Dark Souls III: The Ringed City DLC for PS4, Xbox One and PC

After being mildly underwhelmed by Ashes of Ariandel, The Ringed City DLC for Dark Souls III shows the series at its absolute best, offering what is probably my favourite slice of content from the whole game.

The Ringed City is the home of the Pygmies, ancestors to humanity. Located at the end of all things, The Ashen One is transported to the blasted Dreg Heap and instructed to make their way to the mythical city and discover the secrets within. If Dark Souls III was apocalyptic, The Ringed City goes beyond even that. The Pygmies are a much discussed element of Dark Souls lore and we find a bit more about them and the way they lived. This DLC also provides some closure for characters from the main series, as well as tying back to the Ashes of Ariandel DLC. The Ringed City evokes perfectly the feeling of arcane ruin the series is known for and, whilst it doesn’t clear anything up (nor should it), it does feel like a good way for the series to end.

The Ringed City is structured as a descent, from the valleys surrounding the Ringed City which give it its name, down to the city itself and then further into its depths. The stunningly clever verticality of the level design has long been my favourite thing about the Soulsborne game and was something that Ashes of Ariandel lacked somewhat. The feeling of opening a shortcut back to a bonfire after a long and terrifying run and finding yourself back where you were several hours ago will never get old. Where Ashes of Ariandel lacked in boss fights, The Ringed City has four, and they’re generally really good. I won’t spoil the identity of the final boss of the DLC, and possibly the series, but it was one of my favourite boss fights both in the series and possibly of all time. The foe is fast, terrifying and humanoid; my favourite kind of Soulsborne boss.

The sound design and voice acting is as unsettling as ever, but it’s the way The Ringed City looks that took my breath away. This is only a DLC so we only get to see a small portion of it, but what we do is genuinely stunning. I’d love to have explored more of this place. I mentioned in my Ashes of Ariandel review that I think the series fares best in city environments and I think this DLC proves that.

The Ringed City is a perfect way to, perhaps, wrap up this series. It feels like the right time too, with Bloodborne paving a way to show how you can craft a different experience form the same template. Whether it’s Bloodborne 2 or something new entirely, I can’t wait to see where FromSoft go next.

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel DLC for PS4, Xbox One and PC

I really enjoyed Dark Souls III, but as a Bloodborne man at heart Dark Souls III spent a lot of it’s time lurking in its shadow. I took a while for me to go for the Dark Souls III DLC and I’m glad I did. Ashes of Ariandel is the first of the two DLC packs, binging us to a new location, with new things to find and monsters to be murdered by.

Ashes of Ariandel opens with the Ashen One transported to the Painted World of Ariandel by the mysterious Slave Knight Gael. The snowy and pristine land, held within a painting, has been infected with a strange rot, with conflict within Ariandel about how to deal with this threat, burn away the rot and begin anew, or allow the rot to continue. Dark Souls is always going to Dark Souls so Ashes of Ariandel is as cryptic as ever, but this DLC does operate as an interesting microcosm for the main thrust of the series, about whether or not to link the fire.

Ariandel itself is a beautiful location, although I do generally feel that the series fares better when in city environments, allowing more complex geometry and clever pathways than will occur in a natural environment. Ariandel is still fun to explore, but it does lack some of that cleverness of world design which is my favourite thing about the series. There are a range of fun and challenging enemies to fight, such as wolves or the twisted Corvian bird people. One potential disappointment is the lack of boss fights; there is only one mandatory one at the end, with another that is optional. The optional fight is fun, but doesn’t really do anything which hasn’t been done in other boss fights throughout the series. The final boss fight is a bit more interesting, a multi-stage monster of a fight with three distinct stages, and health bars. It’s utterly brutal and at times felt a bit cheap, but at its best it reminded me of the superlative Maria boss fight from the Hunters Nightmare DLC for Bloodborne.

