Whether or not you’re a PC or console gamer, we’ve all beloved, fought and died on numerous imaginary worlds. From Grand Theft Auto to The Witcher, probably the most particular video video games are full of lovely vistas, great characters and really memorable missions.
Whether or not it’s dispatching Mongol invaders on Ghost of Tsushima’s eponymous island, wandering the irradiated wasteland of the US Capitol in Fallout 3 or indulging in a recreation of Gwent on The Witcher’s Skellige Isles, these lands maintain a particular place in our hearts that make us homesick for a world we’ve by no means bodily visited.
So when DLC packs supply up the possibility to dive into these settings as soon as extra, we’ve booked our tickets and packed our weapons, prepared to move into the fray as soon as once more. They provide us one other likelihood to rub digital shoulders with our favourite characters and have interaction in all-new story missions.
With that in thoughts, let’s revisit the easiest online game DLCs that you shouldn’t cross up.
Pink Lifeless Redemption: Undead Nightmare
Pink Lifeless Redemption was a elegant hit that gave us John Marston, considered one of gaming’s most gruff and memorable antiheroes. Pressured by the federal government to deliver his former gang to justice, Marston is combating a rising tide to proper his personal wrongs and rally in opposition to the forces of change in a brand new frontier.
In stark distinction to RDR’s usually western premise, Undead Nightmare serves up a slice of B-movie horror tropes. The untamed American setting is the right backdrop for the undead to roam and an opportunity for gamers to take pleasure in some deadeye motion, pun supposed. As a substitute of NPC gunfights, gamers should fend off all method of unholy undead foes. The sport additionally leans into the schlocky absurd, as we meet legendary creatures such because the Sasquatch and get to trace down and journey the 4 horses of the Apocalypse. Gunslingers even get two multiplayer modes for his or her cash: a 4-player coop horde mode and a PVP domination mode.
The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
The Witcher 3 has cemented its popularity as one of many best RPGs of all time. Critics had been additionally extremely optimistic about its DLC, every of which may have been sufficiently big to be separate video games in their very own proper.
Following the occasions of the mainline recreation, our favorite monster disappearer Geralt receives a contract from the Duchess of Toussaint to analyze a sequence of grisly murders. What follows is a wealthy and deep thriller involving household conflicts and blood-sucking vampires. And in true Witcher type, a number of endings are potential, relying on Geralt’s actions.
The colourful space of Toussaint additionally deserves a point out, with a citadel set off a stunning backdrop of lush greenery and mountainous terrain. Sidequests are additionally seemingly easy but unpredictably chaotic, due to some wealthy characters and wonderful story beats. The principle quest and aspect hustles, together with working Geralt’s personal winery, can take in dozens of hours of playtime, making Blood and Wine wonderful worth for cash and a must-play proposition for Witcher followers.
The Final of Us: Left Behind
Followers of the unique The Final of Us who’ve already been rocked by the sport’s gut-punch ending will discover this DLC not with out its bittersweet rug pulls.
In Left Behind, gamers take management of Ellie as she sneaks off from Boston navy college to see her good friend Riley, a personality who solely will get a cursory point out in TLOU. In it, we get to abscond right into a abandoned mall, as they’re pressured to confront their very own emotions and fears when it’s revealed that Riley is leaving to struggle with the revolutionary group Fireflies.
With an emotional ending that actually resonates and kicks off the occasions of the mainline recreation, Left Behind remains to be the blockbuster mix of remarkable writing, performing and storytelling we’ve come to count on from this sequence. It’s an albeit brief DLC, however nonetheless marries humour, tragedy and the melancholic fleeting of youth when all of us want to decide on our personal path in life.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Regardless of Cyberpunk’s problematic launch, CD Projekt has lastly made good on this futuristic dystopian sandbox of cybernetically-enhanced superhumans. Whereas free replace 2.0 brings a welcome do-over of the sport’s talent timber and enemies, it’s Phantom Liberty that gives the best revelation in its storytelling.
As cyber merc V, you obtain a mysterious telephone name from an aide of the NUSA President, warning that the Commander in Chief’s shuttle is about to crash into Dogtown, a brand new space of Evening Metropolis. Race to save lots of her, and also you’ll be plunged right into a saga of espionage, betrayal and cyber conspiracy.
Notably, a key alternative in PL’s third act throws the primary quest into considered one of two vastly totally different storylines and endgames — you’ll discover no “select crimson or blue” flavour endings right here. Both means, there are agonising choices with outcomes that pull no intestine punches. That’s largely due to wonderful turns by Idris Elba as FIA agent Solomon Reed and Minji Chang’s netrunner Songbird, who take centre stage on this thrilling story. With round 30 hours of latest content material and contemporary mechanics, Phantom Liberty is a wonderful purpose to jack again into Evening Metropolis.
Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree
The DLC for one of many best-selling video games of 2022 needed to be one thing particular, and FromSoftware nails it for this universally acclaimed title that many think about the perfect Soulsborne recreation but. Gamers as soon as once more don the garbs of The Tarnished as they enterprise into the Land of Shadow sizzling on the path of the enigmatic Miquella. In fact, this ain’t no river picnic, as this darkish realm chucks grotesque, gory and ungodly beasts in your path. At least 83 exquisitely designed bosses threaten to break your day, together with the dual-wielding Rellana, the Twin Moon Knight, and Bayle the Dread, a monstrous dragon seemingly plucked from the fiery depths of hell itself.
