Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel

Eurogamer

Jeffrey Matulef·Oct 28, 2016

Critic100/100

Agreement—

Evocative and visually inspired, Ashes of Ariandel is a brief but masterful amalgamation of the Dark Souls series' greatest strengths.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Robert Zak·Oct 28, 2016

Critic—

Agreement—

To me, Dark Souls 3 was a good curtain call. Ariandel, however, feels like perhaps the series has come out for one round of applause too many, and my hands are starting to hurt now from the perpetual clapping. The combat and visual design are fantastic – that was never in question – and I enjoyed Ariandel for its short runtime of four hours, but it’s engulfed in the shadow of its predecessors’ far meatier expansions.

Push Square

Ben Tarrant·Oct 27, 2016

Critic50/100

Agreement—

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel misses the mark. It fails to fill a large, fresh environment with tangible reasons to stay there any longer than a few hours, and although the new weapons and gear are some of the best in the game, you'll want to play about with them somewhere other than The Painted World. Each boss battle feels generic and produces a dead end, feeling unrelated as a result. The experience constantly builds itself up but never climaxes, falling flat without spectacle leaving you to lug your new arsenal of weapons and gear back to the Firelink Shrine, your work in The Painted World apparently complete. The Arena finally constructs a functional environment for something long curated by the community, but removes something in the process thanks to reward-less matches that fail to emulate the underground fight club feeling found in the main game.

GameSpot

Miguel Concepcion·Oct 27, 2016

Critic70/100

Agreement—

A new painted world serves as the setting for the first Dark Souls III DLC--with a new host of goals, enemies, and loot, but not much else.

PC Gamer

Shaun Prescott·Oct 26, 2016

Critic70/100

Agreement—

A decent enough expansion, but it doesn't reach the great heights of previous post-launch outings.

Polygon

Philip Kollar·Oct 25, 2016

Critic—

Agreement—

Ashes of Ariandel is the best Dark Souls 3 has ever been

IGN

Brendan Graeber·Oct 20, 2016

Critic78/100

Agreement—

The Painted World of Ariandel presents a land that’s both enticing and dangerous, and there’s plenty of challenges to face even if you won’t have to face them too many times. However, unless you really love dueling in PvP arenas and can find sustained interest there, this adventure may serve as more of an appetizer than a full course meal.