Ashes of Ariandel isn’t massive and doesn’t really represent the best of the series, but Dark Souls III is so solidly constructed that just adding more isn’t really a problem. On its own it may be a bit unsatisfying, but taken within the grand swatch of the game it’s difficult to fault it too much. If you’re sold your copy of Dark Souls III, Ashes of Ariandel isn’t a reason to rush out and buy a new one, but there are far worse ways you could spend your time.

 

Dark Souls III for PS4, Xbox One and PC

I’ve mentioned before my blasphemous dislike for the first Dark Souls. I loved the setting and the way the world fit together, but the ponderous combat and punishing hollowing system was a heap I just could not get over. It took Bloodborne, one of my all-time favourite games, to convert me on the From Software style. I was nervous that I’d feel the same way about Dark Souls III as I did the first, but needed some of that sweet Bloodborne methodrone so took a risk. I’m glad I did; I loved Dark Souls III.

Dark Souls III is as obscure and unknowable as anything else in this series. You awaken in the dying land of Lothric with a task; to hunt and kill the Lords of Cinder, resurrected beings who had previously Linked the Fire and brought more time for the world from darkness. I’m sure there’s a lot more to the plot that I didn’t pick up on, having skipped the first two. It lacks the narrative cohesiveness of Bloodborne, which built an extremely compelling lore in one game, but there are moments of strange power which resonate even if you don’t have a clue what’s going on. I foresee watching many lore videos in my future.

Dark Souls III plays as a hybrid of Bloodborne and the older Souls games. It’s still a slower and more defensive beast than the quick and aggressive style of Bloodborne, but it’s also not nearly as defensive as the first Dark Souls. The reliance on hiding behind a shield in the first game put me off a bit and Dark Souls III does a much better job at catering to a range of play styles. I played as a sorcerer/swordsman hybrid, with a focus on light armour to allow me to dodge around. This served me pretty well and I didn’t feel the need to play the heavily armoured knight the series is probably best known for. That said, this isn’t Bloodborne and trying to play it like it was got me killed more than a few times. As the game progressed I came to enjoy the combat more and more and think that Dark Souls III may have one of the best combat systems I’ve ever encountered. On a purely mechanical level, Dark Souls III is extremely satisfying and lacks the clunkiness which put me off the first game. I can’t not mention the bosses, which are generally outstanding. There are a few which are focused on spectacle over challenge, which is fine as the spectacle is generally brilliant, but some of these bosses are brutal. I personally found Dark Souls III much harder than Bloodborne, but this probably says more about my preferred play style than anything else.

Whilst the environments in Dark Souls III are varied and interesting, they lacked the sense of cohesion and dense layering that made Bloodborne and (from what I’ve heard) the first Dark Souls so special. Partially for plot reasons, Dark Souls III is a bit of a mishmash, but there weren’t any moments of stunning short cut unlocking that were so exciting in Bloodborne. I’ll never forget travelling through the woods, crawling through the poison cave filled with giants, climbing a massive ladder and finding myself in the graveyard just outside Iosefka’s clinic from the start of the game. That’s not to say that the environments don’t sometimes fold back in on themselves in interesting ways, but all told Dark Souls III is a more linear experience that I was perhaps hoping for.

Dark Souls III is a supremely pretty game with a wonderfully melancholic and sinister art style. The monstrosities you face are suitably horrifying and the locations oppressive, but there are moments of genuinely breathtaking beauty. Emerging from some truly horrible dungeons and caverns into a new beautiful location is an emotional and oddly stirring experience and Dark Souls III has a couple of those moments. That said, I missed the cohesiveness of Bloodborne’s Yharnam. Sure, there was variety of Bloodborne, but everywhere was recognisably connected and afflicted by the same curse. This helped Yharnam stand up alongside settings like Rapture as one of the most compelling videogame cities I’ve ever explored. Dark Souls III doesn’t have that sense of overall coherence, making the setting of Lothric less compelling for me. The music is wonderful and the general sound design sublime. Running at a consistent frame rate on PS4, Dark Souls III is sumptuous and beautiful game.

Dark Souls III is a wonderful game that only suffers for following on from one of the best games of all time. From Software have created something truly unique in this series and they’re a company who I’ll now be following with great interest.