Dark Souls 3 adding option to stay on team with friends in PvP

Dark Souls 3 is adding a lot of new multiplayer options, even for those who don't buy the upcoming add-on, The Ringed City.

As revealed on Bandai Namco's Twitch Stream tonight, two new PvP maps and matchmaking options are being added for anyone who bought either Ashes of Ariandel or The Ringed City expansion. In fact, all PvP content will be available to those who own either add-on.

The maps consist of the Dragon Shrine, themed after Archdragon Peak, and the Grand Roof, based on the top of Lothric Castle. Both maps are going live on 24th March, four days before The Ringed City launches (so you'll need either Ashes of Ariandel or a Season Pass to access these new maps for their first four days).

More intriguing is that upon The Ringed City's 28th March launch, matchmaking will allow for friends to stay on the same team in PvP as they face off against random strangers. Before you could only play alongside friends in private matches or risk not staying on the same team.

On that note, Bandai Namco revealed a brief glimpse of The Ringed City's single-player content on the stream. One of the new areas, The Dreg Heap, resembles the aesthetic of Dark Souls 3's nightmarish kiln conclusion. The stage will be based around a descent down a mountain with plenty of Assassin's Creed-style leaps of faiths from great heights wherein ash will break your fall.

The stream above also revealed the earliest boss fight in the expansion with the Demon in Pain and Demon from Below. Both look like giant bats who scuttle about the interior of a cave.

Bandai Namco noted that The Ringed City will be "more robust than the first DLC," but offered no specific comparison in terms of scale.