Dark Souls II: Crown of the Ivory King DLC (for PlayStation 3)

A Deeper Narrative ExperienceMuch like the first Dark Souls's Artorias of the Abyss DLC, Crown of the Ivory King puts you in the role of a hero who must save lives. Eleum Loyce has not yet lost all of its populous to madness or death, and you must cooperate with those precious few remaining souls to prevent a cataclysm and salvage what's left of the city.
Crown of the Ivory King is a much more narrative experience than the previous Dark Souls II DLC chapters in that the backstory is largely told through voiced dialogue. The overseer of Eleum Loyce confronts you and explains the dark history of the frozen ruins. Once you've quelled the raging blizzard within the city, you're  tasked with finding and rescuing the Ivory King's imprisoned knights. These knights assist you during the main boss fight.
This narrative and cooperative focus is compelling, but stands at odds with the main game and previous DLC. Crown of the Ivory King creates a sense of solidarity with its more narratively focused storytelling and its cooperative main boss fight. The Souls games tend to evoke a sense of solitude; you're a lone warrior in a dying and hostile world.
Engaging Combat
Within Eleum Loyce, enemies are spaced in such a way that only one or two foes engage you at a time, so you are rarely mobbed unless you run headlong into an area. The environment hides plenty of useful shortcuts, as well as good equipment and weapons.
Crown of the Ivory King's boss fights are fun and challenging. In fact, one boss in particular is a fantastic callback to a much beloved boss from the PS3 exclusive Demon's Souls. The Challenge Route boss fight is somewhat lackluster, but still an improvement over the gank boss fight in the Sunken Crown DLC, or the blue ball-buster in the Iron Crown DLC.
Crown of the Ivory King even incorporates New Game + elements in its scenario. During a New Game + play through, powerful black phantom enemies haunt the frozen halls of the city alongside the common denizens. This makes subsequent visits to the Ivory King DLC a more challenging and exciting experience when compared to the previous DLC chapters, which didn't possess many fresh New Game+ challenges.

A Very Challenging Challenge Route
Unfortunately, Crown of the Ivory King shares some of the issues of the previous DLC chapters. All Dark Souls II DLCs feature a Challenge Route, which is an optional path that is rife with difficult enemies, obnoxious traps, and a powerful boss. The Crown of the Ivory King's Challenge Route throws you into snowy valley ravaged by a blinding snowstorm. You must navigate the confusing terrain by using distant ruins as waypoints during moments when the snowstorm lets up. Along the way, you're harassed by demonic ice stallions and powerful dark spirits. What worsens the affair is the fact that ice stallions spawn constantly; there are no safe places to hide and recuperate, and there is no way to clear the valley of monsters and explore at one's leisure.
Adversity is what defines the combat experience in the Souls games. Fights are difficult and demanding, and so quick reflexes, positioning and ingenuity are all key elements to overcoming the challenges that lie in wait. Despite the odds being stacked against you, dividing enemies and fighting one-on-one whenever possible gives you the best possible advantage. The Crown of The Ivory King Challenge Route, and the challenge routes in previous DLCs, inflate the difficulty by throwing lots of enemies at you while also limiting your ability to avoid enemies or hide and recover. Crown of the Ivory King is particularly heinous in this respect thanks to the constant influx of enemies. This is a shame, because aside from the Challenge Route, the Crown of the Ivory King is actually very fun and well-designed.
The Crown of the Ivory King Shines
Crown of the Ivory King shares many of the strengths of previous DLC chapters: It has fair enemy placement that encourages careful exploration and penalizes recklessness, without feeling overly unfair. The challenge path tosses this out the window, yes, but it is also optional and manageable despite feeling a bit unfair. Overall, Crown of the Ivory King is a very good extension to Dark Souls II (despite repetitive, snowy environments), and a great way to end the DLC expansions.