Episode Ardyn marks the abrupt end of FFXV’s DLC, with plans of future content for the game being cut short due to the departure of former director Hajime Tabata. That also means that this is the first “game” released by the newly formed Luminous Productions, which still has many of the same developers that worked on FFXV, just sans Tabata. It kind of shows, as well, since while the other episodes weren’t as good as the main game itself, they were still (except for Comrades) fun and unique mini-games that stood apart from anything else related to XV. Ardyn’s gameplay and design feel like they’re just rehashing parts of the other episodes, while also muddying the timeline and story further rather than clarifying anything. That doesn’t mean it’s strictly terrible, just not as good as it could have been and very much on the bottom-rung of the DLC content.