Darksouls fans are extremely loyal, and chances are that if you are one, then you have already purchased the latest Darksouls 2 content, Crown of the Ivory King. If you are still on the fence about it, then hopefully this review can help you make up your mind.

The short and sweet version is that it is definitely worth your time. You will notice I used the term “expansion” in the title instead of DLC. While it is technically, downloadable content, it does not do it justice to group it in the same category as horse armor. Like the other Darksouls 2 expansions, there is simply too much content here to undersell it. Unlike the other expansions however, the setting really stands out. Crown of the Sunken King had some very interesting ideas with movable platforms, and Crown of the Old Iron King had a very unique vertical layout, but a cave zone and a lava zone are definitely nothing original. A snow covered zone is a refreshing change of pace, and is the first time we’ve seen snow since The Painted World of Ariamis in Darksouls 1. Don’t let that fool you though, Eleum Loyce (the new location), is much more beautiful than the dumping ground of the gods from the first game.

When you first enter, you will be amazed at how open the world feels. Something that is very uncommon for Darksouls 2 in most areas. Throughout the base game, I often felt like I was running down a very fancy corridor, however, here, multiple paths branch out in a way very reminiscent of the previous Souls games. In fact the expansion felt a lot like Darksouls 1 overall. Shortcuts lead you back to previous areas and the level design helps you feel like you are actually exploring a place where people lived, instead of a level in a video game. In that regard, it reminded me a lot of a snow covered Undead Burg.

The fighting also reminded me of Darksouls 1 in many ways. I have always felt that Darksouls 1 was a marathon and Darksouls 2 was a sprint. In the first game, it was a test of endurance to see if you could make it to the next bonfire before you ran out of estus. Darksouls 2 gives you enough healing items and abilities that this is usually not a problem, but all the items heal so slowly that you rarely can use them effectively while in the middle of combat. It was more about surviving individual fights than outlasting your enemies. Well, be prepared to face both types of challenges this time. I found myself running low on estus before even making it halfway to the next bonfire. There is so much to explore here, and as you progress in different ways, you will be encouraged to go back and explore areas again. The backtracking won’t feel tedious however, as you will be exploring the areas in an entirely new way.

Like the previous expansions, there are three new bosses to face. One introductory fight, one “final” fight, and one challenge fight. Although I feel that the Fume Knight Raime from Crown of the Old Iron King was a more balanced final fight than this expansion’s, all three are still very challenging and fun battles. You know it’s a good boss fight if you die over and over again, without getting annoyed because you know you learned something new each time. An interesting concept that some of the bosses had here was that they required quite a bit of planning and preparations before you could have a real hope of beating them. In order to avoid spoilers, I won’t be any more specific but I will say that if you are feeling that a specific boss fight is unfair, you should probably explore more and see if you missed something.

Not everything about the Crown of the Ivory King is perfect however. Most of the enemies are your generic soldiers that have been deformed and they don’t seem to have any major characteristic, other than ridiculously high poise. I have no problem with humanoid enemies, but a bit more diversity would have been nice. There also seems to be a bias towards melee users, as everything seems to be resistant to all types of magic, so be prepared to get your hands dirty. The game does add a few weapons that are exceptionally interesting, but I couldn’t help but want a little more, especially more unique weapons from the boss souls. The new challenge mode is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s definitely challenging, don’t worry about that, but it starts to venture into the “artificial difficulty” realm. It is an incredibly original and unique idea for a Souls game though, so I can see some people loving it and some people hating it.

However, even with some of the failings it has, being five dollars less than most downloadable contents, and having much more in it, it is easy to overlook its shortcomings. For normal game reviews I would give a grade on a scale of one to five, but since DLC is a little different I feel a better system is simply to say whether I think it’s worth it or not, and in this case I would definitely say that it is. If you already have the other expansions, you will still be blown away by how good this one is, and if you haven’t purchased any of them yet, this is a fine place to start.

After finishing all three of the expansions and looking back at the base game, I couldn’t help but feel sad that it wasn’t as good as it’s add ons. Overall I loved Darksouls 2, but I feel that fewer zones that were more fleshed out, such as Shulva, The Brume Tower, and Eleum Loyce, would have made for a much more complete feeling game. I only hope that we have not seen the last of Darksouls 2 expansions, although, with Bloodborne on its way, I fear we may have.