Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is without a doubt (probably) the most exciting title of the year for From Software fans, but the Dark Souls 3 mod, Archthrones, is another great effort. This ambitious total conversion just unveiled a new area, The High Lord's Temple, and it seems to work fine on Steam Deck.

"Archthrones" will remix areas from "Dark Souls 2" and "Dark Souls 3" to tell its own story, and "The High Lord's Temple" is a riff on one of the most unnatural areas in "Dark Souls 3". The catacombs are under a swamp (and, inexplicably, over another swamp), but Carthus was supposed to have been a desert kingdom.

The Grand Duke's Mausoleum, named after the skeletal overlord, Archduke Volnil, offers a glimpse of Cartus in its heyday of scorching sands, before it sank underground in a dimensional prank that transcends time and space. The citadel, warmly lit under a bright blue sky, is a nice contrast to the base game's gloomy, claustrophobic catacombs, and the video shows players fighting robed apparitions instead of the nasty skeleton men we're used to.

There is a large bell at a scenic vantage point that can only be assumed to open a gate or summon a boss or something. It also seems to work well on the Steam Deck, even if the 800p resolution of the handheld does not display optimally on my 1440p monitor.

No release date has been set for Archthrones, but you can follow development on their Twitter and YouTube pages.Another exciting piece of Soulsborne total conversion to look forward to is the Nightfall mod for OG Dark Souls, which is positively addictive! It looks like it's going to be a real addictive experience.