Dark Souls 'Crown of the Ivory King' review: Burning bright
PC, Xbox 360, PS3
It sounds strange, but one of the best environments in the latest downloadable chapter of Dark Souls 2 DLC is hardly an environment at all. It's called the Frigid Outskirts, and it's a vast, nearly empty expanse – a long, curving valley only occasionally dotted with small, dilapidated stone structures. Like much of Dark Souls 2, however, this area of "The Crown of the Ivory King" DLC differentiates itself from the rest of the game with a few outstanding features.
Specifically: a constant, unrelenting blizzard. What should be a simple jaunt from one end to the other becomes considerably more difficult, as near whiteout conditions make it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of you, only clearing once every thirty seconds or so. It's a smart mechanic that not only imparts a sense of fear, but also elevates what would otherwise be a boring, linear quest.
And then there are the lightning-spewing horse bastards that accost you at regular intervals, but we'll get to those later.
Crown of the Ivory King, which caps off the Dark Souls 2 DLC trilogy, is structurally very similar to the first two episodes, Crown of the Sunken King and Crown of the Old Iron King. Once you find the portal that opens the DLC – this time located in the Shrine of Winter near the Ruined Fork Road bonfire in the Shaded Woods – you're whisked off to an ancient kingdom, where you'll explore new areas and slay new enemies before ultimately claiming the Crown of the Ivory King as your own.
Once again, the DLC is divided into a large main area with several bonfires and a smaller, secondary area with none. As in the previous two chapters, the first area is filled with branching pathways and deviously designed enemy encounters. The second area, meanwhile, is a gauntlet of sorts, challenging you survive all enemies, environmental dangers and finally a boss, all without the aid of bonfire checkpoints.
Crown of the Ivory King's main area is Frozen Eleum Loyce. It's something of a counterpoint to the fiery wasteland in Crown of the Old Iron King. The kingdom of Eleum Loyce and its giant, sprawling castle are forever covered in snow, surrounded by a seemingly endless, glacial expanse. As you roam the castle and make your way forward, you will uncover the kingdom's history and learn why its eternal winter came about. As a nice change of pace from most of Dark Souls 2, Crown of the Ivory King tells much of its story directly, rather than forcing players to piece it together from environmental clues and item descriptions (though you'll find plenty of that as well).
The castle and its surrounding areas are wonderfully designed, reminiscent of the open world of the original Dark Souls. As in Dark Souls, you're periodically teased with glimpses of impossibly huge buildings of incredible architecture – a tower here, a massive palace there – and they aren't just grand background details. These are the places you will eventually visit, once you've cut, shot and blasted your way through the enemies that stand in your way. By the time you've conquered the first area, you will feel like you explored every inch of Eleum Loyce, from the lowest canyon to the highest parapet.
Along the way, you'll run into a handful of new enemies, some of whom resemble the armor clad undead seen in Crown of Old Iron King (only a touch frostier this time around). Of the new baddies, the tiny, icy porcupines are surprisingly the most intimidating. They can't take much punishment, but once they start rolling (yes, just like Sonic), their icicle quills do a lot of damage. The rest of the enemies are nothing special – certainly nothing on the level of the mace-wielding lava giants from Crown of the Old Iron King – but they get the job done. They aren't without a few surprises though, like the petite, enrobed female villains with a penchant for sneaking up and stabbing you in the back.
Perhaps more interesting than its enemies is the structure of Eleum Loyce. As in the previous DLC, the main area has two bosses: one at a midway point, and the other at the end. What makes Crown of the Ivory King really interesting is that second boss fight. Once you reach it, you're free to take on the boss immediately if you wish. It's a very difficult fight, however, one that you'll have trouble dealing with alone, or even with two summoned human players. In a brilliant twist, reaching the final area of Eleum Loyce opens up several previously inaccessible locations in the world, each of which hides an AI-controlled knight that will join you against the boss – if you can find them. It's a great incentive to explore every last nook and cranny of the DLC, and it lends the boss fight a bit of extra complexity. Another appreciable touch is that the landscape of Eleum Loyce actually changes once the hidden areas are unlocked, so revisiting previously completed sections doesn't feel like backtracking.
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As I mentioned above, the second main area, Frigid Outskirts, is a one way ticket that forces you to play through the whole thing without the aid of checkpoints. In addition to the blizzard that fades in and out, you'll have to deal with a unique occurrence for Dark Souls 2: infinitely respawning enemies. Specifically, you'll run into huge, horned, horse-like creatures that can get very annoying. They'll attempt to murder you in a variety of ways, be it a high-speed ramming attack, a bolt of lightning or a swift hoof to the head. These beasties never stop coming, making the low visibility even more harrowing. Thankfully, it gets easier to manage once you know which direction to go, especially if you can summon a couple of allies.
I won't spoil the boss fight for the Frigid Outskirts, but suffice it to say that it pulls out one of video gaming's classic dirty tricks. Trudging through the snow only to be smacked down by this dirty trick (repeatedly) can be pretty maddening but, if you've been playing Dark Souls 2 this long, you've probably learned to roll with the punches by now (and again, bring some buddies if you value your sanity).
Ultimately, Crown of the Ivory King proves to be another challenging, varied addition to Dark Souls 2. It follows the same patterns as the previous DLC installments, but it throws in enough changes to keep things interesting, especially the ally recruitment mechanic. Ostensibly, your reward for completing the trilogy is ownership of all three crowns and the in-game benefits they convey. Personally, I couldn't care less about them. The quest itself, the stories you live through, are a much greater treasure.
Even if those horse jerks do their best to ruin it.
This review is based on a PSN download of Dark Souls 2's "Crown of the Ivory King" DLC, provided by Bandai Namco. Images: Bandai Namco.
Note: Joystiq does not provide star ratings for downloadable content reviews with the understanding that the quality of the core game's experience is unchanged from the original release; See our Dark Souls 2 review.
