Dravsky

I don't often review, but this needs one. I decided to scroll through the existing reviews, and was kind of shocked at the volume of 1 stars. All of them said basically the same two things, so I want to address these: - It's too hard! - They're STILL reusing content! For the first point, I partly agree, in that yeah it's super hard! If you want an easy time, DON'T play the DLC. You won't be steamrolling through bosses like in the base game, and THAT'S OKAY. Elden Ring is arguably the easiest Souslike game FromSoft made, since you can overlevel, overgear, and especially with all the (previously) broken builds blow through everything like it's paper. If you want an easy or relaxing game, why are you even playing a Soulslike? The core audience who enjoys Soulslike games will love this DLC, as it's hard, but FAIR. Don't give up so easy! "Too hard" is a critique that people have given FromSoft's games for so, so long. It's old. For the second point, on the contrary, I think the DLC does a fantastic job NOT reusing things over and over again. Some bosses from the base game are in the DLC, but focus isn't given to them. They're not the main content, and barely classifiable as side content. The influx of new enemies, new ideas, new areas, new bosses, makes this feel like a new game. It certainly has enough content to be a standalone title. It has given me the feeling of playing Elden Ring for the first time, but as a more refined experience since the repetition of the base game isn't prevalent there. It's amusing to me that some of the 1 star reviews just assume "FromSoftware has bots swarming Google Reviews giving the DLC 5 star reviews!" As if they'd ever even need to do that. FromSoft does things their own away unapologetically, for better and for worse. For those saying something like "The DLC makes Elden Ring so much worse! Elden Ring isn't a 9/10 anymore, it's a 6/10!" The DLC is isolated and its own thing. It doesn't impact the base game much at all since the new power scaling in the DLC doesn't impact the base game. The rebalance that released alongside the DLC has nerfed certain broken builds, but that's not the DLC's fault. Don't drag down the base game with your opinion of the OPTIONAL DLC. As for my personal thoughts on the DLC (outside of what I already said) I believe it's fantastic! Not flawless, nothing is, but it's a step up from the base game in my opinion. It feels like they didn't stretch themselves as thin working on it. TL;DR - Don't buy if you want an easy or quick experience. Otherwise, it's deeply enjoyable and feels quite fresh.