The party of ragtag D&D adventurer stereotypes can once more return to The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk and fight hordes of memorable enemies in the Splat Jaypak's Arenas DLC. Unlike the base game or the Ruins of Limis DLC before it, Splat Jaypak's Arenas does not have a singular campaign for players to follow. Instead, the DLC offers a series of arena battles hosted by the sadistic goblin and owner of the Wheel of Misfortune, Splat Jaypak, who has captured the adventurers and forced them into combat. The party will fight a variety of enemies and will need to satisfy specific win conditions to carve a path back to their main campaign.
Splat Jaypak's Arenas is based on a side gag in the Ruins of Limis DLC, in which The Ranger falls asleep and dreams of leading the party to glory through a series of increasingly more difficult battles. Players will have access to all 10 party members from The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk and are able to choose who to use and who to sideline for each fight. They can upgrade their skills, attributes, and gear between battles and experiment with powerful D&D-style builds more freely than in the main story. During each tactical RPG fight, they will face a series of enemies who, like in the base game, have extremely intelligent AI behind them. They will need to focus exclusively on developing strategies to overcome every obstacle, defeat their enemies, and progress to the next round.
Though it is entirely reliant on combat, Splat Jaypak's Arenas works on almost every level, from overall map design and premise to the actual combat and gameplay mechanics. For such a simple idea, the arena battles are well-designed and often truly challenging. Every map feels like it came straight from a D&D campaign, yet no two arenas feel exactly the same thanks to a variety of staging setups, enemy types and abilities, and even win conditions. It is very easy to open the game, play a battle, upgrade characters and gear, and then log out for the night, allowing players to participate in sessions rather than committing to a full campaign arc. While not particularly groundbreaking, the DLC is immensely fun, and it is easy to get immersed in fighting for hours.
With that said, the second Dungeon of Naheulbeuk DLC is not without its flaws. For one, as the name implies, Splat Jaypak's Arenas really is just a series of unrelated arena battles. Players who enjoy story over combat are less likely to get as much from this DLC as fans of strategy and battling will be. While the characters are still likable stereotypes of traditional D&D 5e races and classes, they get fewer moments to interact and shine than they do in the main campaign, which can make it more difficult for players to connect with them if they haven't done so already. Conversely, it is also possible some of the upgrades players can purchase will make the party feel overpowered and reduce the challenge for seasoned tactical RPG fans.
Another issue comes from the mechanics in Splat Jaypak's Arenas. After players have completed several arena battles and upgraded their gear and party, the win conditions will start to change for each battle. In one early match, the party is instructed to collect four relics and defeat all enemies within six rounds of combat. This seems impossible, especially with the addition of more enemy guards in Round 5, but the instructions are somewhat misleading: players only need to collect the relics within six rounds and can defeat the enemies in as many rounds as it takes. Unclear win conditions like these can become frustrating over time and lead to multiple Game Over screens in a row as players try to work out an impossible strategy.
Overall, however, Splat Jaypak's Arenas offers more of what made The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk's base game so charming: the characters are still endearing and fun to build and play, and the combat is dynamic and rewarding with intelligent AI enemies to pose a real challenge. Splat Jaypak's Arenas DLC offers unique and immersive challenges that bring the best of tactical, D&D-style combat and allow players to experiment with parties, builds, and gear for the base game and Ruins of Limis DLC. While this is clearly a combat-intensive experience that won't necessarily appeal to everyone, it capitalizes on one of the major strengths of the base game. Despite its somewhat one-note premise, The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk - Splat Jaypak's Arenas is a solid addition to the game and undeniably addicting as players practice and perfect their strategies to lead the party to glory, just as The Ranger dreams.
The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos and Splat Jaypak's Arenas DLC are available for Nintendo Switch, MacOS, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. A Steam code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.