izigame.me

This review contains no spoilers, and there is a TL;DR at the end.
Overall: 6/10
This DLC includes a new sub area in the fire region, one of the 4 possible regions that you can enter in Acts 2 or 3. This DLC contains options to enter this area if you don't own the DLC, as long as someone in your play group owns it and you are in multiplayer.
This DLC seemed a lot more fun on paper, though I am kind of disappointed by it. Overall, this is a much stronger release from Wolf Wars. Separating the character from the sub area was a great idea dlc wise, and is very pro-consumer. Dreamsite Games seems keen on listening to player feedback and improving their strategy and process moving forward.
The area visually looks great, and the new enemies are fun and interesting to fight. The story being told is a great one, with many points of inflection being made by your party that helps bring it alive. It's got fun little twists to explore, and I commend it for that. Overall, the game play that is there is fun.
However, something certainly feels missing. Specifically, you feel more like a passenger to the story rather than the protagonist. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it feels jarringly different from the rest of the game. You go from being the driving force of the action and the resolution point to many world stories, to being mostly a passive observer. Overall, I think this section is missing a lot of player choice.
When playing with one of the characters and seeing their voice lines, it did feel like there would be choices made through this sub area. Like you could somehow change the narrative. This builds with each line, but unfortunately leads to an anti-climactic ending as you simply accept things as the way they are and discover you had no true choice. This is an odd design choice in my opinion. If you've ever played D&D, you'll know the feeling if you've had a GM who built a story around a set of NPCs, rather than around the players. You feel like a puppet, a second-chair fiddle to the narrative at large.
Truthfully, I am a bit worried for the developers. I've been watching steam analytics and I am worried that the devs cannot get their value out of these dlcs anymore. This is pure speculation, but I feel like these dlcs really miss their marks now. The community has wrongfully pushed back hard against high DLC pricing, leading to cut content or fast turnaround time DLCs that don't get their chance to shine. for 5 dollars, this dlc is probably worth it... but it's not the content I want. I would gladly have spent another 5 dollars and waited twice as long for this dlc if it came with decision making, consequences, success rewards, etc. If it felt like I made the story happen, rather than being a passenger. And I'm sad to see dlc take this path.
Overall, I recommend this dlc to the larger audience IF it's on sale. There isn't much here you are missing out on, and you can certainly skip it or wait for a sale to pick it up. The items and pet are fun, but don't pay 5 dollars for 1 pet and a couple items.
TL;DR DLC feels worth it's price, but I'd wait for a sale or skip it if you aren't a dedicated player. Area feels half baked or rushed, likely due to it's price. Story told is good, but missing player engagement. If you play with other friends, only one of you need this dlc. I worry about the future of this game considering engagement levels and dlc reviews.
A MESSAGE TO DREAMSITE GAMES: I am in the discord, Synfulmage. I would love to help out with beta testing, or providing feedback if you'll have me. I am no game dev, but I am passionate about this game and would love to see growth for you and your team.