Dark Souls 3: Ashes of Ariandel Review

Dark Souls 3 offers up tons of fierce weapons and a majestic, terrifying new land to explore.

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[geezeelife]

I think 5-10hrs from a Dlc is pretty good bro wat were u expecting 20hrs of gameplay

[Xendra]

While it's odd to think of people saying DLC 2 hours longer than a AAA game is too short, it just shows how much people love new souls content.

[f.s.]

5-10 hours ?
just finished the DLC in about 2.5 hours
we waited 6 months for this ...

[rockstarify]

Sister friede boss fight alone is worth the purchase
Along with awesome weapons and a great arena for pvp
To me it was totally worth it

[joshuahenry]

“Too many bonfires” he says.... There are never too many. 😂

[rebelpoxy]

That's disappointing, considering the Bloodborne dlc has so much content.

[cardiacade]

Maybe they'll release dlc for the dlc.

[WritingOnGames]

Yeah, this DLC is SHORT. Feels like they're really banking on the PvP arena, which has its own submenu at the shrine bonfire and everything. Just don't know if that'll really carry it. Lot of neat shortcuts to find, but when it can be completed in about two hours and is that self-contained, it doesn't really matter. Very conflicted.

[erics]

Dark souls two had better DLC at least there's a reason to play all of them
At least The boss provided a challenge to beginner or off and on again players.
Hopefully the second expansion might be twice the size

[mexicangoose]

So now we know for sure that Miyazaki became tired of Dark Souls, they could've at least included 3 bosses

[portxer]

I’d say this thing is honestly worthy of picking up just to fight Friede, what a fight

[xaExPHEONIX]

The DLC is 3 hours for a regular souls player.

[TheWolf]

5-10 hours? Bro I was done in less than two and I wasn't even trying to finish it quickly

[DarkMage]

To be fair to the game. I have played Ashes of Ariandel DLC four times using four characters to gauge amount of time needed to complete it. I will provide some context to back up my claim on amount of time spent on each playthrough.

My blind playthrough was using a level 95 refined build, aka quality build, with careful exploration to acquire all weapons, armors, and treasures, it took me 12 hours to complete the DLC without leveling up.

My second playthrough was using a level 74 dark build supplement dark magic with chaos Estoc. I have to level up to level 80 for survivability and higher endurance to land one more hit. I only acquire weapons relevant to dark build, well, the Onyx Sword. That character took me eight hours, armed with knowledge of the DLC.

My third playthrough was using a level 200 dex-int build character in NG++. That is my only grossly over-leveled character, all other characters are below level 110, even at NG+. I have also acquired all weapons, armors, and treasures. The over-leveled one took me three hours without leveling. It was really like walking in a park using such high level character.

My fourth playthrough was using a level 100 strength-faith build that didn't have additional point in dexterity or intelligence. I played it a little bit different ftom last three playthrough to acquire all weapons strategically. That took me five hours without leveling.

So, for anybody playing Ashes of Ariandel using character at level between 70 and 90, who also takes time to explore, it should take between 10 to 12 hours to complete the DLC.

Anybody ventures into the painted world below level 70 and plays it blind, average players would find it difficult. There is a developer's message warning player that he/she should have gone deep in Lothric Castle before exploring frozen world of Ariandel. The playthrough will be longer.

Of course, anybody using over-leveled character will find this DLC too easy and extremely short.

Unlike other RPGs or other action-RPGs, the worlds of Dark Souls trilogy or Demon's Souls or Bloodborne, high level on character doesn't mean the player is good, rather beating the games at low level solo holds more credit to the players' skill. For average players, who just wanted to have fun, you should be able to beat the game at around level 80, including Ashes of Ariandel DLC.

[thelocoraven]

As someone that bought Batman VR. 5 hour dlc sounds pretty great actually.

[ParityS]

5 to 10 hours? Are you kidding? I explored everything, and it took me MAXIMUM 3 hours.

[asunayuuki]

This is absolutely amazing.
I love Dark Souls 3, and seeing how it gives me more reason to replay it, makes me happier.

[jericho]

Here's hoping the final dlc will give us at least 5 bosses. Hopefully the hardest 5 bosses in the series.

[TempestMauve]

It's amazing how the Souls Series went from being a challenge of intuition with Demon's Souls to being a mindless hack n' slash with Bloodborne, and later Dark Souls 3.

[sorawild]

Just so you guys know since I've seen this a lot in the comments. There are 3 bosses in this DLC, its just one of them is WAY off the beaten path.