The new area is a beautifully austere necropolis, filled to the brim with deadly enemies and even deadlier traps. It is vaguely reminiscent of both the Tomb of the Giants and the Artorias of the Abyss DLC of the previous game, at least in the verticality of its design. As a result it shares many of the qualities that made those areas so challenging and yet so rewarding.
You begin the DLC by travelling to the Black Gulch, at the back of the boss room is the entrance to the new area and straight away the imagery is striking. From the twisted vistas, to the bright colours providing pleasing contrast from the largely grey and cold environment, it captures the player’s sense of wonder and exploration. There are new mechanics involved in navigating this foreign territory, including the ability to hit switches and manipulate platforms or doors. The raising and lowering of platforms is often associated with allowing access to more elusive areas and items, as well as leading curious players to an untimely demise in the attempt. They are incorporated into the game quite well and figuring out how to reach hard-to-get items feels rewarding, even if the items themselves aren’t…
No golems are harmed in the entrance to this DLC.
The tombs in this expansion are incredibly well designed, with a host of unforgiving enemies and pitfalls around every corner. The environments within contain many secrets, forcing you to think outside the box and scrutinise each area in order to discover every treasure. There is also a great deal of creativity put into the opponents you have to face and their true danger isn’t always immediately obvious. This is where combat in Souls games really shines, when it forces the player to rethink their strategies and react to enemy abilities. For example one such creature you face is a hollow that emanates poison, which makes getting close to them in a fight especially deadly. Other inventive designs include but are not limited to; aggressive bugs that damage your equipment and ponderous lizards with a shell made of poison spitting idols. The three boss fights on the other hand are comparatively uninspired. Like many of the Dark Souls 2 bosses, they are similar in their abilities and appearances to designs already seen elsewhere in this game and the original. That said they are all fairly challenging and can provide the intense battles players know and love.
The DLC channels the impeccable game design of the original Dark Souls, making inventive use of a modestly sized area to make it feel like a densely populated maze. It is an immensely enjoyable reminder of why people loved the first game, by creating challenging environments that tests gamer’s ability to play, as well as their ability navigate difficult obstacles. It doesn’t hold your hand and it doesn’t take prisoners, but perhaps more even than full game itself, Dark Souls 2’s DLC feels right. It strikes the right balance of adversity and predictability, allowing players to figure things out for themselves, instead of treating them like idiots. This has always been one of the core principles of the series, but it is showcased here in spades.
The content takes no more than about four hours to complete (assuming you don’t have too much trouble with the bosses) which feels a little short, but it makes up for in depth what it lacks in breadth. Dark Souls 2 has always suffered from not being as well designed as its predecessor, possibly due to the absence of the originals’ director Miyazaki. But this first part of the trilogy of DLC is a bold statement that more than meets the high bar of quality set by previous instalments in the series.
9/10
Here’s a glimpse at the kind of things you can expect, be warned that naturally some spoilers are included:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRWkAtdiHCE