Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel is the first DLC expansion for Dark Souls III, released in October 2016. It introduces the Painted World of Ariandel, a new, snowy environment filled with challenging enemies…

73 24 October 2016

Adventure Role-playing (RPG) Action Fantasy

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel is an adventure developed by FromSoftware, released 24 October 2016 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC (Microsoft Windows). The main story takes about 4.7 hrs to finish.

Verified 16 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Steam , Wikipedia

What Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel is

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel is an adventure game developed by FromSoftware and released in 2016. It was published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC (Microsoft Windows).

The premise, in the publisher's words

Dark Souls III is a 2016 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows, it is the third and final entry in the Dark Souls trilogy. The game follows the Ashen One, an unkindled warrior, on a quest involving the Lords of Cinder and the fading First Flame. It is played from a third-person perspective, and players use weapons, armour, magic, shields, and consumables to fight enemies. Series creator Hidetaka Miyazaki returned as a director after having a supervisory role on Dark Souls II.

Description from Wikipedia · source

How it plays

It is played from a third person perspective. Its themes are action and fantasy. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component. Available modes: Co-operative, Multiplayer and Single player.

Where it sits in the Dark Souls series

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel is the 19th of 25 entries we hold in the Dark Souls series. The next entry was Dark Souls III: The Ringed City in 2017. Its critic score of 73 is 12 points below the series average of 85. The highest-rated entry is Dark Souls at 91.

See all 25 Dark Souls games in release order →

How it was received

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel holds a critic score of 73 out of 100. That places it above 44% of the 7,527 rated adventure games in our database, which average 72. Games released in 2016 averaged 68, so it scored 5 points above the year average. Players rate it 80, 7 points higher than critics did — a gap worth knowing about before you buy.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 4.7 hrs. Completing everything takes closer to 10 hrs, roughly 2.1 times the length of the critical path.

What you need to run it

The minimum specification calls for Intel Core i3-2100 / AMD® FX-6300, 4 GB RAM and NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 750 Ti / ATI Radeon HD 7950. At 4GB of RAM, it will run on essentially any working PC — that is below what a budget laptop ships with today. Install size is roughly 25GB. Both tiers are compared side by side on the requirements page, and you can check your own parts against them without installing anything.

Full requirements and PC checker →

What it launched against

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel launched on 24 October 2016, within three weeks of Dishonored 2, Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition. All of them reviewed better. It arrived 3 years into the PlayStation 4's life, so it was built for hardware developers already knew well.

Released around the same time: Dishonored 2, Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

Know one? Send it in and we will test it →

Official trailer

Sourced from the publisher’s YouTube channel. See all 4 videos →

Screenshots

All media

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel gameplay screenshot

Parents

Dark Souls III

24 March 2016

Quick answers

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel — frequently asked questions

When did Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel come out?

Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel was released on 24 October 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC (Microsoft Windows).

What are the minimum PC requirements for Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel?

At minimum, Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel needs Intel Core i3-2100 / AMD® FX-6300, 4 GB RAM, NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 750 Ti / ATI Radeon HD 7950 graphics, 25 GB available space of storage.

How long does it take to beat Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel?

The main story of Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel takes around 4.7 hrs, or 10 hrs for 100% completion.

How many GB is Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel?

The PC version needs about 25 GB of storage, going by the storage line in the system requirements ("25 GB available space"). Updates can add to that, and console versions have their own sizes, which are not listed here.

If you like this