Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel

 PC
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Everyeye.it
    Oct 25, 2016
    72
    Short but intense, the journey through Ariandel lands will entice longtime fans. Too bad for the very short duration of this (mis)adventure, that goes off in a few hours, voraciously consumed by those who have reached the endgame.
  2. Gamer.no
    Nov 9, 2016
    70
    Ashes of Ariandel attempts to tackle too many things at once, and loses focus. There are few negatives about the expansion in itself, it just doesn't have enough content. FROM had the potential to make a great expansion to the series, but put its efforts into developing the wrong aspect of the game.
  3. DarkStation
    Nov 7, 2016
    70
    Ashes of Ariandel offers a whole new bestiary of challenging creatures to murder, a beautiful, if haunting, world to explore, and a new story to figure out. Although the zone is built using a lot of familiar pieces, it evokes a rich sense of place. That’s the benefit of being separated from the rest of the game’s playable zones.
  5. IBTimes UK
    Nov 3, 2016
    70
    The bare-bones PvP arena offers a fleeting blast of adrenaline and the painted world's gorgeous wintry landscapes are enchantingly brutal, yet as a whole, Dark Souls 3's first expansion colours within deeply worn lines and falls short of FromSoftware's illustrious history of unforgettable, industry-leading DLC.
  6. COGconnected
    Oct 28, 2016
    70
    Dark Souls 3: Ashes Of Ariandel is worth a look, but I sorely hope that From brings their A Game with the last piece of DLC for this incredibly popular series.
  7. GameSpot
    Oct 27, 2016
    70
    While Ashes of Ariandel is ultimately a safe addition to Dark Souls III, it's convincingly satisfying; the risk of death at any moment is as likely as finding a new piece of practical gear or the discovery of an unexplored path. Just don't expect any areas as memorable as those in the main game or revelatory moments that substantially expands the lore.
  8. PC Gamer
    Oct 26, 2016
    70
    A decent enough expansion, but it doesn't reach the great heights of previous post-launch outings.
  9. ZTGD
    Oct 25, 2016
    70
    Ashes of Ariandel is a good time for those looking to give themselves an excuse to boot up Dark Souls 3 again, as if that is even necessary. It has some great new enemies and a cool location to explore. Those looking for new PVP gameplay will find it here, but overall the package is solid and not extraordinary.
  10. PC Invasion
    Oct 22, 2016
    70
    Ashes of Ariandel is a well-designed, 4-5 hour jaunt through another painted realm, with a structured PvP annex that to some may be worth the admission price alone. But it’s missing the superlative spark of previous Souls DLCs.
  11. RPG Site
    Oct 21, 2016
    70
    Ashes of Ariandel is by no means a drop in quality from the base game of Dark Souls 3, just one that lacks defining properties to help it stand on its own.
  12. Destructoid
    Oct 20, 2016
    70
    You don't really need Ashes of Ariandel unless you've squeezed every ounce out of Dark Souls III already or thrive on PVP. I think the concept of splitting up their resources took away from the sum of both parts, but there's still plenty of challenges and surprises to warrant another bloody good time.
  13. Hardcore Gamer
    Oct 20, 2016
    70
    Despite its issues, Ashes of Ariandel is still worthy of any Dark Souls III player as it’s more of what we’ve come to love with a couple of nods for long time fans.
  14. GameCritics
    Nov 22, 2016
    50
    Dark Souls 3 was a wonderful coda for the series, revisiting the best parts of Soulsborne while skillfully buffing over the pieces that didn’t work. Still, the Souls tricks and tropes that have become hallmarks are no longer groundbreaking, and there isn’t much left for Souls proper to achieve. As such, the run-of-the-mill quality of the experience offered here just doesn’t cut it anymore. While I still hold some hope that the second (and final) piece of DLC will be more substantial, Ashes of Ariandel illustrates exactly why Souls needs to end for the foreseeable future.
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  1. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Oct 28, 2016
    Where previous Soulsborne DLCs took dark deep-dives into their worlds, embellishing the lore and offering some of the greatest boss encounters, Ariandel feels a bit tangential and tired by those (extremely high) standards.

Awards & Rankings

82
#82 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 188 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 107 out of 188
  2. Mixed: 55 out of 188
  3. Negative: 26 out of 188
  1. therainbowpigs
    Oct 26, 2016
    5
    Hands down the worst DLC fromsoft has ever made. For 15$ you get a 2-3 hour DLC set on a pretty bland snow area that is only difficult becauseHands down the worst DLC fromsoft has ever made. For 15$ you get a 2-3 hour DLC set on a pretty bland snow area that is only difficult because the level designers just put a huge amount of enemies to gank you and called it a day. You also get a whopping 2 boss fights both of which are just visually boring looking ganks and the non-optional boss in particular is anti-climactic as all hell because i actually had to look it up on the wiki to see if it was the end boss. The only real good thing about this DLC is that it has a PvP arena and a dozen cool new weapons so if you like the PvP (which you most likely don't cause' it's still pretty bad) then this might be worth the price.
    As a whole though, Ashes of Ariandel is pathetic. Never would i have thought that i would say that to a DLC made by Fromsoft.    … Full Review »
  2. Micalica
    Oct 25, 2016
    5
    TL;DR:

    "I wish this DLC was better, longer, harder, or at least $5 cheaper, but none of those are true." Dark Souls III is pretty darn    TL;DR:

    "I wish this DLC was better, longer, harder, or at least $5 cheaper, but none of those are true."

