Dark Souls III: The Ringed City Reviews
The Ringed City is a brutally unkind piece of content that shows the series at its best, but also unfortunately its worst.
The Ringed City DLC fixes the shortage of the previous DLC, presenting much more content, although not everything offered has a satisfactory gameplay. The big highlight are the bosses - challenging and worthy to face that vigorous build you created, after spending considerable time in the Dark Souls III campaign.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
You can respect how well it fits in with the series' overall lore.
The Ringed City is as challenging and enjoyable as one would expect from a Souls game, and although it suffers from some level design issues at the beginning, it's a great conclusion for Dark Souls III.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Dark Souls III: The Ringed City is a worthwhile expansion for fans of the series but it also frequently devolves into a controller-throwing nightmare.
The Ringed City is not quite the conclusion of the series that fans would've wished for but besides a weak first hour, Souls Fans will get a good portion of challenging enemies and varying places that will entertain you even beyond new game+ for several hours.
Review in German | Read full review
One of the best expansions From Software has ever produced, The Ringed City is a challenging and satisfying epilogue for the Dark Souls trilogy.
Ultimately, simplicity is not always a negative thing, some titles even use such to their advantage. But when a series which has built itself upon exploration of complex, foreign and extremely hostile environments, especially one as highly regarded as Dark Souls, completely shifts its formula and transforms itself into a simple A-to-B adventure game, it ultimately loses a lot of its charm. And one could debate whether such drastic transition has come from change in artistic vision, financial constraints, or simply a loss of passion, but in the end he/she still has to agree that The Ringed City is a solid piece of content, and unlike the Ashes of Ariandel, it is worthy of being considered a major part of the Dark Souls universe.
"What a ride, what a send-off, what a missed opportunity! I’m being a bit unfair. The Ringed City is perfectly good content, with a lot of play time, a lot of new weapons, armor and enemies. Some bosses suffer from hallmarks of the series so far, while one is almost exemplary in its design. It’s a linear experience but enjoyable to go through. The environments are among the most impressively looking in the series but the overall level of quality and polish fall short of previous DLC’s by From such as Artorias of the Abyss or The Old Hunters. In terms of lore and environmental storytelling, The Ringed City seems like a fair send-off for the series, even if it seems like it could have used (and deserved) more attention. Other aspects seem like placeholder ideas, such as the sections in which you’re forced to run from cover to cover which felt alien considering the series I was playing. I would call it “phoned in”, but even “phoned in” by From Software is still leaps and bounds ahead of what some AAA developers consider well-rounded and finished. Either way, it’s over at least for the time being and it’s been a privilege. Praise the Sun."
The Dark Souls plot is as mysterious in its conclusion as it was in its beginning. Of course there are a myriad of scattered clues, references and story points scattered throughout the Ringed City. And I’m sure there’s a myriad more I’m yet to discover.