When you're playing a game you truly love, it's hard to see it come to an end. That's where downloadable content comes in, usually. You can purchase additional scenarios, events, story instances, weaponry, or a veritable treasure trove of new content that could make a game you've already moved on from feel new again. This year was full of an absolutely excellent selection of downloadable content that not only extended the life of some of the best games over the past year or so, but offered slam dunks in terms of bang for your buck. This is the best DLC of 2016.
The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
This massive piece of downloadable content will go down in the books as one of the greatest things to have happened to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Large enough to nearly be considered a standalone expansion, it introduced players to the world of Toussaint and its striking hues, verdant greenery, and smiling citizenry.
It offered an additional 90 quests, a new Gwent deck, a way to dye your armor and equipment various colors, additional Witcher powers, and a memorable narrative thread that only augmented the excellence that was the main game on its own. Not only did it offer a wealth of new content, but it also offered players the chance to see familiar characters interacting with a different world. It offered a fitting, delightful end to a journey that was already one of the best we'd been given thus far, and it's worth every single penny.
Rock Band Rivals
This hefty bit of content injected new life into Rock Band 4, and despite its premium price tag it offered new ways to enjoy the music players already had, a new competitive Rivals mode to compete with friends (and strangers) across the worlld, as well as a free companion app that allows you to reach out and form bonds with new potential bandmates.
The "Rockumentary" mode marked the game's first narrative-driven experience, making players' custom bands feel even more important in the grand scheme of things, combining schmaltzy live-action documentary segments with hilarious commentary. If you had abandoned Rock Band 4 or relegated it to karaoke status this was a great way to breathe new life into the game once more.
World of Warcraft: Legion
You might not immediately think of this blockbuster MMO's latest expansion as one of the best of the year, but you'd be doing Blizzard a disservice to omit it from any 2016 best-of list. The sixth expansion for the long-running seminal online role-playing game certainly didn't disappoint, offering a new Demon Hunter class, zones to explore, and a strong narrative backed up by diverse quests to quell that hunger for exploration.
It's one of the most diverse and exciting additions to the sometimes stagnant RPG behemoth, and no doubt spurred many ex-World of Warcraft players to jump back into the world once more.
Dying Light: The Following
Dying Light is an excellent zombie apocalypse simulator at its core, combining parkour elements, gory combat, and plenty of ground to explore. The Following took familiar mechanics from the base games and expanded on them further with an important new vehicle in the form of the dirt buggy, which you could explore an enormous brand new world with much more easier than, say, foot travel.
Over ten additional hours of gameplay were shuffled into The Following as well, including skill-based challenges and a neat story twist that definitely surprised and shocked players (including myself.)
XCOM 2: Shen's Last Gift
You can't forget about one of the most excellent strategy games out there, and Shen's Last Gift took XCOM 2 to a place that really made the game feel fresh again. Introducing sentient robots known as Sparks, a brand new class, it offered a much different lens for a game that already captured the imaginations of players. It also brought us engineer Lili Shen, of course, and that made everything worth the while.
What was your favorite bit of downloadable content for 2016?
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replyBrittany Vincent posted a new article, The Best Downloadable Content of 2016
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