Not a good experience at all, at least not yet.

3060 Ti and 5800X3D can't run it in VR at over 40fps even at 768x768/eye and lowest settings, and Not even DLSS could help with it really, even if it were an option in VR. On flatscreen too the performance is quite lacking. VR mirrors are still flat rather than stereo (but at least they follow your head now... kind of), and the throttle response is still outdated garbage (see Niels Heusinkveld's videos on the subject). Having to toggle arms/wheel on every single vehicle individual is irritating as well.

It's not a good enough experience for me to even bother going on my sim rig to test out force feedback. And on that note, using controller is a pain and a half for menus. Back to LFS for me.

Edit: Haven't been able to launch it at all since it's been updated. No conflicts with antivirus, nothing else is running but Steam, and all files verify clean. Wonderful.

Without using "compatibility mode", crashes instantly on 3060 Ti and 5800X3D, 32GB RAM, Windows 10, using latest drivers (560.94). Really not looking good if this setup is considered to require a compatibility mode just to run. Exhibited the same behaviour on a lesser PC as well. Who knows if the game itself would crash as well? Does that need compatibility mode? Does it even have it? I'm not spending $60 on a Denuvo-riddled game just to find out. This is the primary reason for the negative review.

At any rate, my results once I finally managed to run it (note: FSR/DLSS not used because the artifacts are particularly egregious to my eyes personally):

HUB performance optimised settings:
1440p: 36FPS
1080p: 50FPS
720p: 68FPS

Low preset:
1440p: 99FPS
1080p: 106FPS
720p: 114FPS

Which looks fine until you see that low basically deletes all lighting and shading from the game. The small spread between 720p and rendering it at literally 4x the pixel count is suspect. Interestingly, 1440p saw a huge CPU usage spike (double that of either 720p or 1080p) when typically it's the opposite (lower resolution and higher framerates putting larger strain on the CPU, with GPU being hit harder with higher resolution). GPU was pegged at 100% for all testing regardless, as expected of pairing an X3D CPU with midrange GPU.

In other word:
Yeesh.

A charming game with great atmosphere, but an absolutely buggy mess. Between things being downright confusing (like all weapons, from pistols to rocket launchers, weighing 2kg) and simply broken (like picking up a pistol that erroneously has a rifle scope attached which can neither be equipped nor have the scope removed), the experience is tainted from top to bottom.

Multiplayer is fraught with ghost enemies that only one or two players can see, quest locations and pickups that can't decide if they exist, and some wacky animations that pull you out of immersion.

Enemy AI is no exception either. With smaller enemies getting stuck or spawning inside crevices, larger ones just stopping combat to stare into the distance in a daze, and them possessing an uncanny ability to shoot at a 150 degree angle to where their guns are pointing, it's a mess which makes mockery of an otherwise compelling enemy design.

On the plus side, performance generally seems decent, although it shouldn't be surprised with the amount of fidelity the game is designed with. This isn't exactly a knock on the game, as it does manage to impose a great visual atmosphere for the most part. Performance does bog down on my machine in the presence of effects, often going from 80+ down to 30-40 when near lots of fire or when it's raining.

I first tried this game a few years ago and simply chalked it up to a half-baked release that should get patched up before long. Sadly, the game has now been out for five years with no end to the bug squashing in sight.

In the end, I'd say to skip this unless you actually enjoy a spectacle of flaws tarnishing good game design. At this point I'm only continuing to play to see how badly these issues affect the late game, assuming my play group doesn't get too tired of them beforehand.

Yet more Elden Ring. What more could one want?

-- 80 hour update: --

Overall verdict remains. I'm not 100% satisfied, but every game and every DLC has its bugbears.

Exploration in the base game was almost always rewarded. In SotE, there are vast stretches of emptiness or long paths to get you a few thousand runes worth of smithing stones, or at best an incantation.

The added enemy variety is great, but rewards for going out of your way to kill them are often horrendous (looking at you, Furnace Golems). Sometimes the only real reward is the satisfaction of the kill, but it's often just added tedium.

Quests remain nebulous and easily-broken. At least in subsequent playthroughs I know I can just beeline to the necessary areas instead of wasting hours hoping to find a stray glovewort or smithing stone.

The difficulty is, before or after 1.12.2, typical from. If you spend time upgrading and learning enemy patterns, it's a cakewalk. If you try to rush through things expecting it to be Limgrave 2.0, you're likely going to struggle.

Overall I'm satisfied, and it's well within my expectations for a DLC for this franchise.

Apologies for the cliche comparison, but so far I can only say that it reminds me of a cross between Tunic, Ori and the Blind Forest, and 140, but with combat de-emphasised and with an extraordinarily compelling visual style of its own. If not on a CRT, do experience this on an OLED! It's a phenomenal visual experience even just on a cheap portable screen like I have.

Props to Billy Basso, I do hope you go Big(mode)!

Can now hop off cliffs in VR. I've been dreaming of this day for a decade.

10/10, and hopefully the VR experience gets even better in upcoming updates!

10% better graphics for a 90%+ performance penalty. More visual bugs and nothing that enhances the gameplay except for some lighting effects that can be implemented without tanking your performance with RT.

The atmosphere is top notch even for only half of it being there. Updates continue to impress. Combat is engaging without being too complex, sailing is a joy (ignoring the fact that the wind is never with you), and the exploration is just right for me. Find a pretty space, design a neat fort, and hunker down.

VHVR is an absolutely phenomenal mod (not to discount the smaller players like BetterLadders, FarmGrid, NoHugin) that completely transforms the game, as well. 95% of my playtime has been in VR.

Only thing holding it back is its performance, especially noticeable in VR. CPU-bound out the wazoo and my GPU's about out of headroom as well, although only because of VR. My playbuddies complain about the controller support, so I guess I should knock it for not having a controller rebinding menu (Sit is a dedicated button? Really?), but it doesn't affect me.

Just can't stop going back to it. The variety in monsters and playstyles with all of the QOL improvements over previous games is just too addictive. And I'm not even at the technical endgame content yet.

Absolute grindfest. Fun with friends though, and certainly better than the other DD games.