Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel / The Ringed City DLC

already reviewed dark souls 3 further down the list. this is just focused on DLC playthrough.

Ashes of Ariandel

big open snowy battlefield new enemies like big wolves and viking warriors. fun level design and entertaining new fights and scenario's. there are new items that i genuinely got excited to find, but overall they're not too amazing. the graphics and world design is beautiful. some really difficult sections as usual. there are sections where it seems you can choose multiple paths, lots of branching options, interesting scenery and villages to explore.

the bosses: champion gravetender is kind of shit, its just Sif and some NPC humans to fight. not much to say. its Sif from dark souls 1. Sister fride is a really fun fight, with amazing cinematic and moving dialogue. it's similar to ornstein and smough in that its 2 vs 1. its a really intense fight, and sister firede has amazing ninja mechanics that are fun to learn and master. the has multiple stages and eventually turns into blackflame friede. Really hard, but fair. and satisfying in the end.

a short, well added bonus to dark souls 3.

7/10

The Ringed City

this is the final conclusion to the souls saga. this is the last piece of content to be released ever, apparently. breath taking visuals, a big destroyed city floating in the sky almost. it has challenging archer parts which require good timing and patience. interesting architecture, cryptic new npc's and places to discover. the new ringed enemies are challenging and fun, with massive blades and dexterous movesets.

there is even a ornstein fight in the water, its unnamed and tucked away in a corner but its clearly ornstein clone. you get dragonslayer armor for killing him, its a really cool addition. the new armor and equipment is awesome and fun to acquire.

there is an optional boss Darkeater Midir which is one of the hardest souls bosses to date! this guy took me hours to try to beat, god damn difficult but I guess it paid off. the feeling of accomplishment overcoming so difficult. hes slightly bullshit in his 1 hit kills, but it was fun to try to learn.

other bosses, demon in pain demon from below was another tag team fight, slightly generic, medium difficult. decent fight overall. Halflight spear of the church is a pretty worthless fight. its like the online invasion gimmick from demons souls, yet another NPC human fight. feels pointless and easy to cheese.

then is the final area of the souls franchise, a big barren desert with nothing in it but a crawling soul warning you of whats to come, then you find the last boss Slave knight gael. this fight is awesome and one of the best of the series. he does crazy ariel acrobatics, jumps around and has a very unique moveset. hes not too tricky to figure out, but the fun is one of the most fun of the game.

and then the game ends after that, with no cutscene, no end credits. just nothingness. intentionally to leave you with a wondering of purpose and meaning of the game's message. you deliver an item to a child infront of a painting and a little cutscene plays nudging you to question the meaning of it all. a very poignant last message.

8/10