The dungeon-crawling Dark Souls series is known for one thing: its insane difficulty. So I expected Dark Souls 3’s first DLC, Ashes of Ariandel, to be hard. However, after a few hours with it, I can confirm no amount of past experience can prepare you for the glorious brutality in store.
If Dark Souls 3 was hell, then its first DLC is a special kind of hell – the one normally reserved for noisy eaters and people who play music aloud on public transport. If you dare to play Ashes of Ariandel you will die. You will die a lot and you will likely lose your sanity, and collected souls, somewhere along the way.
The DLC doesn’t alter the game’s core mechanics. Instead the DLC unlocks new areas to explore.
The preview dropped me in the first bonfire of the new area as a tank level-100 Knight, fully armoured and loaded with all the perishables and estus flasks I could wish for. Full of misguided faith in my skills, I marched out into a snowy mountain forest confident that I had the resources to survive. I didn’t.
Within a few paces I was confronted by the first of the Ashes of Ariandel’s multitude of new enemy types. At first glance my foe looked like a slightly big Hollow – a zombie-type thing that’s usually a pushover by Dark Souls standards. Closing in I found this wasn’t the case. Rushing forward to quickly dispatch it with a longsword, the giant frost-Hollow unexpectedly breathed fire at me, zapping a quarter of my health bar in one go.
In flames and aware I was doomed, I referred to the cheese-eating surrender monkey’s strategy book, tucked my tail between my legs and ran back towards the bonfire. En route, one of the trees came to life and swatted me like an ant – I just discovered another new enemy.
Unperturbed, I pulled up my greeves, muttered, “see you, big man, yeah?” and tried again. Having learned about the danger the foliage poses and the new enemy’s fire breath and managed to defeat the first Hollow. Mid-way through my victory dance, frozen ground gave way, plonking me into a lower level of the forest, full of wolves and yet more evil trees – that’s when I experienced death number two.
Now on guard, I adopted the standard Dark Souls strategy – assume you’re in a Lovecraftian nightmare where everything is out to get you. The tactic didn’t work. Fighting my way back to the lower level, I erred on the side of caution, pulled up my shield up and attempted to get a read on my wolfen foe’s attack pattern before launching my assault. As payment, the wolf let out a howl and, before I knew it, I was being mobbed by an entire pack.
After more attempts and swears than I’m willing to admit, I finally forced my way through the mountain forest into the next area – the ruins of an ancient mountain keep. Walking up to a broken tower, I was confronted by a Nordic-looking Frost Giant wearing viking armour and a super-sized axe. After dodging past his oddly sprightly charges and attacks, a battle ensued that would make Dragon Ball Z’s Goku vs Freezer fight look like a minor scuffle. I emerged victorious and smugly strode forward, only to turn a corner and find four of the bloody things waiting. So there I was, back at the first bonfire. Weeping.
Things only got more difficult from there. Throughout the entire demo Dark Souls refused to relent. In just 20 minutes I was confronted by more new enemies and challenges than I can easily count. These ranged from weird distorted ghouls to what I can only describe as the mongrel child of Marvel’s Wolverine and a vulture.
Each creature brought its own set of challenges and I can’t even begin to describe the hell you’ll experience when taking on the first boss, which – no spoilers – makes Dark Souls 3’s final fight look like a cake walk.
DARK SOULS 3 DLC ASHES OF ARIANDEL – FIRST IMPRESSIONS
If you like Dark Souls’ brutal difficulty you’ll most likely love Ashes of Ariandel. The DLC takes the strategic, hardcore combat that Dark Souls is famous for and ramps it up to 11, creating one of the most challenging gaming experiences I’ve encountered for quite some time.
However, if you’re a casual gamer prone to fits of rage, it may prove a bridge too far, even for Dark Souls. Sure, £11.99 (on Steam) may sound cheap, but when you add the £100+ you’ll likely spend replacing broken controllers, Ashes of Ariandel could become a costly purchase.
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