This is From's best dlc to date, yes even better than old hunters.
The verticality in this map is unreal, everytime I thought it couldn't go further down it would. Exploration is better too, there is a whole area and remembrance boss which you discover by hopping in a coffin, progressing through 2 areas and then opening a door behind a catacomb boss. I had so much fun adventuring, exploring zones, getting lost and then finding new strikingly different areas feels so natural that the closest comparison I can think of is Hollow Knight.
The most controversial aspect of the dlc is its difficulty. I have mixed thoughts. There are numerous basic enemies that flat out do too much damage. Fodder enemies should not be able to 1 combo you. The bosses however are perfect. I think From solved the age old issue of being too high level and melting bosses with the scadutree fragments, I prefer the bosses to be incredibly challenging rather than a cakewalk. Speaking of which the bosses are phenomenal, not only does it have the best dragon boss in all of souls but potentially the best elden ring boss, of which I could be referring to multiple. The last fight especially is their most challenging encounter to date and by the time I beat him I had an unreal and overwhelmingly satisfying level of mastery.
All in all I adore this dlc and am sad to see Elden Ring conclude, however I am overjoyed that it ended with a bang of this magnitude.
The verticality in this map is unreal, everytime I thought it couldn't go further down it would. Exploration is better too, there is a whole area and remembrance boss which you discover by hopping in a coffin, progressing through 2 areas and then opening a door behind a catacomb boss. I had so much fun adventuring, exploring zones, getting lost and then finding new strikingly different areas feels so natural that the closest comparison I can think of is Hollow Knight.
The most controversial aspect of the dlc is its difficulty. I have mixed thoughts. There are numerous basic enemies that flat out do too much damage. Fodder enemies should not be able to 1 combo you. The bosses however are perfect. I think From solved the age old issue of being too high level and melting bosses with the scadutree fragments, I prefer the bosses to be incredibly challenging rather than a cakewalk. Speaking of which the bosses are phenomenal, not only does it have the best dragon boss in all of souls but potentially the best elden ring boss, of which I could be referring to multiple. The last fight especially is their most challenging encounter to date and by the time I beat him I had an unreal and overwhelmingly satisfying level of mastery.
All in all I adore this dlc and am sad to see Elden Ring conclude, however I am overjoyed that it ended with a bang of this magnitude.