From Polygon · Rebecca Corgan · · 1m 30s
9 Best DLCs That Were Even Better Than the Base Game
DLCs that turned base games into wilder, weirder adventures.
In brief
DLCs that turned base games into wilder, weirder adventures. Nine video game expansions created unforgettable experiences by taking their main story and adding creative, unexpected twists. Originally reported by Polygon.
Fallout: New Vegas – Old World Blues
Your brain gets stolen by talking robot scientists and you chase it down in a jar.
“Obsidian’s expansion to the sixth major Fallout game opens with the Courier waking up on an operating table in a secret 1950s research facility called Big MT, missing their brain, heart, and spine.”
Mass Effect 3 – Citadel
You fistfight a clone of yourself in a museum and throw a dinner party for the entire crew.
“By the time Mass Effect 3: Citadel dropped, protagonist Commander Shepard had spent two full games holding the galaxy together through sheer force of will.”
Saints Row 4 – Gat Out of Hell
You fly through actual hell on demon wings to stop the president from marrying Satan.
“Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell escalates from there… somehow. Satan has struck a deal with the alien overlord Zinyak, and part of the arrangement involves marrying off the Boss to seal it.”
Borderlands 2 – Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep
A teenage bomb expert narrates the entire game as a D&D campaign with a made-up dragon.
“For just one DLC, Borderlands 2 stops being a sci-fi looter shooter and becomes a tabletop RPG, narrated live by teenage bomb expert Tiny Tina as she runs her homebrew “Bunkers & Badasses” campaign.”
Red Dead Redemption – Undead Nightmare
John Marston hunts Bigfoot and fights zombie hordes in a co-op survival mode.
“Red Dead Redemption spends its entire runtime being a slow, mournful ode to the vanishing American West.”
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion – Shivering Isles
You become the new god of madness by winning a jester-and-jailer power struggle.
“Cyrodiil, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion ’s main setting, is a fairly conventional medieval fantasy province.”
The Sims 4 – StrangerVille
Your Sim goes grocery shopping in a town secretly infected by a parasitic alien hive-mind.
“The Sims has generally been a chill, cozy game about paying bills, building relationships, and occasionally setting a kitchen on fire.”
The Witcher 3 – Hearts of Stone
You crash a wedding, fight a man’s reflection, and cut a deal with a merchant who’s running all of existence.
“Most of The Witcher 3 is about monster contracts and continent-spanning politics.”
Outer Wilds – Echoes of the Eye
A space mystery hides a village that erased its own memory… plus something in the dark that’s stalking you.
“Outer Wilds is a gentle, melancholy game about looping through the last 22 minutes before a sun dies.”
At a glance
Nine video game expansions created unforgettable experiences by taking their main story and adding creative, unexpected twists.
