Every DLC for a FromSoft game encapsulates the best qualities and are almost always the best content. I could not imagine the base games without their respective DLCS. You could remove this DLC and nothing would change for me lol.

I think the level design with how you explore the world is phenomenal here, an amazing evolution of their design style. It reminds me of DS1's design but expanded on a bigger scale. Also, there is more trimmed fat here. The mini dungeons are less copy&paste and have more variety. A lot less reused content in here compared to some areas of the base game.

However the design of some of the bosses and the difficulty/scaling in some aspects is really bad. Lot of boring loot here too, makes exploration less rewarding when I stumble upon my 30th cookbook. I found the lore and main story to not be good, which is a shock to me because this is usually the best aspect of their games, their DLC's showcases this quality the best. There were some cool and interesting tidbits here and there, but the main story was not particulary good. I think it was made worse by that final boss reveal and the implications there. When it all ended with that weak cutscene I felt nothing ngl lol.

Overall, this DLC represents FromSoft's best and worst qualities in recent years. They have an amazing track record, so I hope they don't take the wrong lessons from Elden Ring and its DLC as they continue to make more games in the future. It would suck if the formula for their action fantasy games just becomes stagnant and a former shell of itself.