder. Meanwhile, those a VRR-capable display will see constant judder as the frame-rate wavers up and down the graph.