Recent reviews by Nick McDonald's

Now that the Shadow Tree blessings actually work, the DLC is now playable and it IS fun.

Pros: Boss weapons like the fire/magic sword you can get are really neat. Boss loot is really good and I'm glad there's plenty of coffins hidden around the DLC for you if you wanted to pick both options.

The design and art is amazing.

The OST (especially finally boss) are absolute bangers.

Cons: I wouldn't say it's *difficult*, but the sheer aggression of bosses, the final boss being the most egregious example, is maddening. I've never felt like I have had to respec in a Souls game before, but this one I've done at least twice now. Having to wait just to get a tickle of damage in, and most likely get punished for punishing the boss, is not fun. Messmer, Rellana, and Midra felt just right. Hippo, final boss, Black Knight Edredd have some BS aggression going on that makes it unfun.

To compare: Gael in Ringed City was difficult. He could thrash you around and throw ♥♥♥♥ at you, but it was a fair fight and at the end you feel very rewarded when you finally beat him. Here, I just let out an annoyed sigh and am thankful that it's finally over. That isn't fun.

The map is huge, bigger than I expected and I love that. The problem is that there's just so much space where there's absolutely nothing. No loot, no enemies, no content. I'm not sure if more stuff was cut, but there were times where I was wondering why this place is even here, or as huge as it is with absolutely nothing going on.

Overall, the DLC is a 7/10. I'd say it was perfect if it wasn't for Shadow Blessings not feeling like they were doing anything at all pre-patch, and the aggression combos of certain bosses. Definitely give this a shot if you're interested, but be sure to explore and pick up whatever you can get your hands on.

Do not, under any circumstances, waste your money with this game. I bought this since it was on sale, and hoped the issues people came across were just over exaggerated. They weren't. The game looks okay, and that's about all the positive comments I have for this game based on my experience.

I've hard crashed once at the end of an Exhibition, where I was just testing out the new controls for the first time. The second was crashing in the middle of Create-A-Moveset for my created character. I'm done. This game is a broken mess and 2K has abandoned it to its fate.