With the best area and easily the best bosses, Crown of the Old Iron King is Dark Souls 2 at its peak... mostly.
I say "mostly" because like the Sunken King before it (And Ivory King after it) this DLC contains another total fuck fest optional section that doesn't really need to exist. I discovered that these gank areas were designed as Co-op zones, which would make more sense as to why they're so jam packed with enemies. But it doesn't explain why these areas are just so bland; only consisting of like 3 hallways littered with enemies that aren't worth fighting even once.
Despite that, I still wanted to give this DLC 4.5 stars... but unfortunately Fromsoft said "I got one more in me" and added a 2nd terrible runback to this. This runback is especially annoying because it leads to Sir Alonne, a really fun boss with one of the most stylish arenas in any souls game; a marble palace in the sky, overlooking the burning world around you. There was simply no need to hide this amazing fight behind a lazily thrown together "level" with nothing but recycled enemies littering a shockingly bland hallway. And its not even an actual level! It's just 2 hallways filled with like 20 enemies. The fight definitely makes up for the runback, but I just don't see the reason behind there even being a runback in the first place, if they weren't gonna make it an actual level.
Thankfully, Fume Knight doesn't have a dumb runback so players are able to fully appreciate how incredible that boss fight is. He is probably the most aggressive boss in DS2 and easily the hardest. But his moveset is so consistent and fun that it makes learning it an absolute joy, and after many attempts you'll be able to run laps around him. Such a great fight and one of my favorites in the entire Fromsoft catalogue.
Crown of the Old Iron King is another aggressively 4 star DLC that should be higher but Fromsoft was determined to remain consistent and have every piece of DS2 content be 4 stars.
I say "mostly" because like the Sunken King before it (And Ivory King after it) this DLC contains another total fuck fest optional section that doesn't really need to exist. I discovered that these gank areas were designed as Co-op zones, which would make more sense as to why they're so jam packed with enemies. But it doesn't explain why these areas are just so bland; only consisting of like 3 hallways littered with enemies that aren't worth fighting even once.
Despite that, I still wanted to give this DLC 4.5 stars... but unfortunately Fromsoft said "I got one more in me" and added a 2nd terrible runback to this. This runback is especially annoying because it leads to Sir Alonne, a really fun boss with one of the most stylish arenas in any souls game; a marble palace in the sky, overlooking the burning world around you. There was simply no need to hide this amazing fight behind a lazily thrown together "level" with nothing but recycled enemies littering a shockingly bland hallway. And its not even an actual level! It's just 2 hallways filled with like 20 enemies. The fight definitely makes up for the runback, but I just don't see the reason behind there even being a runback in the first place, if they weren't gonna make it an actual level.
Thankfully, Fume Knight doesn't have a dumb runback so players are able to fully appreciate how incredible that boss fight is. He is probably the most aggressive boss in DS2 and easily the hardest. But his moveset is so consistent and fun that it makes learning it an absolute joy, and after many attempts you'll be able to run laps around him. Such a great fight and one of my favorites in the entire Fromsoft catalogue.
Crown of the Old Iron King is another aggressively 4 star DLC that should be higher but Fromsoft was determined to remain consistent and have every piece of DS2 content be 4 stars.