Dark Souls II: Crown of the Old Iron King

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 123 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 84 out of 123
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 123
  3. Negative: 22 out of 123

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  1. Type4101
    Sep 18, 2014
    0
    This DLC reminds the player how small-minded DLC is. Everything is small--the content, storyline, gameplay-time....all small and not at all epic like the real game. Stop making endless DLC and male a true expansion or sequel. DLC is a rip-off, and is not fun at all.
  2. superexplosive
    Aug 28, 2014
    9
    The Crown of the Old Iron King fits nicely into the world of Dark Souls II.

    For the second of a three part expansion, the player gains access to the Brume Tower. This tower is an abandoned iron foundry surrounded by an ashen exterior and containing intricate passages within it. These halls are not empty, however, as they are home to the long-forgotten iron soldiers of the King's past.    The Crown of the Old Iron King fits nicely into the world of Dark Souls II.

    For the second of a three part expansion, the player gains access to the Brume Tower. This tower is an abandoned iron foundry surrounded by an ashen exterior and containing intricate passages within it. These halls are not empty, however, as they are home to the long-forgotten iron soldiers of the King's past. Alongside them are twisted, flaming effigies which hold soul fragments of Nadalia, Bride of Ash. Destroying these angry statues will cease their attack and give the player a piece of Her soul. The many dim corridors that stretch throughout the iron towers allow for freedom of exploration. From the start there are several possible routes for the player to venture towards, packed with enemies and loot along the way.

    At the end of each route there is a real fight to be had. Both of the main bosses in this DLC are noticeably challenging. They will test your skill and maybe even have you rearranging your specs just to stand a chance. And as it goes with Souls games, the feeling of gratification will come after a hard-earned success. The bosses also connect into the lore of the Iron King and his rule, for those interested. The third (optional) boss fight is at the end of a co-op dungeon area as seen in the previous expansion. Disappointingly, the boss here is a re-skin of a boss already in the game but, because this is analogous to the 'gank squad' from the Sunken King DLC, it is forgivable. This is also not the say that the player won't be challenged by this bonus area.

    Overall, the Crown of the Old Iron King challenged me with its labyrinthian level design and brutal enemies. On NG++, one boss fight took me several hours to complete. Factoring in the time for exploration, this DLC seemed longer than the previous expansion- and certainly harder. FromSoftware yet again adds an exciting realm to explore and difficult obstacles to overcome. I can hardly wait for the final part next month.    … Expand
  3. derpyyy
    Aug 27, 2014
    8
    I would have rated this 9/10 BUT.. (CON first - then PRO)

    CON: The one huge issue i have with this one is they just straight up reused the smelter demon boss fight! Out of the 3 Bosses that came with this DLC they just copy pasted the Smelter Demon and recoloured him in blue other than that it's the EXACT same thing.. WUT??? It's literally the exact same fight and reusing assets is    I would have rated this 9/10 BUT.. (CON first - then PRO)

    CON:
    The one huge issue i have with this one is they just straight up reused the smelter demon boss fight!

    Out of the 3 Bosses that came with this DLC they just copy pasted the Smelter Demon and recoloured him in blue other than that it's the EXACT same thing.. WUT??? It's literally the exact same fight and reusing assets is just lazy as hell! Did they run out of time? Seriously wtf is he doing there again?? I have played the main game so often i just dont want to see the exact same thing in PAID DLC!!!!! Honestly i would have rated the whole thing higher if they had just left it at 2 Bosses!

    PRO:
    The new bosses are fun and come with a nasty variety of attack patterns and in 1 case even 2 phases! Doing what Dark Souls 2 Bosses do best. If you enjoyed the Pursuer fight you will most likely enjoy these bad boys as well.

    The level design in this DLC is OUTSTANDING! and by that i mean everything about it. Starting with the many traps, the enemy placement (brilliant!) and the ways the player can interact with the environment. You won't see any of the lame shoot-the-switch "puzzles" from the first DLC here! Extremely well done! Probably even better than vanilla Dark souls 2.

