Dark Souls III – The Ringed City (Video Game DLC)
Ted Hentschke
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Developed by FromSoftware, Inc.
Published by Bandai Namco Entertainment
Available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One
Rated M for Mature
We did it guys! We finally got the Dark Soul! Time to pack up your things and go home. Series is over. Good job.
No, really. You actually get the titular Dark Soul this time. Don’t ask me what it does though. This is a Dark Souls game. We’re not going to figure out all the secrets and shit for at least weeks. If you want to know exactly how to find all the hidden paths and unlockable stuff, go watch the thousand or so YouTube videos that are sure to be uploaded in the coming days. I know I will be. I’m not here to read all the item descriptions and make lore speculations. I’m here to kill crush bosses and slay noobs.
I always have to temper myself when writing a Souls review. My relationship with the series is longer lasting and more solid than any I’ve had with a person, and only about a third as abusive. So when I say that it only took me an afternoon to beat The Ringed City, don’t take that as they skimped on the content. I’m at the point where my runs are sub 12 hours. Not speedrun material by a long shot, but a hell of a lot faster than most casual players. I know there’s at least some kind of covenant I missed and some pathways I saw from the distance but couldn’t find, so I could probably spend another hour or so just searching for that shit. If you played Ashes of Ariandel, The Ringed City is about the same lengthwise.
This is Stephanie, my new great hammer. Stephanie and I have a special bond.
You access The Ringed City either at the end of the Ashes of Ariandel DLC if you’re normal, or before the final bossfight in the main game if you’re wierd and buy your DLC out of order. I guess you don’t HAVE to beat the Ashes of Ariandel to play it, but why? The Ringed City is a direct continuation of that story. So if you haven’t played it yet, now is a good time.
I’m always amazed with what FromSoftware brings to the table with each new piece of content, and The Ringed City is no different. Starting on the high peak known as The Dreg Heap, you begin a downward descent that rivals the verticality of even Dark Souls II – Crown of the Old Iron King. Death defying drops generally spell a quick YOU DIED in Dark Souls, but piles of ashe cushion your descent. Each leap down is a plunge into new peril, as a collage of mixed worlds provide constantly fresh arenas for you to overcome new foes. The urban decay and shrieking monsters paint an even bleaker picture than Ashes of Ariandel, which previously set the bar for the darkest content in a Souls game (aside from Bloodborne, of course).
Traditionally a spectral message telling you it’s totally fine to jump off of a cliff is the quickest way to get yourself killed in Dark Souls.
The winding paths, multiple jumping points, and staple Dark Souls secrets mean that this is a descent you’ll want to make a few times to find all of the hidden goodies. As a series veteran, I was pleased to be constantly rewarded for my overzealous curiosity. There were a few moments where I felt a bit silly after a I jumped off of a vine I was sure would lead to some secret only to plummet into oblivion, but most of the time I was able to intuit the hidden paths. This kind of risk/reward is the best way to describe this first half of the The Ringed City. They recommend a Soul Level of 125 to start, but at 103 on NG+ I didn’t find any of these early enemies to be traditionally challenging. Easily the toughest enemy is the new floating lazer angel, but even these aren’t “hard” in the way you expect a Souls enemy to be. Floating in the air and delivering a volley of energy that would make a whole flock of Moonlight Butterflies jealous, you actually can’t kill them by the traditional method of popping out with a bow until they stop existing. You have to search around and find their terrestrial bodies, which are almost defenseless. This is the only way to kill them. It’s more of a puzzle than a fight.
Sure, they may look all angelic and bathed in a glow of light, but they will straight up laser you the moment you pop your head out.
Don’t worry though, once you get to the first boss, you’ll realize this is still Dark Souls. I won’t spoil it, but this takes the three stage boss fight formula to the next level. It’s actually not super hard, but can easily take you down if you don’t take it seriously. After the fight, The Ringed City becomes much more of the classic Souls experience you know and love.
The sprawling corridors and looping pathways of the titular Ringed City make up the second half of the DLC, and are exactly what you want from the last bit of Dark Souls 3 content. Almost every enemy here is new, with the only recycle being some skeletons and that asshole that tries to jump on your head and push you. There are deadly new casters that can quickly nuke you down, magical bug monsters, headless knights with massive health pools, and giant lumbering horrors that summon a legion of specters to murder you. Even after learning all the patterns, it’s tough. Secret hunting in this section was a bitch.
Aside from the seven thousand health, these guys weren’t too bad.
And oh how there are secrets to hunt for. There’s a hidden covenant, boss, quest line, all in addition to the standard slew of secret areas and hidden items. One of my favorite new zones was a looping mausoleum, that required some vertical thinking to find the path to the end. It wasn’t super hard, but made me aware of my environment in a way only Dark Souls can.
So interesting new enemies, some new zones, new items, all cool. But how is this just not more of the same? This is the question I’ve been struggling with since I beat the final boss of The Ringed City. Even with some of the newer harder enemies, there’s nothing that really makes you think about or play the game differently. Most of the zones are just recycled ideas from previous games. Poison swamps, labyrinthine catacombs, dragons spitting fire across a bridge… seen this all before.
At this point I could probably teach a master’s class on how to stand behind rocks to avoid dragon fire.
There is something special about The Ringed City, and for the first time in a Souls game it’s because of the storytelling. If you weren’t aware, this is the final piece of Dark Souls content. Period. This is it. While keeping the eternally cryptic tone, it’s obvious that The Ringed City is trying to give some kind of explanation to this all before they move on to the next series. What you get might not fill in the details, but it’s touching and sad in way the series hasn’t been before.
Tell me a tale, creepy bug man.
That all said, it’s pretty pointless for me to actually rate this review. If you’re a Dark Souls fan, there is absolutely no way you should miss this final fond farewell. I can talk about how the new weapons are cool and the magics are useful, but do you really give a shit? This is the swan song. You’ve stuck through this series for three games (five if you count the other ones), you’re going to be here for this last little bit. Sun bros, join me one last time to praise it.
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DLC
Categorized:Horror Gaming Reviews
