King91OM

This 2 stars is for this DLC alone. Elden Ring base game is 4 stars for me because it is an awesome game. This DLC however, failed in many, many aspects as compared to the base game which I will explain. Story: What story? There is practically no story here. There are additional lore for sure, but there is absolutely no story aside from exploration, which comes with it's own set of problems. The base game had simple story but at least you have an objective. Gather 2 great runes, become the Elden Lord. Simple but still something. Take Messmer for example, the promotional figure. He's barely in the game. Only mentioned by a few NPCs and found in some random room of the castle. I didn't even know I was heading into a boss room yet Messmer was in it. After defeating him, I was left in wonder. Was that it? What else then? What was his role? Exploration: The base game had awesome set of wonders, exploring the world is rewarding, finding hidden caves is exciting. For this DLC, everywhere you go, there are things that kill you in two hits. What's the counter argument people give? Look for scadutree fragments and nothing else. So basically exploration becomes nothing but a chore to look for these blessings when it's suppose to be "Oh, what's that, what's this?" but it became, "Nah, can't go there, too hard. Have to look for nothing but scadutree fragments". Combat: As I said before, even common foot soldiers can kill you in two hits. So the argument is getting blessings. So I've gathered to about +7 and did the test whether it actually helped. Turns out, it doesn't. Why? Because when you were +0 blessing, each attack deals 3/4 of your health bar even at 60 vigors. So by getting blessings, it reduced to 2/4 of your health bar instead. But doesn't stop you from still getting 2-hit killed by common foot soldiers. Bosses: If these bosses were in Sekiro, it would had been amazing. But it is an Elden Ring game. The Tarnished is slow as a snail. Even drinking flasks takes up to 2 seconds. The bosses here hits worst than a truck. It melts your health to 0 with their unlimited combos and they barely give you any breathing room at all. You have a choice, get a hit in or drink. Then repeat again avoiding or blocking non-stop combos to deal 1 hit to the boss again. Don't get me started on that Commander Gaius, that boss can instantly charge at you the moment his combo ends. Literally a split of a second he can initiate his charge at you. Take Malenia for a second, sure she's hard, but there is still breathing room for you to do something. It's hard, but still fair. I spent an hour and a half trying to beat her but I was willing to do it. Because it still felt doable. These bosses, every single one of them is the same. Non-stop combos and AOE, rinse and repeat. Overall: I have no desire to replay this DLC. The base game, yes. Give me anytime of the day and I'll play Elden Ring base game. But this DLC is just not good. Sorry but "The Old Hunters" are much much superior to this DLC. It's like they cranked up the difficulty for this DLC just for the sake of it with nothing to show for it.