Contrary to the name, this list will include underworld areas if they're not dungeons. "Overworld" in this case basically means non-dungeon areas. The major legacy dungeons will get a separate list (hell if I try to rank all the catacombs and caves and whatnot).
I'll be ranking the overworld zones using the criteria of how atmospheric they are, how much fun they are, how much there is to do (i.e. how much they maximize their space), and how much I liked the overall layout.
#20. Lake of Rot - Miyazaki's love for poison swamps is well-documented. It became such a joke by the time of Elden Ring that they added in the worst poison swamp in the series, with toxic death-sludge that will legitimately run your heals out before long. It's a super annoying area, and worse than that, it's pretty boring. Not a lot to see here. This is a "traversal zone" and nothing more, and one I'd probably delete from the game if possible. It's also the smallest zone on this list, and over with quickly, so there's that.
#19. Abyssal Woods (DLC) - The return of the psychic frenzy monsters that plagued lategame Bloodborne, only now they're even more obnoxious and lopsidedly unfair to deal with. For some reason Torrent can't be summoned in this zone, making it even more tedious to traverse. It's also pretty empty, given its size. Easily the worst-designed zone in this game...unless the point of it was to be terrible and freak you out, in which case mission accomplished. Lake of Rot only beats this out for Worst because at least Abyssal Woods has atmosphere and legit creepy vibe, while Lake of Rot is just useless.
#18. Ainsel River - I wasn't sure whether to count this maze of waterways as an overland area or a dungeon. The underworld is weird that way, a bunch of zones down there could be counted in either direction. Given the confined nature of this place and the fairly linear path full of challenges, I almost decided to count it with the dungeons. It's a mediocre place at best, only memorable for the giant ants and the boss room (seen here). This is basically a series of routes you have to take to get to other, more important places. It's just...there, and it's confusing to make your way through.
#17. Dragonbarrow - The northeast part of Caelid is known for heavy rains, giant metal balls, and of course, dragons. There are lots of miniboss-tier dragons here that I never bothered to engage, and an overpowered gargoyle boss at the end of the area. This place is best known for the Lenne's Rise EXP grind, and the perpetual rain is nice, but there isn't enough to this area to rate it highly.
#16. Consecrated Snowfield - The single most annoying area in the base game is the Liturgical Town on the north side of this area. Awful, awful place. However, the rest of this area is passable. Great atmosphere, with the most oppressive "frozen wasteland" feeling of any place in the game. It also has a lot of empty space, and seems incomplete, so I can't rate it any higher than this.
#15. Jagged Peak (DLC) - This is a very linear area with very little to it besides several bosses and a long climb around the sides of the mountain. The atmosphere here is 10/10 incredible, with high winds and energy crackling all around the mountain. However, the area itself just doesn't have anything to do, which is a shame considering how cool it looks and how much of the DLC map it takes up. Tons of unused real estate here so I can't really rank it any higher.
#14. Siofra River - This is a really cool and atmospheric area, and the elevator down to it is one of the most memorable things in the game. Unfortunately, there really isn't much to do here besides slay ghost minotaurs that look a lot stronger than they actually are, light some lamps, and fight a giant elk boss that is pretty low-level (and probably no match for you by the time you get here, unless you get here really early). It's cool for what it is...but it isn't much, objectively. That elevator ride down, though. Damn. Who knew there was a sprawling underworld under the game before that? At that point Fromsoft were just dunking on other developers by continuing to add more areas to a game that was long-since "done" if they wanted to be.
#13. Deeproot Depths - A strange underworld zone that exists directly under the Erdtree's roots, this is a mysterious and creepy place. It's one of the rare zones with actual platforming in it, and a general sense of dread permeates it at all times. I question why they left Godwyn on the table in this game, with his corpse turning up here of all places and him never being a fightable boss like the rest of the family are. Regardless, this is a short, but quality zone...that I don't really want to revisit any time soon.
#12. Cerulean Coast (DLC) - Probably the most beautiful zone in the DLC, if not the entire game, this is a large coastline full of various brightly-colored flowers. However, it suffers from a problem that a lot of the DLC has: It's way too empty. There really isn't much to do here and it's unfortunate.
#11. Scaduview (DLC) - The other contender for most beautiful zone in the DLC. There just isn't much to do here either. However, there are a few standout elements, like the multiple Tree Sentinels and the Shaman Village. The latter is virtually empty, and manages to still be memorable, with the baby Erdtree. If these zones had more actual content, they'd be so much higher on the list.
#10. Mt. Gelmir - A confusing ascent involving ladders and a lot of overpowered enemies that are liable to catch a mid-level player off guard. I never found this area very appealing at all, and tend to spend as little time there as possible. The coolest part is probably the Fallingstar Beast in the crater at the top, which is an impressive-looking battle. The mountain itself and the climb aren't particularly fun, in any case, and it's another area without a whole lot to it. Like I said, this is a "get in and get out" sort of zone. A lot of people like it more than I do.
