Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree has already broken streamers
In a world as brutal as Elden Ring, it's no surprise that its Shadow of the Erdtree DLC takes no prisoners. Already, hundreds of critics are agreeing with our review that Shadow of the Erdtree is more than mesmerising.
The expansion has smashed records, dethroning The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine as the highest-rated DLC of all time on Metacritic, scoring an almost flawless 95/100.
The only criticism that you can find anywhere - and even then you need to look at one in twenty reviews - is that Shadow of the Erdtree is hard. Very hard. So hard that it's turned streamer Nicholas "Jynxzi" Stewart into "a broken man".
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree breaks popular streamer Jynxzi
Streamers have been taking full advantage of the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC early access period. Red Bull put on a show with a number of high-profile content creators collated in Paris, while those at home have tried to speedrun it before the expansion pack launches to the wider world later today (June 20).
One of these speedrunners is Jynxzi, a streamer best known for his expertise in Rainbow Six: Siege before moving on to a variety of titles. Jynxzi won "Breakthrough Streamer of the Year" at the 2024 Streamer Awards and became the second-highest subscribed streamer on Twitch (only behind Elden Ring's most infamous player, Kai Cenat).
Yet Shadow of the Erdtree has broken Jynxzi. Completely. After 49 hours straight of streaming, the player admitted that he was a "quitter" and couldn't defeat Elden Ring in one sitting.
"I'm a quitter chat. I'm a quitting piece of s**t. 49 hours in and Elden Ring has broken me as a man. I've broken down. I wouldn't wish this pain on my worst enemy. I died to a snake for three hours. URGH," he said.
Kai Cenat mocks Jynxzi after feeble Shadow of the Erdtree attempt
Click to enlargeShadow of the Erdtree has claimed a lot of players' sanity already, and it's not even out in full yet.
But the next champion up to tackle this beast will be Kai Cenat, who is looking to better his diabolical first marathon in Elden Ring by announcing his Shadow of the Erdtree run will commence on June 21. Ahead of his run, Cenat has already mocked Jynxzi, taking a jab at his dedication.
"He Was So Focused On Beating My Time During His Marathon That He Let It Eat Him Alive, You May Have Better IQ & Be The Better Gamer But You Lack Something that All Elden Lords Have & Thats DEDICATION , YOU F**KING PIP SQUEAK," Cenat said on Twitter.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has already cemented itself in gaming history and has set the tone not to be underestimated, even if you managed to beat the core game with some comfort.
