DARK SOULS™ III - Ashes of Ariandel™

This is being written with the context that you probably bought the big edition of DS3 and did NOT spend $15 on this. You just simply have it bundled in. Ashes of Ariandel in my personal experience is like stopping at a blood donation bus with the promise of a T-Shirt at the end. You go into it with good hopes and then uh oh! The nurse misses your vein 7 times and while you're donating, people won't stop moving so the bus is shaking you around in your chair. It sucks, it doesn't feel good but my GOD is that T-Shirt awesome. The DLC is rather short with a clog of so many enemies jam-packed together that it loses that charm of methodically picking off one by one and instead opts to have you fight packs of enemies all at once. There's enough wolves that bombard you to turn half the DLC into Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2011 and the Corvian Knights are so insufferably unrelenting that you'll find literal 1 second windows to do anything before another 20-hit bombard plows you. If you need to hit the Estus against these guys, be prepared to run a hail mary down the trail just for safe space. The area is gorgeous per usual (FromSoftware never fails in that department) and the intro with the momma wolf on the cliffside watching over you was a dope intro to the DLC. The other boss this expansion comes with kind of blows as well but the weapons throughout are unique. Once you reach that final boss though it makes everything else feel worth it up to now. Father Ariandel and Sister Friede live up to their hype that's been built. I summoned for this fight (sue me) not because of the difficulty but because there were so many summons available that I wanted to see how it was with more than one person. Four of us (one being the NPC summon) rushing down the two was such a hype-inducing fun time -- it felt like we were trying to juggle an assassin and a frenzied gorilla at the same time. Music is gorgeous, the fight is intense throughout all, and Friede will hand your ass to you on a plate. I recommend going through the DLC if you got the edition that hands the expansions on sale with base game but I'm thumbs down on this because of just how goddamn sloggy everything is up to that final boss fog gate. You best put a video on in the BG for this one till then because you are gonna need it. Terrible enemy density and fuck the Corvian Knights. Call it a skill issue but my lord they are some of the most unfun I've fought in the series so far. Edit: I wrote this coming fresh off the high heels of beating the DLC heated; the enemies aren't too terrible and I was being pretentious but my lord those Corvian Knights can still get stuffed.

The Ashes of Ariandelis is a cold, brutal, and beautifully looking landscape it may be short in terms of content, but what it delivers is pure, Soulsborne excellence. The Painted World of Ariandel is stunning a snowy, decaying realm filled with hidden paths, deadly enemies, and some of the most atmospheric design in the series. The lore is cryptic and melancholy, just the way we like it hinting at cycles of decay and rebirth, forgotten artists, and broken oaths.Combat wise, this DLC doesn’t hold back. The enemies are vicious, the new weapons and spells are fun to experiment with and the PvP arena adds a whole new layer of replayability. Yes, it’s short. But every moment feels hand crafted and meaningful. A snowy knife to the heart and you’ll thank it for the wound.

I just replayed this, and I really enjoyed myself… the snowy environment is great (also a bit nostalgic for me, the first time I beat this DLC was Christmas Eve a few years ago) and the level design (corvian settlement and beyond) is alright, albeit just as linear as the rest of DS3. It’s a bit short, but I really enjoyed it overall… And friede is the best boss in the game, so there’s that too :>

I have not finished it yet but i can say it is fun, if not a little confusing but still good overall

run for an hour and a half through snow and accidentally run into the final boss immediately. literally 2-3 bosses total and this dlc was complete in less than 2 hours. Worst DLC of any game I have ever played.

Replaying DS2 ruined this DLC for me. Although Ringed City is clearly superior, Ariandel's areas are boringly lackluster, the gravetender is garbage, and sister friede is hot garbage as well. Sucks that I'll have to go through 3 phases of gank and overtuneness just to access peak...

a very nice add on to the base game lore wise and looks wise however gameplay does not live up to expectations excluding sister freide. still I highly recommend if u love the souls series

Boss must be the worst thing ever put into this wonderfull game, not hard, annoying and unpleasent. Whole DLC pretty bad, just stick to the main game.

Short AF, with ONLY 2 BOSSES. First one's ok, last one is amazing.

Look, this DLC is good in everything but the final boss. Everyone says that Friede is a really good boss and I'm not saying shes a worthless boss, it was a challenge, and Friede on her own is okay, but it feels just so wrong at times. Her second phase with Ariandel force instance, just feels like its a gank fest, Ariandel and his massive body easily can block your camera and make you completely clueless as to whats going on, and since your main attention will be on Friede, it is so hard to actually focus. Its not hard, just really annoying. I could forgive that if it was the end, but no, Friede has a THIRD PHASE, which im pretty sure no other fromsoft boss has ever had before past or present as far as I know, which is made worse by the fact shes even more aggressive. Other than those two, I liked the little story and the characters were ok, this dlc is just such a miss for me though. However, I can't be mad at it just because its hard. If you realllyyyyy want a hair ripping challenge, Friede is one of the hardest bosses in the game (even more so than Nameless King) and one of the hardest fromsoft bosses, and I would recommend preparing yourself for a slog fest if you get to her fight.

I get the complaints, but how am I gonna complain about having more ds to play? Get this with the season pass, obviously.

the exploration is terrible because there's basically none, the world is fairly ugly all throughout imo too there's only so much snow world I can handle, enemies were really bad too like the wolves (or any dog variant really), and if they weren't bad they were just really annoying like the gross big flies. I was pushing through because I saw people saying Friede was good, only for me to be duped and reminded from software has made about 1 good duo boss fight in its history

worst level design ever id rather play flappy bird

get it with the season pass

PRAISE THE SISTER'S FEET

legit not good

erm