#9. Weeping Peninsula (South Limgrave) - Separating this from the main Limgrave zone since it's a separate landmass and at a very different point in quality. While most of Limgrave is a great introduction to the game, I found Weeping Peninsula to be the far less appealing 30% of so of the zone. There's a lot of empty space down here and most of the points of interest are quick and easy (like running around grabbing Sacred Tears from the churches). It's a good place to power up early in the game, but I've never really found myself having any reason to go back here.
#8. Caelid - Might be the most memorable area in the game. However, it falls short for me in other areas. The layout is a bit convoluted and it's difficult to get from point A to point B due to all the elevation changes (an issue that unfortunately Shadow of the Erdtree would have in nearly all of its areas). The whole "diseased" theme of this place is a bit off-putting at times and everything here is kind of grody. That's part of what makes it memorable though. It also feels a little incomplete, with a fairly large amount of empty space and not as much to do as most of the other areas. Deserves some credit for going all-out with stuff like body horror to an extent that not even Bloodborne did. This place doesn't pull any punches, and consumes/destroys everything that sets foot on it.
#7. Gravesite Plain (DLC) - The first area of the DLC is one that I rate highly...for the most part. There's an optional boss fight with Guts from Berserk right near the beginning, and the zone is quite breathtaking to look at. It's also straightforward compared to the rest of the DLC, and lets you go pretty much anywhere you want right from the start. While most of the DLC areas are a bit of a hassle to make your way around due to the wildly variable elevations, this one is just a nice flat plain where you can go from point A to point B. Side note, kind of funny how Guts is just a quick side-boss here at the beginning, while Griffith gets to be the villain of the entire DLC.
#6. Mountaintop of the Giants - I love snow areas, and this one is probably the first place I think of when I think of the game. An utterly gorgeous locale that's full of magic and mystery: What's the story behind all the flash-frozen giants standing around everywhere? Why are chains holding the various mountains together? The only thing keeping this zone from soaring on this list is that there is a lot of empty space here, both on the world map (half the land area is taken up by non-accessible cliff terrain) and also on a ground-level (there are large empty areas at several points). While most of the other areas felt like big open-ended adventures, this zone is more of a linear ascent (like Mt. Gelmir or Jagged Peak) without a whole lot to come back for besides the views.
#5. Ancient Ruins of Rauh (DLC) - Kind of a similar zone to Mt. Gelmir in that it's got a bunch of different elevations and a lot of paths you can take through it. However I liked this place a lot more. It's got an "ancient civilization" theme to it, with semi-advanced old ruins and carvings that are way out of place and time. Reminded me of Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure combined with Nagrand from World of Warcraft. Originally I wasn't going to rate this zone very highly because it's a bit of a pain to get around in. However, after revisiting it to see if it deserved that, I realized it's actually a very well-designed and memorable zone.
#4. Altus Plateau - A stunningly-gorgeous, golden land that sits under the Erdtree. The only reason this isn't higher is that the areas ahead are just that good, and also because Altus is, like it or not, kinda "flyover country" that exists between other more important areas. Worth noting: It's a nice reference to Atlus, the company that took a chance on bringing Demon Souls to the U.S. when nobody else did, thus starting this whole Fromsoft craze to begin with. There's a lot to do here and some highly-memorable minor locations like Windmill Village and the Erdtree Gazing Hill - which is for my money the best place in the game to take screenshots.
#3. Scadu Altus (DLC) - The main overworld zone of the DLC, or at least the core that everything else branches off of, this is the high point of the DLC's overworld construction. Despite being the largest area, this is also the most dense area. My usual complaint about the DLC areas is that they don't have enough to do. Well, not this one. It has a little of everything. While it doesn't measure up to my top 2 zones in the main game, it's really good.
#2. Liurnia of the Lakes - A gorgeous, pure landscape that stands in stark contrast to its diseased counterpart Caelid. There are a few too many giant crabs for my liking, but this place is awesome otherwise. Has several huge side-areas like the southern mountain, a Divine Tower that can be turned upside-down, and one of the coolest-looking legacy dungeons towering over it. This place is where the game goes from "good" to "kind of magical" IMO. It's also the largest zone, and debatably the most gorgeous zone. It's worth noting that the top 2 on this list are basically tied, so this could have easily ended up in the top spot.
#1. Limgrave - The starting zone of the game really needed to land perfectly so that new players would be drawn into the game...and it does. During beta testing, Limgrave was all that was available to play, and people thought that would be the setting of the entire game. Nope. It's good enough to be, though, and the 10-15 hours most new players will spend here trying to find their footing might end up being the most memorable. Everything here leads up to a big showdown with Stormveil Castle, a place you can see right from the beginning. Right off the bat, it's clear you're playing something unique.
That concludes the overworld areas. Next up, the other half of the rankings, the Legacy Dungeons (i.e. the important dungeons).
Ranking the Dark Souls II Areas
Ranking the Dark Souls III Areas
Ranking the Elden Ring Legacy Dungeons
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