5 DLCs I’ve tried that are way better than the actual games

Older gamers like myself will remember the days when we used to get expansion packs to games in the days before the internet was as ubiquitous. These expansions, which you had to go and physically purchase, would typically add almost an entire game’s worth of content to the base game. After the 360 and PS3 era hit and online distribution started ramping up, expansions slowly transitioned into the wider term of downloadable content, or DLC. DLC can still be as robust as those old expansions, but can also be as insignificant as a new outfit or even basic items you could get in the game anyway.

The gulf in quality for DLC is massive, but there are some games where that extra content is not only worth the money but even surpasses the base experience. Whether it be because the developers were given more time, the story was more focused, or player feedback was able to be accounted for, DLC allows for more content to be made without committing to the lengthy and costly investment of an entirely new game. I’m not saying the games listed below are necessarily bad, only that you would be missing out on the best part if you neglected to pick up the DLC.

1 Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

Undead redemption

I won’t go so far as to call Red Dead Redemption a simulator, but Rockstar clearly wanted it to be a completely grounded and faithful Western tale. There’s no hint of any magic or supernatural forces at play anywhere (unless you count John’s ability to shrug off bullets, that is), which is why the Undead Nightmare DLC came as a complete shock. Instead of adding any post-game story or adding a new area to explore and do cowboy things in, Rockstar changed everything we knew about this world.

Framed as being a possible nightmare or simply a non-canon what-if scenario, one stormy night John discovers that a zombie plague has swept over the land. He sets out on a quest to try and get to the bottom of what’s happening and try to put a stop to it to save his family. The entire gameplay loop changes, with you now having to clear out familiar locations and return to them if zombies ever start overtaking them again. Zombies also pose a much different threat with special new weapons included specifically to deal with them. My personal favorite part is seeing John and all the other members of the cast return and react to zombies appearing out of nowhere.

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2 BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den

A real thinker

Following up Bioshock was almost destined to fail. That first game made such an impact due to its unique setting, dynamic shooting and plasmid system, but most of all its story and twist. A traditional sequel just couldn’t replicate that sense of awe and surprise the first game delivered, which is why the original team started working on a non-direct sequel in Bioshock Infinite, and 2K Marin was tasked with bringing players back to Rapture and somehow making it exciting again. The base game wasn’t bad, if nothing else the combat was improved, but it was a clear step down in every other way. And then the Minerva’s Den DLC came out.

Unlike the base game, Minerva’s Den’s plot is far more philosophical and morally ambiguous like the first game, but under completely new circumstances. Without spoiling the details, you play as Subject Sigma who is under orders from a man named Charles Milton Porter to get blueprints of a supercomputer dubbed the Thinker which is an AI that can supposedly predict the future, while Reed Wahl tries to stop you claiming that Porter has gone insane. What follows is a fascinating exploration of intelligence and the meaning of freedom. Honestly, you should just skip the main game and play this DLC.

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3 The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

A beast of a murder mystery

CD Project Red is one of the few developers who has stuck to the old expansion terminology as opposed to DLC, and for good reason. Both Hear of Stone and Blood and Wine are exactly the size and scope we used to see in the expansion pack days. Picking which one is best is a matter of taste, but I think Blood and Wine has a more engaging story and new environment that pushes it over the edge. This new quest takes place after the conclusion of the base game and starts off with a simple premise: two knights of Toussaint have been mysteriously murdered and Geralt is hired to hunt down whatever monster could be responsible.

This expansion lets you do more of what The Witcher does best: play a monster-hunting detective. No character is exactly what they seem, and the real evil is not always who or what you expect. Thanks to the more contained nature, you have a lot of choices to make that have meaningful changes to how the entire mystery is resolved and the fate of the major characters. Taken as a whole, the new region, main quest, side quest, and all the optional activities can easily add up to another 30 hours of content. That’s the equivalent of an entire new game crammed into one DLC.

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4 Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker

Over a decade in the making

I won’t cut hairs here: Final Fantasy 14 was a terrible game at launch. Anyone who played it at the time knew it, including the developers. That’s why the decision was made to destroy the game world and start fresh with A Realm Reborn. That was a great start for repairing the image of the game, but each subsequent expansion built upon that new energy and elevated the game to higher and higher peaks. Endwalker was not only the pinnacle of the game mechanically, but also in its narrative. At this point, dedicated players had spent over a decade in this world, getting to know its characters, and following one overarching plot that would come to a head in this expansion.

Even with all those lofty expectations, Endwalker managed to deliver and then some. When I say Endwalker’s release was an event, I’m not exaggerating. People were taking vacation days and calling out of work weeks in advance, and no doubt planning on being “sick” from school to play the moment it dropped. Only it didn’t launch when planned and had to be delayed, leading to a tearful apology from Producer Naoki Yoshida. That extra wait was worth it in the end, and players were rewarded with one of the best Final Fantasy stories in the franchise.

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5 Mass Effect 3: Citadel

A proper goodbye

The amount of hype going into Mass Effect 3 can’t be understated. This was the first time console gamers were promised a trilogy of games that would remember and account for all their decisions across all three games to make a completely unique experience. The first two games were amazing setups, but it all hinged on Mass Effect 3 to make it all come together. As we all know, it did not. Instead of our choices leading to some grand conclusion, everyone was presented with three endings to pick between with only minor changes between them. Needless to say, people were outraged.

The Citadel DLC can’t fix the ending completely, but it does at least give people closure with the entire cast that wasn’t there in the main game. This DLC takes place right before the final mission and allows Shephard and his entire crew to interact and relax, have a party, and say their final goodbyes. Without this DLC, the base game feels like a betrayal to all you’ve invested up until that point.

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