I really love Ember Knights as a game so this DLC was an instant pickup for me. If you're a new player or haven't finished unlocking everything in the base game, I'd suggest waiting to pick this up, as it expands on the main game but doesn't make any fundamental changes that necessitate its addition prior to the main game being completed.
Pros
Altered world design is sweet. Old ones looked good, so do the new ones, it's cool to see the core identity of the old world, but in a different thematic setting. Most of them feel like a version of themselves before being corrupted by Praxis. The scoggfirth equivalent is brighter, the citadel isn't a frozen wasteland but a hot, energy rich region, Wightsbury isn't a cursed shithole (it is still cursed though), the tech world feels like a lab, cutting edge, research monkeys instead of frogs building crazy steampunk weapons. The only letdown is Netherra (see cons)
New weapons feel good and distinct. The closest comparables imo are razor wind to gloves and bow to ember buster. Despite this, they feel unique in their own rights and are a lot of fun, especially the gauntlets. I do think the mod offerings on the gauntlets are better, the gun ones feel a bit boring to me. The gauntlets have a healing mod that feels a bit broken but I guess the tradeoff is being relatively shit vs bosses (depends on boss tbh)
New skills and relics are cool additions. A lot of summon skills, which is interesting, options to move away from wisp builds if you like summons. Maybe wisps are meant to be more status effect generators now? Cause some of these new guys feel like they dish out more damage. I love seeing expansion on the ghosts via relics and a few other cool ones, Midas armor might be my favourite so far, really fun addition.
New cosmetics, for weapons, armour and colours. They look good, always a fun thing to have and weapon skins are coming through boss rush which is awesome
Speaking of boss rush, I love this addition. The boss fights are fun and an element you normally get way less practice with. It's awesome and rewarding you with different weapon skins is a nice touch. I haven't messed around with the other mode additions enough yet.
New bosses feel fun and unique (mostly). The two big culprits to me for being a bit too derivative/reminiscent of the originals are Lady Inferna and The Architect (there's more about the latter in the cons). The rest are really fun and I especially loved Oukranos and The Katsumi Clan
Cons
Netherra is unchanged. I feel like The Architect being in power and this being an alternate dimension, there should be a different visual motif to His realm vs what it becomes after Praxis is running it.
Enemies are a bit too similar to old world counterparts. A reskin for the world design, which is a visual element, is totally fine. Here, the enemies are reskinned, and those changes do look good, but their actual attacks/movements feel a bit too similar. I get that it's an alternate timeline, and the attacks ARE different, but which ones are different enough is a hit/miss. YMMV, I get the sense this one will be personal opinion. Thematically at least, it does fit.
No boss variations. This was really disappointing, I loved this feature of the base game. Even if it was just the main bosses and not the minis, it would've been something. Everything has a parallel in the second dimension, so what the fuck happened to the variations lol.
Bosses are too easy. I stopped playing for a while when I had unlocked basically everything in the base game, so I'm definitely not crushing Doom 25 runs like I used to, but even on lower difficulties, the bosses in the secondary dimension did not feel as tough as the ones in base at similar difficulties. Unmodded gauntlets on a first run through was an easier victory than expected.
The Architect fight is lacklustre (and also doesn't make sense); BIG DISCLAIMER, I haven't fought The Architect at Doom 25 yet, maybe there is more to the fight I've missed, but it was meh. The idea of incorporating all the bosses is kind of perfect but the execution felt a bit weak, idk if the attacks are toned down or what, but architect versions felt easier to avoid. He's also a big, bad creator dude, why doesn't have have some super secret big boy moves. The not making sense to me part is just confusion around fighting him. Seems like he's just mad at everyone because Praxis was a shithead? Fighting him placates him? It just feels jank. Story is not the focus of EK, but the base game it makes sense, here it feels a bit contrived.
Verdict
There are definitely some negatives and things in the DLC I wish were different, but overall, at $13 CAD (so $10 USD I assume) you're still getting a lot. The new weapons, skills and relics are genuinely awesome. If you like Ember Knights, even if you stopped after finishing, this DLC is a great excuse to get back in. If you're loving the base game and know you'll finish/want more get this. Don't get it (yet) if you're new to the game or are still early on and unsure of how into it you are.
Oh and fuck the werewolf equivalent in the Wightsbury mirror, that guy is the bane of my existence 10/10 will make you start run again