    At least 70% of the non-boss enemy types are completely new designs and extremely cool bastards at that. The ones that arent entirely new are wielding different weapons that you arent used to seeing and only the Alonne Knights (and 1 other type that is kind of not encountered in vanilla even though it's in there) make a real reappearance (which makes a lot of sense given the context).

    Quite a few of the new weapons seem to have some interesting twists and at least one or two are just straight out beasts but again without being imbalanced which is very good imo! Some other interesting items and spells complete the picture of new stuff.

    The atmosphere is dense with graphics and audio. Although you shouldnt expect the game to look as perfect as some high end games out right now, leaving your footsteps in the ash next to burnt corpses just has it's own flair. I did encounter a framerate drop in 1 Area transition (i.e. door...) in particular but it seems to be related to loading in the objects in a big open and "moving" area for the first time and the draw distance of that particular area definitely makes it worthwhile.

    Last but not least the difficulty is somewhere between cruel and brutal. Finishing this DLC solo on NG4+ took me a lot longer than i am willing to admit (compared to the about 4 hours it took me to get through sunken king on the same difficulty) and i dare anyone who thinks the game is too easy to try this DLC melee only without running through once you know where everything is. (and even when running to boss areas after knowing the way i got a good pwnch in the face more often than i wanted to)

    This beast is well worth the money (albeit the terrible idea of copy-pasteing the smelter demon .. why? i dont even -.- the bloody thing can even be skipped! No real reason to kill him in the first place) Not much other places i can think of where i can spend 10 bucks and have that much fun for it in return.

