I’ve always found it difficult to engage with downloadable content. I’ve no idea why. I think it’s because I’ve always liked the idea of video games being this unchangeable ‘thing’, like a novel or a film. The idea that games can be tweaked or added to sort of bothers me on some level. It’s silly, but that might be why I’ve always tended to ignore DLC, even when that DLC is top notch.
I enjoyed the GTA IV DLC, the Episodes from Liberty City, because they felt like standalone games, but I can’t think of any other DLC that I ever played through seriously.
It’s getting to the stage, however, where I think I’m going to have to undergo some sort of attitude adjustment. So many of my trusted friends have informed me that the Dark Souls II DLC is pretty special, particularly the last and final piece of content just released this week. I’m also hearing that the Left Behind DLC for The Last of Us may actually surpass the original game itself. Maybe it’s time for me to switch things up and admit that I was wrong about DLC.
So I’m looking for your help: if I’m going to be playing catch-up on DLC, what should I check out? What should I be playing?
Let me know in the comments below.
Comments
91 responses to “Tell Us Dammit: Best DLC Of All Time”
Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep
Totally agree, loved that DLC…actually, it’s pretty much the only DLC I’ve bought.
Oh man, I loved that one. I was trying to think of what the best DLCs I’ve played are but you pretty much nailed it there.
DAMMIT! You beat me too it.
Mr Torgue DLC was pretty great too but Tiny Tina’s Assault was definitely the best.
I’m still bitter about beating the end boss of that DLC and getting no loot at all.
Second that. Beat me to it. Glad someone put it in here! Hilarious.
I loved this one and it’s the only DLC I’ve downloaded. It was definitely a roller coaster of emotions.
I still have to play through this. I’m with Mark in the fact I find it hard to engage in DLC – especially if I’ve finished the main game – BUT I still buy it 😛 I have the dlc for Borderlands 2 / Dishonered / Bioshock: Infinite blah blah blah, just find it hard to go back.
If by DLC I believe you are excluding expansions (which means I can’t suggest ODST). So I would suggest the Undead Collection DLC for Red Dead Redemption.
I would also suggest the DLC for Mark of the Ninja. Mainly because it comes with commentary for all levels that are really indepth about how they designed the game.
OOOooooo I had forgotten about that.
Undead Nightmare was absolutely fucking fantastic!
Undead for me too
Bought it ages ago but still haven’t played it (got to finish the main campaign first)
:O
Ok, what are you doing right now? Ok, just stop it! Go put in RDR and finish that mofo!
In all seriousness, one of my top 3 games of all time. The ending is phenomenally good!
Totally agree. Best DLC ever
Agree. Undead Nightmare was second to none in my mind.
Undead Nightmare is number 1 with a bullet!
I can’t go past “The Lonesome Road” DLC for F:NV. Superb
I really enjoy the Call of Duty Black Ops DLC, I’m a zombies mode fan so love it when a new map comes out!
I craved for new Zombies DLC every few months. Then kept up to date as people attempted to crack the new easter egg each time.Man, Origins was pretty amazing. I can’t wait for Treyarch next year, devastated it wasn’t this year.
I was always seriously impressed when people worked out the Easter egg, like they are always so damn elaborate. Origins was awesome, I think I preferred the moon though if only for the reduced gravity lol
Yep, not sure how long it would take me to figure it out on my own, if i’d even be able that is. Moon was very cool. That microwave zombie popping Wave Gun, so good. Although I did try to make sure that the excavator didn’t breach that Bio-Dome, otherwise floating zombies and all…. shit got out of hand, haha.
The extractor!! Oh shit man you’re taking me back, you couldn’t lime up head shots when the dome was cracked!!
My 2 favorites would have to be Mass Effect 2 Lair of the Shadow Broker and Left Behind for the Last of Us. Both give a lot of extra back story and were quite lengthy, it didn’t feel like just content for the sake of it, it was actually engaging and enjoyable the whole way through.
HIGH FIVE.
Great minds amirite?
Lair of the Shadow Broker was amazing! Good thing you were here because I couldn’t remember the name of it!
Spot on
I’d lump all of Mass Effect 1-3’s story based DLC together as the best DLC of all time. None of it felt like important content cut from the game but almost all of it felt important or at least meaty enough to play.
I loooooooved me some Mass Effect DLC. The Lair of the Shadow Broker in ME2 is probably my favourite, with the Citadel in ME3 being such a great fan service and soooo fun.
I very much so enjoyed The Last of Us DLC, Left Behind. I also enjoyed Hearthstone for Skyrim (SkySim), and most of the Fallout 3 DLC.
