Dark Souls 3: how to access The Ringed City DLC

Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City is waiting for you. Don't let it get impatient.

Dark Souls 3 has a new DLC pack today, and if you're ready to explore The Ringed City, go to it.

First things first, let's make sure you actually have Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City DLC installed.

Update Dark Souls 3 to the latest version.
Visit Steam or your console storefront and check that the DLC or Season Pass is marked as purchased.
Download and install the pack from the storefront if necessary; it may have auto-downloaded at release, or kicked off after purchase confirmation.
Open Dark Souls 3 and check the version information in the top left of the title screen – if yours just says “Dark Souls 3” rather than a DLC name, check the previous steps.

Got all that? Good. To begin The Ringed City DLC you need a Dark Souls 3 save with access to the Kiln of the First Flame bonfire (the bonfire after the Flameless Shrine, and right before the final boss), or one in which you've beaten Sister Friede in Ashes of Ariandel and spoken to the painter in the attic.

If you've met both of these requirements in Dark Souls 3, you can use either method detailed below to access The Ringed City:

Travel to the Kiln of the First Flame bonfire and turn away from the final boss arena to spot a new bonfire. Activate it.
or
Travel to the Sister Friede bonfire and search the arena for a new bonfire. Activate it.

That's it; no more speaking to mysterious, hard-to-see NPCs or whatever. Just walk right into The Ringed City, and complete Dark Souls 3.

We'll have a full Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City walkthrough for you very soon; we had technical difficulties getting early access code to work because someone – not naming any names – purchased a special edition with a Season Pass even though they ought to know better, and the PSN threw a fit and locked them out.

The Ringed City is the last Dark Souls 3 DLC and probably the last Dark Souls game, ever. We are alreayd in mourning for what was.