With tonnes extra mythic and ominous lore to uncover and an entire new Elden Ring journey that may rival many different video games’ playtimes, SOTE is an all-you-can-eat punishment buffet for these desirous to be crushed, pummelled and humiliated at each flip. And while you assume you’ve had all you’ll be able to take, this enlargement dollops seconds of relentless but wonderful slop and forces you to maintain on going.
Mass Impact 3: Citadel
Few videogame protagonists can boast the sort of fight CV Commander Shepard has. The primary human Spectre has handled a full spectrum of extraterrestrial threats, together with rogue AIs, large psychic arachnids, and an armada of synthetic-organic ships hellbent on eradicating complicated life within the galaxy. So if anybody deserves some R&R, it’s Commander Shepard and the SR-2’s motley crew of lethal compatriots.
In fact, within the Citadel DLC, Shepard barely will get time to hold up their fight armour earlier than a case of mistaken id threatens all the staff and their mission. As a narrative that options a lot smaller stakes, Citadel is a welcome break from coping with the galaxy-ending Reaper menace.
The Citadel’s wider points of interest are additionally open for exploration, together with a on line casino, arcade station and battle enviornment. We additionally get some a lot wanted 1 on 1 time with the crew earlier than lastly attending to let unfastened in a shindig for the ages. Citadel is an opportunity to decelerate and let the Mass Impact universe breathe, as a homage to the unique trilogy and the characters we’ve come to know and love.
Bloodborne: The Previous Hunters
Soulsborne gamers searching for extra problem spikes (and precise spikes) on this Bloodborne enlargement might need their starvation sated in The Previous Hunters. Set within the Hunter’s Nightmare, a hell-infused reimaging of the splendidly Lovecraftian Yarnham, gamers must survive an onslaught of not solely brutal enemies however blood-crazed hunters.
TOH presents loads of challenges, with some surprises that’ll vex even probably the most hardened noticed cleaver wielders. And naturally, fight is as aggressive, crunchy and brutal as ever.
As you would possibly count on, the creature design is grotesque and imaginative, whereas developer FromSoftware’s degree design is as soon as once more on level, with one more world brimming with darkish secrets and techniques and seemingly inane objects full of unimaginable lore. This model of Yarnham additionally serves as a locale stuffed with twisted, imposing structure stained by blood and forebodingly teased into the participant’s perspective.
Simply hope that the rivers of blood on this horrible hellscape aren’t added to with your individual crimson stuff.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
Horizon Forbidden West won’t have set the world alight like its unique, however that is nonetheless a superb post-apocalyptic recreation that permits you to tussle with mecha dinosaurs with little greater than some fancy arrows.
In Burning Shores, gamers once more take the reins of everybody’s favorite arrow-flinging genius warrior redhead, Aloy. Journeying to the volcanic ruins of Los Angeles, you observe down a rogue denizen of Far Zenith, a bunch of tech-bro jerks seeking to mess issues up for the Earth. Burning Shores continues Aloy’s character arc, with the load of the world on her shoulders as seemingly the one one who can halt one other world-ending catastrophe. Giving her much-needed comradeship is the addition of a brand new character, Seyka, who by all accounts might be an equal for our fire-kissed heroine. Their relationship feels earnest because it unravels alongside the story, which may be argued is stronger than the primary marketing campaign. All of it culminates in a jaw-dropping David versus Goliath showdown that’s brutal and memorable. Plus, LA’s former tower blocks create a lot of additional verticality in battles and water-based conundrums as you are taking down fearsome cyber creatures such because the acid-billowing Bilegut. It’s as completely attractive as ever, as you’ll be able to nearly style the saltiness of Venice Seashore’s surf — simply bear in mind, some flooring are actually lava.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: The Metropolis That By no means Sleeps
Nonetheless not had sufficient of swinging by way of Manhattan as Ol’ Webhead? Fortunate for you, The Metropolis That By no means Sleeps is a trilogy of scorching DLC chapters for Spidey’s much-lauded first reboot journey. With Wilson Fisk nonetheless behind bars, the prison energy vacuum nonetheless threatens the Massive Apple, inflicting a Raft-full of colourful characters to the fore. Chief amongst them is Spidey’s outdated flame, Black Cat, a feline-based thief in want of a manicure, in addition to Hammerhead, a mob boss with a bolstered metallic noggin. A standout story arc is police captain and Spider-Man ally Yuri Wantanbe’s brutal and emotional descent into vigilanteism after a mission ends in catastrophe.
Arguably, a number of the aspect collectables and avenue crimes can get repetitive — together with a sequence of missions that includes irritating crime and TikTok influencer Screwball, however this important enlargement fleshes out Spidey’s rogue’s gallery, with additional costumes to gather and contemporary prison varieties to net up. Most significantly, it presents loads of excuses so that you can fling your self throughout New York’s lovely skyline as soon as extra.
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