The Last of Us: Left Behind. Felt like how the game would start if it followed Ellie’s story instead of Joel. Just as good as that amazing opening sequence from the core game. I loved how it was a more contained personal story.
This & the overlord one from ME2.
Also, all the New Vegas stuff is solid!
Borderlands DLCS, Dead Money – Fallout New Vegas, does farcry 3 blood dragon count as dlc? dishonored – knife of dunwall / witches of brigmore
Horse Armour! No one can deny that was the pinnacle of DLC. Ok, ok. Put the pitchforks and day one Torch DLC down, I’d say it’s probably either the Knoxx or Tiny Tina DLC for Borderlands 1/2.
+ 1 for the Horse Armour that shiz was dope ! (#sarcasm)
Darn, beat me to it… nothing beats a tricked-out horse!
My next ironic choice would be the swimsuit competition DLC for Atelier Totori.
Seriously… the “Flames of Vengeance” addon for Divinity 2 was pretty good, not least because it had a raft of bug fixes for the original game, then tacked on what amounted to another game of about the same length which included a proper resolution of the plot.
(The original game ended on what could reasonably be considered a down note:
You were imprisoned for eternity in chains in an alternate dimension while Damien, the villain of the first game, was clearly headed towards a successful world conquest.)Fallout new vegas old world blues was great as it took the best part of the newer fallout games (exploring a vault) and made it bigger.
Oblivions shivering isles dlc was great as it added a tonne of new content and really showed how real dlc should be done and was closer to the old expansions we used to get.
Thank you! Shivering Isles showed how large-scale dlc should be done. But for smaller-scale, I’d have to say Lonesome Road for Fallout: New Vegas really brought the rest for that game together. And let’s not forget Fallout 3’s Point Lookout for that great trip-out sequence.
I don’t know if it would be my favourite, but I loved F:NV so much and Old World Blues gave me an excuse to sink even more time into it.
I was going to say shivering isles. It brought a fresh weird vibe (kinda morrowindy) to a very vanilla game and was a whole game in itself. Plus Sheogorath.
Mothership Zeta for Fallout 3. So much fun, so campy and over the top.
ME3 Citadel was also brilliant.
EDIT: Actually, going to go super-hipster and mention Master Levels for Doom 2. Not really DLC, but a collection of user made content downloadable from the internet, collected and released on CD. So it kind of was. Sort of. Some amazing maps and content on that puppy. Still got my copy laying around somewhere…
I’d say BF3 Premium I prob got the most out of.
I actually really like the Atorias of the abyss DLC for dark souls due to the amount of Lore and gameplay it added to the overall storey (do yourself a favour any play it if you haven’t Mark, I know your a DS fan), haven’t completed the DS2 DLC as yet so I cant comment (but I just don’t feel the same about DS2 as I did about DS1, so I cant see myself enjoying it as much.
Also, the TW:Shogun 2 DLC (I know it was a standalone) but that was pretty special the way it changed the whole game around (for the better I think, also naval bombardments FTW!).
special mentions to Civ 5 (of Gods and Kings), The Oblivion DLC and Fallout 3 DLC’s.
I’m going to say the ‘Raven Bonus Map Pack’ for Jedi Academy.
Game was out September 2003, and in December Raven released a HUGE pack of multiplayer maps from various game-types. They were likely maps which weren’t finished in time for the full release, but they were all top notch and added a lot to the game.
Though objectively debatable, reason it stands out to me as best DLC was because it landed the week before a huge LAN party we were having, so the new maps were a huge hit and a lot of fun to play.
Conquest of Byss space station map: Standing at the terminal, finger hovering over ‘E’. Waiting patiently for someone to jump onto the force-field floor. Then timing it, turning off the floor just in time for them to fly to their deaths….. priceless! :p
[IMAGE to jog anyones memory perhaps!] http://screenshots.filesnetwork.com/38/files2/21384_21.jpg
jedi academy multiplayer was underrated. Used to have a blast playing that even with the cheesy move where you could make your lightsaber fly around you hitting anyone near you. That and if you challenged someone to a duel and spammed attack before the timer ran out you could kill people before they had time to react due to server lag.
Force choking people and dropping them off ledges was my fave. 😀
OG DLC, Tales of the sword coast for Baldurs Gate
That Morrowind Island in skyrim.
Been thinking, as a big fan of Japanese games, I cant remember any really solid Jp DLc.
That’s because they release the game again with all the new content. Like Super street fighter alpha arcade edition deluxe 3….
I agree. Japanese DLC tends to be more oriented towards items, characters, costumes and level cap unlocks. There have been a few games that add new areas, but never on the same scale as Western games.
