Gamers who picked up the PC version of Elden Ring are reportedly shocked to find the version of the game to be unoptimized and suffering from technical issues. Among feedback online, common complaints include stuttering performance even on high-end hardware, a locked frame rate cap, and no support for ultrawide monitors.

In a game often requiring precise timing, many players pointed to the stuttering frame rate as being the biggest issue by far. While some more seasoned players appreciated the extra challenge, most players seemed unhappy about frame drops during combat leading to cheap deaths.

The issues caught players off guard who were surprised that developers FromSoftware, whose previous Dark Souls games on PC had framerate caps or required fan mods to fix certain features, would release such a highly anticipated game in such a state. While the gameplay itself has received high praise, reception of the PC version of Elden Ring remains somewhat mixed due to the initial technical problems.

“I can’t believe that developers continue to release games when they are so unoptimized and buggy,” commented online user Tripl3Bake, who preordered the game before any reviews or benchmarks were available. “I don’t know why more time wasn’t taken to fix issues before launch.”

The performance issues have lead to publisher Bandai Namco issuing to a statement regarding the PC version of Elden Ring suggesting that players mess around with their drivers, try different combinations of game settings, and apply random fixes found on web forums for several hours in order to try to get the game to run better.

“Think of it like a pre-game boss,” read Bandai Namco’s statement. “If you can overcome the challenge of getting the game to run well, then you will be that much more prepared once you actually start playing.”