Today, Bandai Namco announced a week long delay in the release of the upcoming Dark Souls II: Crown of the Ivory King DLC. Instead of a September 24 release, we’re now looking at two release dates, September 30 for Steam and XBLM, and October 1 for PSN. No reason has been given, frustrating many players and leading to some funny lore-related threads on reddit to express their disappointment.
Why now? I’m really jonesing for the next hit of masochistic combat. My “Caped Invader” build (SL 150 Drakesblood for the cape and powerstance Caestus, come at me bro) is ready to deliver burning fists of righteous fury to all the denizens of the Ivory King‘s domain. I’m glad I didn’t take the day off in advance like a number of my fellow Souls fans, but I suppose the delay gives me more time for a couple of interesting titles releasing soon, such as The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, an upcoming indie game in the same vein as Murdered: Soul Suspect and the North American release of Hyrule Warriors.
What makes it more annoying is the fact that the DLC have been so much better than the base game. So far each release has been an improvement to the formula over the last. Going back to the base game to wait is like returning to your hovel in some Alabama trailer park after spending a week at Villa Leopolda on the French Riviera. It’s not that the meat of Dark Souls II‘s main campaign is a terrible game either, it’s just hard to appreciate it after seeing how well done the DLC has been, and Ivory King is shaping up to be the best so far if the trend continues.
Enjoy some game play footage from the snowy realm of the Ivory King:
