The Forsaken Hollows DLC has made players ‘feel hollow’ after launch.
FromSoftware’s newest Elden Ring: Nightreign DLC, Forsaken Hollows, has stumbled out of the gate, quickly becoming the studio’s worst-rated PC release to date. Steam reviews have dipped into Mixed territory at just 46% positive, and players are voicing their disappointment loud and clear.
Community frustration hits boiling point as Forsaken Hollows struggles on day one
Across Steam and social channels, the early sentiment is that Forsaken Hollows simply doesn’t bring enough to the table. Steam player Reksio didn’t mince words, saying they rarely leave negative reviews on a product. However, Reksio called the DLC a joke for the lack of substantial content.
“How are there no new weapons besides the 2 signature weapons the new characters come with? And those are just a reskin of a basic hammer and a basic thrusting sword. How are there no weapons from the DLC?...What a joke. It’s so disappointing.”
There are some who don’t entirely hate everything, but still felt that the DLC was lacking, especially in terms of value for money.
ATaleDarkly said that they were “beyond disappointed with this DLC expansion.” Although they have added that the new map, characters, and Nightlords were great additions to the game, there were simply too many pain points as well. For one they described that they map is “incredibly hard to traverse,” and called the Calio invasion a “frame nightmare,” despite having a very powerful computer.
“Overall, I felt as hollow as the Shifting Earth while playing this content,” they added. “I'm deeply disappointed with Fromsoft[ware], as I expected higher quality from them, even if this is a cheaper DLC.”
Shenron’s 3rd Horn, another player on Steam, echoed similar concerns regarding the map. “Can’t believe I’m giving a negative review for a FromSoft game,” they began.
“The Shifting Earth is horrid. You can fall off the map and die almost anywhere, but most the time you'll die from the circle, getting stuck going a way you thought would lead you the right way. There's so much nothing in this area,” they described. They also had complaints about the new playable character, the Scholar, saying that the character had “horrible stats.”
For context, the DLC adds two new playable characters, the Scholar and the Undertaker, along with a new map and two boss encounters. On paper, that sounds like a decent mid-cycle update, but many players feel short-changed, especially with the DLC costing almost half the price of the base game.
Whether Forsaken Hollows can recover in future patches remains up in the air. For now, players diving back into the Lands Between are largely united in their verdict: this isn’t the DLC they were waiting for.
