Game review: Dark Souls 3: Ashes of Ariandel – a whole new (painted) world
No self-respecting Dark Souls fan will skip this bittersweet expansion, which offers an enjoyable mix of lore, boss fights, and exploration
FromSoftware
3 stars
Expansions for FromSoftware’s Dark Souls trilogy are regarded as some of the best content in the series. Dark Souls’ Artorias of the Abyss revealed an ancient city polluted with corrosive darkness and introduced players to one of the franchise’s most tragic characters. Dark Souls 2’s Lost Crowns add-ons presented sprawling, interconnected worlds sorely lacking from its base game.
Ashes of Ariandel is the first of two planned DLC packages for Dark Souls 3. Although it’s the shortest of any expansion in the series thus far, it offers a satisfying blend of lore, boss fights, and exploration that fans love, but fails to shake some of Dark Souls 3’s problems.
Riffing on previous settings such as Dark Souls’ Painted World of Ariamis and Dark Souls 2’s Eleum Loyce, Ashes of Ariandel takes you through stinging snow and crumbling fortresses. Frozen fields do a nice job breaking up the game’s abundance of murky caves and dungeons, and are broken up by familiar touchstones like dilapidated towns that do not overstay their welcome.