The upcoming dungeon DLC Waking Flame for The Elder Scrolls Online brings the dungeons “Rose Blossom Bastion” and the ominous “Dread Cellar”. The latter dungeon was explored and played through by Jürgen Horn from MeinMMO together with the developers. He experienced some horrific things.
Who has played it? For MeinMMO, ESO fan Jürgen Horn dared to venture into the spooky torture cellar from the upcoming DLC Waking Flame. He was supported by the developers Jeremy Sera (Lead Content Designer) and Mike Finnigan (Lead Encounters Designer).
The DLC actually doesn’t come out until August 23 (PC, Mac, and Stadia) or August 31 (consoles), but I could already test one of the dungeons on the test server.
A torture prison full of horrors
What is the story behind the dungeon? The Dread Cellar takes us to an old abandoned prison of the Empire. There, undesirable individuals were imprisoned and cruelly tortured. But that should have been long over, and nobody should be in the prison anymore.
Nevertheless, two imperial battle mages have taken notice of strange goings-on in the prison and want to check if everything is alright. As a group of heroes, we support the two, and it soon becomes clear that we are definitely justified in being there.
What is the mood like? Right after opening the gate, angry Daedra demon beings rush towards us with blades, leading to a wild slaughter. The whole place is overrun by these dreadful beings, but what do they intend to do?
We fight our way through the prison’s courtyards, and it is already clear that the developers put a lot of effort into the dungeon’s design.
We keep entering spacious courtyards, which are separated by narrow passages. “We wanted to design it like a real prison,” one of my companions tells me.
And indeed, the level design impresses both under the open sky and later, when we descend into the deep vaults and cell blocks. The deeper we go, the creepier everything becomes, with torture devices scattered everywhere, and the bones of unfortunate victims are still partially decaying.
In the end, we even go into the deep levels of the “Dread Cellar,” where the Daedra have set up a mysterious hell machine, but I don’t want to spoil anything about that.
Only three bosses, but many extras
What is the first boss? Still at the surface in one of the courtyards, we soon encounter a hideous creature. The name reveals that it is a “Scorion.” The monstrosity before us looks like a mix between a spider, a crab, and a leech. It appears to have no head, and instead, there is a kind of suction mouth leading to an endless abyss.
This beast is the first boss, and soon after we begin the fight, it tries to suck in the Daedra monoliths scattered across the map.
According to the developers, the Scorions are a kind of living harvesting machine that sucks in the aura of suffering and despair that once prevailed here through the monoliths and hoards it for some sinister purpose.
Therefore, we always have to hit the beast away from the monolith’s greedy sucking maw before it fills up with the ominous energy and becomes even stronger.
As our tank and the healer do their job well, we can defeat the boss quite quickly and consistently thwart his meal.
What is the second boss? Deeper in the dungeon, our group encounters a rogue battle mage who utilizes a new mechanic. Since already on the way into the vaults, we come across burned traces on the ground that suddenly ignite and manifest into swaying flame carpets.
In the fight against the boss, the whole area is filled with such flame traces, and anyone who steps into them will be charred in seconds.
To fight the boss, who isn’t really dangerous by himself, one must avoid the flame carpets and make use of the constantly appearing shields. Our NPC companions cast these, and without this protection, the fight wouldn’t be winnable.
What is the third boss? At the very end, we encounter a “Magma Incarnate,” a kind of four-armed monstrosity made of lava. The beast hits hard in melee combat and repeatedly fires scorching fire beams that can only be blocked if one isn’t foolishly standing in the line of fire of a second fire lance aimed at another player. One must always be careful about positioning here.
But that alone is not enough. The already known Scorions are also at work here, collecting dark energy in remote areas of the dungeon to enhance the boss. Since he already hits hard enough, we regularly travel via portals that our NPCs generously open to the locations where the Scorions are currently gathering energy, and we must defeat them in time.
Luckily, we manage to do this every time, and although it often catches me – Yes, I know, do not cross the fire beams – we defeat the boss in the end as a team effort.
What is special about the dungeon? During and after the dungeon run, I ask the developers why there are only three bosses (usually there were 5) and what special features there are here.
The reason for the three bosses, according to the developers, is that it allows better control over how much one wants to play and see of the dungeon. One can simply quickly follow the main path, as we did, then one is through in about half an hour.
However, one can also explore some secret content and discover mini-bosses along the way.
If one defeats them, there are additional treasures and bonuses against the actual bosses. This doesn’t matter much in normal mode, but anyone who dares to tackle the dungeon in hard mode will surely be pleased about bonuses that ease the fights.
In this way, each group can decide how hard or fast they want the dungeon run to be. According to the developers, this was also a wish from the community.
What can be criticized? As an occasional player, the dungeon was just right for me, but those who prefer really long dungeons with more bosses in a row may be disappointed.
Furthermore, the bosses are rather standard fare without really original new mechanics. Everything feels like it has been seen somewhere before, but on the other hand, it is also not so easy anymore to conjure a completely new MMORPG boss mechanic out of thin air.
Conclusion – Another solid dungeon, but not for people afraid of creepy crawlies
I love the shared dungeon crawls with the developers of ESO, and this time too, the new instance impressed me. It is simply a joy to explore their creations together with the developers and to let them explain why certain features are visible in the game. You can really feel the enthusiasm and pride of the devs here.
Even in the Dread Cellar, I got my money’s worth again, because the dungeon is short but punchy and ideal for players like me who play ESO more casually. For pros, on the other hand, there is the hard mode with optional extras.
Moreover, I like the setting and theme, the atmosphere of the creepy torture dungeon comes across well, and the deeper we delve into the structure, the more uncanny everything becomes. The disgusting new Scorion monsters, which have never been in the game before, do their part as well. Those afraid of creepy crawlies should think carefully about confronting these creatures.
The Dread Cellar is therefore likely to become another solid new dungeon that players are eager to descend into for a quick run.
Jürgen Horn
Editor at MeinMMO
If you want to prepare for the new dungeons from Waking Flame, we have here 5 things you need to know before the launch of the DLC.