Or if it’s a Final Fantasy game, the DLC can be the ending of the game.
Which one’s this?
FFXIII-2. http://gamerant.com/final-fantasy-xiii2-ending-dlc-director-trung-129491/
Lair of the Shadow Broker was pretty excellent, I also liked pretty much all of the DLC for the Fallout 3/New Vegas games, with the exception of The Pitt and Honest Hearts respectively, which I found rather dull. They had enclosed stories that were supposed to feel like a big deal and contribute to the mythos of the wasteland/mojave but didn’t really leave an impression on me at all.
Hands down Battlefield Bad Company 2 – Vietnam expansion
My favourite DLC are the songs and albums i bought for Rockband and Guitar Hero. Nirvana, Janes Addiction, RHCP, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins. I was 16 when Nevermind came out so was stoked when all that music was available as DLC.
Hard to remember… the best DLCs I remember have been ones that rounded out the existing game – Anno 2070: Deep Ocean, EU:IV’s Wealth of Nations, Civ V’s expansions.
Story DLC is occasionally pretty great (LoU: Left Behind was amazing) but it usually gets released long after I’ve lost interest in the game, so I don’t normally play it unless the original game really captivated me.
Edit: Oh, how could I forget my Rocksmith “subscription”? It’s occasionally tosh, but there are some amazing songs on there now.
battlefield bad company 2 vietnam was the best battlefield DLC in my opinion, the series only went down hill from here.
Saints Row 4.
Haha, nice.
Bioshock Infinite Burial at Sea
First DLC I think I actually preferred to the main game (and I loved Infinite!), though Citadel came close.
Mine has to be Far Cry 3s Blood Dragon. That was the first time I ever went out of my way to purchase DLC. I loved how it never once took itself serious and was just a complety different game
Civ V’s Brave New World. Love the way they changed the culture victory, but most of all I love the introduction of trade-routes and how they balance the reward of long distance trading with the risk of pillaging, and stop players who’ve gone tall instead of wide from hiding in their tiny borders…
Fallout New Vegas – Lonesome road dlc is one of my favorites
I really should go back and finish that one. I think my problem was that I was at max level by the time I got to it and there was just no challenge in the gameplay and without the gameplay the drive to slog though the linear DLC just wasn’t there.
true that but hey if your a fallout fan you will finish it just for the sake of it i did 🙂 was quite enjoyable , altough the whole fallout game was enjoyable to me and i wish their was more games like it
Undead Nightmare in RDR;
Minvera’s Den in Bioshock 2;
Burial at Sea in Bioshock Infinite;
Far Cry: Blood Dragon;
Infamous: Festival of Blood; &
The Lost Hobo King in Stacking
Burnout Paradise
Bikes & Island
The problem I have with some DLC in narrative-focused games is when they get inserted into the story after you’ve finished it. Like the developer is telling you to amend your memory of this story to factor in this new thing they included, which changes the story somewhat.
That doesn’t sit well with me. The story has been told already, dammit, no inserting things!
That said? A bunch of the Mass Effect DLCs were of incredible value to me. The Shadow Broker and The Arrival enriched the story. It’s a shame they weren’t part of the base game.
Others have mentioned Red Dead Redemption’s Undead Nightmare which was definitely a worthy entry.
Dark Souls’ ‘Artorias of the Abyss’ is pretty much vital.
Does Far Cry: Blood Dragon count? How about major content updates to MMOs?
Blood Dragon is my favourite – especially seeing that it is Standalone DLC – I never bought Far Cry 3 having bought too many shooters that season, but when that came out I couldn’t resist and I repaid with a brilliant, funny and daring game
This year I will be getting Far Cry 4 – they earned my dollars!
Dammit, got here too late. Stupid work 😛
But the best DLC of all time was more like a DLC precursor. I’m talking about the e-reader cards for Super Mario Advance 4.
Not just new levels for the game, but even new items and level modifiers that affected how you played all the existing levels too. Totally changes the game, and it’s why SMA4 is my most favourite Mario game of them all. 2D, at least.
How can everyone forget the horse armour in TES Oblivion? It gave so much to the game, expanded the lore and made it a truly immersive experience. It is the benchmark by which all other DLC are measured now.
Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker gets my vote.
Oh actually, another pretty good one was, of all things, Mario Kart Wii. Those weekly DLC challenges were really cool, and it was great fun comparing your results against your friends list and trying to one-up them.
GTAIV episodes, RDR Undead Nightmare, Dark Souls 1 & 2 DLC, Oblivion Expansion – basically if it’s got several hours of new content that’s almost enough to be a standalone game then it has my attention. If it’s new hats and multiplayer packs then I can’t be bothered with it.
