How was the Dark Souls DLC Discovered?

Today's video will explore a commonly asked question - How did players ever find the entrance to the DLC of Dark Souls 1? It's known for being weirdly complicated to access, hiding a lot of important content behind some very arbitrary steps. This video aims to provide some context for how finding the DLC at the time of its release was probably a lot easier than you might think.

0:00 Intro / Review
1:14 It Was Never a Mystery
3:31 It Would've Been Solved Day 1
4:03 Rescuing Dusk Was Known
4:41 Connections to Artorias & Oolacile
5:52 The New Crystal Golem
6:54 Entrance Location Was Known
7:29 Cove - Artorias Connection?
10:35 Design Review and Fixes
12:50 Bonus Fun Fact

Video that explains more about the location of landmarks in Darkroot vs Oolacile:

Website for browsing Dark Souls' maps:

Video Sources in order of appearance:

From Software blog -

GameFront - How to Access New DLC Content -

TechPhantomReviewer - Accessing Sanctuary Guardian Area and Extra Content -

The Game Station - E3 2011: Dark Souls Interview - TGS -

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition retail contents confirmed for SA -

Dark Souls on PC is going to blow the story wide open -

Phrexeus - Dark Souls 3D Map Viewer -

Dark Souls: Artorias Of The Abyss Screens Reveal New "Chaser" Dark Magic -

Dark Souls: PtDE Confirmed for PC, Announcement Trailer and Co-Op Matchmaking -

Additional help / research:

Non-Souls music used:

King's Field IV - City Ruins
Eternal Ring - Taboo Words

[illusorywall]

If the location of Artorias' grave not being the same between Darkroot and Oolacile is surprising to you, check out my video that compares the landmarks of Darkroot and Oolacile. It was titled "Oolacile is Darkroot in the past", which I think a lot of people skipped thinking "wasn't that obvious??". But trust me, while a lot of people have an understanding of that in the lore, the precise ways in which the maps align (or don't) is something the community has a fuzzier understanding of. The video might provide more detail on a few specific things you haven't seen or considered before. It also shows why the Wolf Ring corpse is Chester (kind of).

Extra bonus detail: You'll find a lot of guides saying that you need to get and place the lordvessel as one of the requirements for accessing the DLC. This is a de-facto requirement, because of course you need to clear the yellow fog gates in order to enter The Duke's Archives. However, in the actual game code it is not technically a requirement. If you can find a way to sequence break and get in and out of the Duke's Archives without the Lordvessel, you can still get the broken pendant and thus the entrance of the DLC to spawn.

[IronPineapple]

Videos like this remind me of the fact that the fanbase of these games has grown so much since the Dark Souls 1 days, and the vast, vast majority of current fans weren’t there at the time. Like it’s obvious that’s the case, but I still forget sometimes, and something about this video made me realize how old all this history really is now.

[jeromearanas]

I remember my best friend lending me his PS3 and DS1 CD with the DLC a decade ago. I "finished" the game and was about to hand him back the PS3 and CD. He asked me if I enjoyed the fight with Artorias because it was his favorite. I told him who the f is that and our meetup concluded with me going home still with his console and the CD to play it. Man those days were awesome, glad to have a great friend to lend me his console back when I could not afford one.

[Scowleasy]

Chester losing the wolf ring is the reason there’s no poise in Bloodborne lol

[BahamutZEROOO]

As someone who went into the DLC almost completely blind when it was new, it did indeed go pretty much like:
-Already have rescued and moved Dusk because doing that to buy her spells was a routine thing to do
-Stumble on the pendant crystal golem while progressing into the archives and kill it because it's very hard to miss
-See Oolacile mentioned in the item description, think of Dusk, go to try to show it to her, and then notice the new spooky orb in the back

[MeatThrasher]

Imagine buying DLC and not finding the entrance

[chrismsutcliffe]

It's so fascinating that the cove entrance and Artorias' grave are so closely aligned vertically. I would never have made that connection without videos like this one

[Fidsco]

I played the Prepare To Die edition on PC blind. Then when I finished the game I looked up stuff and realised I had missed the DLC entirely.

[PsychoticSausage]

3:45 How did I not know that you can see dusk inside the crystal golem, that's so cool. Can't believe I've never noticed that before!

[blargghkip]

Ok, now do a 15-minute deep dive on how players were expected to find the Pickaxe in DS2

[Malysitos]

I still love the idea that Chester stole the ring from Artorias’s body after we defeated him. Even though it’s cut dialogue, Ciaran witnessing Chester’s pillaging is great.

My personal head-canon about the exact nature of his death is that a Stone Guardian caught him by surprise and it, for some reason, guarded his corpse, which is why a Great Stone Knight guards the body that has the Wolf Ring in the Darkroot Garden.

[andreworders]

The idea that you could pay money for DLC and not be able to play it until the community discovers the obscure way to access later that day is kind of funny, but it’s a good thing they published instructions though, because people’s patience goes way down when money is involved.

[Future_Doggo]

I can't wait for Shadow of The Erdtree, where you have to find a specific Catacombs that nobody has found yet, and then solve the Collatz Conjecture just to get the DLC key.

[egoborder]

what's funny to me is when the Ringed City released for DS3 and everyone was claiming they "accidentally" found the solution to the "show your humanity" puzzle

[dragons_advocate]

For Elden Ring, I'd like for the DLC entrance to require the player to kneel before Godrick, as he commands in the cutscene.

[MertcanAkardere]

During his Dark Souls 3 playthrough ENB(EpicNameBro) mentioned he was chosen by Bandai Namco to write the official guides. He wrote guides for DS1, DS2, and maybe others, until he turned it down to play DS3 blind.

[maxdishaw]

I always thought the blue crystal golems were so out of place in the hydra basin. But the fact that a blue crystal golem drops the pendant in the dukes archives validates them being there and is a huge clue for the player to explore that area further.

[lt_johnmcclane]

My first Fromsoft game was Bloodborne so I love to see these sort of first hand accounts from players that were playing the older games when they were still new

[generalgrievous]

Funny story I have about this, is I actually managed to almost find it myself by complete accident because my motherboard was dying.

It was my first time playing DS1 and i was experiencing frequent PC shutdowns (I didn't know it was the MB at the time) and one of them just so happened to be in Darkroot Basin. When I reloaded, the Golden Golem was there and I killed it to free Dusk. Later on, I got the pendant and I was pretty much set for the DLC without even knowing it. My old motherboard gave me one final parting gift. RIP old MB 2016-2021

[GamerGeek]

5:18 Dusk in Kronk Voice: "The Sorceries of Oolacile. Oolacile's Sorceries? Right here."