    Dark Souls III is pretty darn fun. At least half the bosses are interesting, a few enemy designs are, the lore is deeper than ever, and the PvP is still pretty garbage. Well, at least it's not Dark Souls II garbage.

    Ashes of Ariandel is plagued by a lack of playability. You go to the place, you do one thing, go across a bridge, talk to an albino chick, break the bridge, drop down, kill a boss, go around, kill a different mini-boss, go further, talk to some weird suicidal bald birds, go further, talk to an albino chick who says some weird stuff, go further, fight big things that have dumb hitboxes, go further, go down, turn a crank, go back to start, final boss with 3 health bars.

    Sure it's cool and all, but that took me around 3 hours to get through. There are about 9 new enemies but they're just kind of rehashes of what you've seen before.

    Speaking of what you've seen before, I've already played through Irithyll, Ariamis in Dark Souls 1, and Eleum Loyce in Dark Souls 2. Hey look, an icy cold place that's full of snow! An occasional bloody pustule doesn't really change the scenery that much. I love the candle-tree enemies, but once you kill two of them, the mystery is over. Nothing's all that new in the DLC after the first few minutes.

    It's still got the awful Dark Souls III level design; they didn't dare try and shake it off. Hey look, item! Ambush. Hey look, an isolated unmoving enemy! Ambush. Hey look, a path that looks like a shortcut, but drops down so you can't run back! Ambush. Whoa, some corpses over there that are definitely not alive! Ambush. It gets SO old, SO friggin fast, just like it did in the main game.

    The peak fun is at the end of the DLC. You fight an actually difficult Fluffy Tail, but without no tail, so that's how you know she means business. She gets stunlocked fairly easily, so with a Black Knight Straight Sword +5 and 40 strength, I could get about 1500 damage in before having to back off, dodge, or heal. In other words, this boss is ♥♥♥♥ easy and you can beat her as long as you don't use your toes to play. Then Scarecrow pulls himself off of his chair-crucifix and revives his daughter by lighting her on fire. What?

    This is where it gets interesting. You now have to micro-manage Fluffy Tail sending constant streams of Frostbite at you, while attacking Scarecrow, while rolling through his attacks, while attempting to avoid the trail of Frostbite he leaves behind himself. This is a poor man's Ornstein and Smough. Cool, but loses its luster after a few failed attempts. Strangely enough the fire in the arena never burns you.

    You slay Scarecrow even if you spend the whole fight wailing on Fluffy Tail. He dies but revives her again by lighting her on fire-- this time with BLACK fire. And as we all know, the Amaterasu is the most powerful Dark Souls pyromancy there is.

    This is probably one of my favorite boss fights in the entire game, probably due to its clear difficulty cap. It's a fight straight out of Bloodborne. You're no longer micro-managing or backing off in order to heal or re-buff. You smash, stab, and slash until you run out of stamina, panic-roll until you have a few inches, roll under an attack, heal, and then resume your flurry of blows until one of you is dead. I found myself legitimately respecting a fictional character for her sheer skill and furiosity displayed in battle.

    Then you see a guy pretending to be asleep inside of an old snake Halloween costume he hastily put on at the last second, and warp back to the Cathedral. Albino's chilling there now, talking about finishing a painting for other weird people. The End.

    To reveiw:
    Pros:
    - final fight is super challenging and great
    - some gear is cool and interesting to find
    - more lore than you can shake your White Birch stick at
    - Waifu Souls

    Cons:
    - same old Dark Souls III level design
    - only a few hours
    - very bland overall, little replayability
    - very forgettable landscape, setting, and enemies
    - out of 3 bosses, only 2 are actual bosses, and only 1 fight is challenging
    - $15, it should cost $10.    … Full Review »
  3. GungorGuzel
    Oct 27, 2016
    6
    Positive;
    - New Mode Arena
    - Final Boss - Some New Weapons and Armor Sets - Three Titanite Slab :) Negative - 2/3 hours gameplay :( -    Positive;
    - New Mode Arena
    - Final Boss
    - Some New Weapons and Armor Sets
    - Three Titanite Slab :)

    Negative
    - 2/3 hours gameplay :(
    - Everywhere has same
    - Unbalanced enemies
    - No new staff

    Wait second DLC :((    … Full Review »
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