    If you have to decide between the Sunken King DLC and this one i recommend the latter.    … Expand
  4. DeusXCom
    Aug 29, 2014
    5
    Disappointment. Definitely worse than The Sunken King. Theoretically about the same value, so 10 bucks for 5 hours of gameplay including some co-op and pvp, so still questionable, but compared to the previous DLC, the quality is even weaker here. It's still hard, especially if you're playing on NG+ and more, so at least you'll get a good amount of combat challenge, but Souls series is notDisappointment. Definitely worse than The Sunken King. Theoretically about the same value, so 10 bucks for 5 hours of gameplay including some co-op and pvp, so still questionable, but compared to the previous DLC, the quality is even weaker here. It's still hard, especially if you're playing on NG+ and more, so at least you'll get a good amount of combat challenge, but Souls series is not just about the difficulty, the main reason why I love original Dark/Demon Souls is the atmosphere, story and the level design, and all of that is lacking here. Level design looked promising at first, but in the end it's mostly a vertical mess filled with elevators, atmosphere is ruined by constant annoying sounds of those elevators or lava flow and the lore behind all that is quite minimal. (No new NPC's whatsoever again). Another big let-down were the bosses, even less inspired than the ones in the main game and even though this was my criticism with previous DLC, here it's even worse - a big knight with a big sword, an overgrown Shiva and the blue Smelter Demon? Is this really the best you can do? I still liked some parts, the whole ash theme and the ashen idol mechanic for example, but for the first time in the Souls series I found that I wasn't really enjoying myself, I was just plaything through. It's a pity, because The Sunken King was pretty decent DLC with many interesting ideas and I was hoping for an increasing quality level and eventually an impressive trilogy, but the Crown of the Old Iron King feels more like a Dark Souls 2 outtake/b-side/leftover. 5/10… Expand
  5. Garfoodle
    Sep 2, 2014
    8
    Its just as good as the first DLC, but its still pretty good. The bosses are not too good, as all 3 are reused from the base game
    (Alonne=Pursuer, Fume Knight=Lost Sinner, and smelter demon=smelter demon)
    The level design isn't as good as the first one, either. But that being said, all the base enemies are a lot better overall, and so are the new weapons and armor, which all look    Its just as good as the first DLC, but its still pretty good. The bosses are not too good, as all 3 are reused from the base game
    (Alonne=Pursuer, Fume Knight=Lost Sinner, and smelter demon=smelter demon)
    The level design isn't as good as the first one, either. But that being said, all the base enemies are a lot better overall, and so are the new weapons and armor, which all look amazing. And there are some callbacks to DkS1/Demons Souls.
    Anyway, its still a good, solid DLC, worthy of a buy.    … Expand
  6. Tommapar
    Aug 27, 2014
    9
    Crown of the Old Iron King manages to achieve original combat scenarios, all new to the series, while refraining from the muddy atmosphere of previous settings (like Crown of the Sunken King) and bringing a welcome high fantasy atmosphere to the setting.
    If you liked the previous DLC, this is going to be even better for you, since it improves upon the bar set by the Crown of the Sunken    Crown of the Old Iron King manages to achieve original combat scenarios, all new to the series, while refraining from the muddy atmosphere of previous settings (like Crown of the Sunken King) and bringing a welcome high fantasy atmosphere to the setting.
    If you liked the previous DLC, this is going to be even better for you, since it improves upon the bar set by the Crown of the Sunken King in classic Dark Souls fashion. These improvements come in the form of powerful and more varied enemies; the inclusion of "effigies" that you can destroy that produce certain buffs on enemies, or summon firestorms that hurt you if you get to close; and the intricate and complex level design we saw (and personally loved) from the last DLC gets to be the center of attention this time around, with the central area being a huge hollow tower, with an almost labyrinthical structure, full of shortcuts, enemies and gorgeous views.
    As the previous DLC, this one comes packed with 3 bosses, with a clear emphasis in 1v1 encounters like we saw in the Artorias of the Abyss DLC for Dark Souls 1 (Artorias like boss fights) instead of the barrage of enemies thrown at you in previous bosses that made deaths feel cheap or unfair.
    These type of fights offer a much less frustrating game experience, while retaining the challenge we love from the series.    … Expand
  7. Squerol
    Sep 4, 2014
    0
    As like in first Sunken bla bla bla DLC, no DLC will change godly-bad core of the game, especially that announced 3 DLCs in a row, some days after game release, is just jump on cash... Commercial, commercial, commercial.... 0/10
  8. javaleno
    Oct 29, 2014
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This DLC is freaking amazing. The reason why I think it is amazing is because of 2/3 bosses. One boss is a magic based smelter demon, instead of the regular fire smelter demon. I am spoiling this boss because I don't want you to be pissed off when you go through this insanely difficult area just to reach a boss you fought already. ANYWAY, the second boss is freaking amazing!! He is part of the main lore and is related to one of the other bosses in the main story, which I thought was badass. And the final boss is my favorite boss of all time. Reason being, the setting, music, and boss design is just so beautiful. It isn't the best boss fight in terms of like, the actual fight, but I love the lore and setting the most. Ornstein and Smough is still my fav boss fight ever. I definitely recommend this DLC. Oh yeah, the areas are pretty cool as well, I did it on NG7, and it was pretty hard, but fun of course. Iron king>Ivory king>sunken king.… Expand
  9. StaticSpine
    Sep 5, 2014
    7
    Good DLC, bun not as good as the first one locations design-wise and atmosphere-wise. There are some cool shortcuts though. New enemy types are nice and the new bosses are good too (except Blue Smelter Demon... he's just a re-used boss from the original). Overall, the DLC is worth money/time.
  10. nurfedx
    Oct 30, 2021
    10
    One of the best Games known to mankind.
    From Software is a safe heaven for the Gaming community.
    Especially in times where big Developers dissapiont us with theyr fraudulent intent.
    Praise the sun!
  11. ManHoof
    Jul 29, 2023
    4
    The DLC is not bad, it has interesting game mechanics and a lore part. But the locations are monotonous. There is also a very large number of mobs. There are just a lot of them, why? And the boss color change is annoying.

Awards & Rankings

82
#82 Best PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Oct 25, 2014
    84
    Landscapes inside a tower look the same, and so do the bosses, all armored humanoids with big sword. [Oct 2014]
  2. Polygon
    Sep 26, 2014
    80
    Dark Souls 2: Crown of the Old Iron King gets the formula right, but only if you’ve invested the time required to match its level of difficulty with your own and you’re willing to listen to what it’s trying to tell you.
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  3. SpazioGames
    Sep 16, 2014
    80
    This DLC for Dark Souls 2 confirms the genius of From Software in the structuring of the maps, and once again offers a new setting full of charm, brutal enemies and many things to discover.
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