Could someone help me with why the shadows are so extreme?

Try taking the refraction out on the options section and see if that will make a difference.
When I try and use some extra settings under Game Options - Day/Night section it can act strange.
And try something besides blend for the day/night cycle. That's all I can think of. Someone else may have a better solution.
Let me know if it works.

It's better, but still noticeable.

It's better, but still noticeable.

What's really weird, is after you mentioned it, it happened to me while I was playing the game. I adjusted a few settings, But the shadows were still stronger than usual. So not sure what else to do.

---

I turned the shadows to static and seemed to help a lot. Not perfect, but so much better.