Blood Dragon. End of discussion.
The DLC that is banished to my original Xbox HDD that has a faulty DVD drive. I miss Rallisport 2.
(Or I could stop whinging and fix it)
Burnout Paradise had by far the best DLC strategy since most of it was free and the stuff that wasn’t was still worth buying. I really enjoyed the Dawnguard and Dragonborn expansions to Skyrim as well.
Valkyria Chronicles on PS3 has a great piece of DLC called Behind Her Blue Flame that expands on Selvaria’s story in a really great way too.
Battlefield BC2 Vietnam was my favourite by far
Great call. I played so much of the original Vietnam that when I found out BC2 was coming out with the Vietnam expansion I bought the game specifically for it.
Sadly from that point I played an ungodly amount of BC2 Vietnam and literally not a single match of BC2 – which by all accounts is a very good game.
It’s busy again (thanks to being the free game on XBL ATM)
Ahh good I downloaded it a couple of days ago and hoped that would be the case.
Lair of The Shadow Broker or Blood Dragon.
ohh i remember !!! that one where i didn’t have to pay a dev 6 months after release for content that was already on the game disc… that was a great one!
star craft: brood war
Obvilion shivering isles was one of my favourites. An interesting main antagonist and a completely new looking shint area. I still remember seeing the night sky for the first time, so damn pretty. Didn’t really enjoy the Skyrim ones, they were far too focused and closed in their themes.
Devin Townsend’s Ziltoid The Omniscient album on Rock Band 3. Hell, Townsend himself recorded new pieces of dialogue for it, making fun of the player the whole time for playing a plastic guitar and not knowing how to play a real one. And if you play vocals on ZTO, he forces you to shout “Balls. Balls! BALLS!!!”
Mass Effect 3: Citadel.
Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker is a very close second.
The Citadel DLC for Mass Effect 3 was exactly the edible fan service I wanted after finding disappointment in the game’s ending.
Also, the 2 DLC story packs for Resident Evil 5 were pretty great. Each very different in tone – with Lost in Nightmares a nice throwback to the quieter suspense and puzzles of the older titles, and Desperate Escape an intense, action-heavy ride of relentless enemies.
The Pitt, from Fallout 3 is good from memory.
The Dragonfall DLC for Shadowrun Returns was far superior to the content in the original game (and has now been made into a separate game).
Oh yeah. I still gotta finish that, but I enjoyed Dead Man’s Switch.
For me, it’s gotta be The Lost and the Damned for GTA IV. Redeemed that entire game for me.
I like my DLC to have some fan service in it. After all, it’s mostly the fans who buy the damn things anyway so they may as well cater to them! So for me second place is a tie between Lair of Shadow Broker and Burial at Sea Episode 2. Lair was like an epic little movie and really expanded some of the more fascinating sides of Mass Effect and had a great final level. Burial at Sea Episode 2 wonderfully upended Bioshock and turned it into a surprisingly gripping stealth game and had a plot that heart breakingly but beautifully tied together the stories of both Infinite and Bioshock 1. My favorite by a nose is ME3’s Citadel mission, mostly because after the anticlimatic ending, that entire DLC felt like one giant chocolate apology cake to all the fans that invested so heavily. Plus they wonderfully found a hilarious role for every single character throughout the three games and had the greatest party in any game ever.
For me, without a doubt, that one from Fallout New Vegas. It’s name slips my mind at the moment, but it’s the one with the crazy scientist robots. It was my favourite mission of any Fallout game.
Old World Blues?
I’m not sure it technically counts as DLC (wikipedia lists it as a “standalone expansion”) but Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is so much better than Far Cry 3, and by itself stands so strong just as a standalone game while also adding new game modes and strategies to the original game. If that doesn’t count, then it’s obviously the Portal 2 community test chambers – infinite DLC forever for free. Can’t get better value than that.
For me it would have to be CoD’s DLC in general which is fantastic sometimes and terrible others.
Also Heroes of Might and Magic – the new factions that get added in through expansions – but that’s debatable if its dlc.
Hearthstone – Nax was wicked fun but too short lived!
Now going forward – I want my fave to be destiny… One can hope they release good dlc to come.
Speed pants from AC Unity (hands) pants down
Seriously though, TLOU DLC is pretty good
deus ex hr the missing link, dragon age ultimate edition etc
I know it’s not much but I love Hearthfire for Skyrim! It adds a lot to the atmosphere and I enjoyed building my house from the group up, somewhere near Morthal. It may not be a popular choice for best Skyrim DLC, let alone best all time DLC, but I love it.