Games

RPGs With Must-Play DLC For The Story

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January 19, 2025

Many of the best games to come out of the industry today are RPGs. Excellent stories and a constantly expanding breadth of what games are capable of have often come together to make some of the most memorable and beloved titles on modern consoles. Whenever a beloved game hits the shelves, however, there will always be people clamoring for more – wanting to experience more of what the setting has to offer.

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While many excellent RPGs, like Baldur’s Gate 3, don’t feature any DLCs, a lot of RPGs use DLC as an opportunity to expand the scope of their setting and story. True, several RPGs also use DLC as a chance for Day One bonuses, cosmetics, horse armor, or other insubstantial things – but when done properly, building upon the success and themes of a base game, DLC has the potential to bring new, thriving stories to already beloved titles. The DLC discussed in this list will particularly fill in the blanks left by a main game’s story or flesh out a character’s journey, as opposed to just being DLC with a high quality narrative.

8

Tyranny – Bastard’s Wound

Adds A New Level Of Depth To Companions

Platform(s): Linux
, Microsoft Windows
, macOS
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Released: November 10, 2016

While Tyranny stands as one of the best RPGs in terms of synthesizing its narrative and gameplay, Obsidian’s gem of a title came out a little rough on release. One of the many areas that would be fixed with the release of the Bastard’s Wound DLC was the deeper exploration into the companions available in the game.

Now, players could learn more about the incredibly well written characters like Barik that accompany them on their journey, while also influencing their overall disposition towards others in the world. This was on top of a new area rife with new, high-quality quests and encounters.

7

Fallout: New Vegas – Honest Hearts

Fleshes Out The Intimidating Legion

Systems

Released: October 19, 2010

All four pieces of story DLC in Fallout: New Vegas are incredible feats of storytelling and game design, with each elevating the already classic New Vegas to even greater heights. In terms of elevating the game’s story, however, Honest Hearts fills in some important blanks regarding the lore of Caesar’s Legion.

Learning about Joshua Graham – ‘the Burned Man’ – and his history with the Legion, as well as his thoughts on the Legion currently, makes for some of the best narrative-oriented gameplay in the series, and the questline that comes alongside Honest Hearts is of a similar caliber.

6

Witcher 3 – Blood and Wine

An Excellent Addition To Geralt’s Tale

One of the most iconic DLC releases of all time, Blood and Wine, to many players, exemplifies exactly what RPG DLC should entail. A new setting with plenty of intrigue unfolds before players, but its still connected to Geralt’s story overall.

Like the other titles on this list, Blood and Wine is not simply an isolated pack of quests completely separate from the rest of the game. Toussaint is more than just a detaur for the Witcher, but is an area that will enrich the entire story of the Witcher 3.

5

Cyberpunk 2077 – Phantom Liberty

Dogtown Is A Brutal And Relentless Enclave

Feeding into the main quest and V’s own struggles with Johnny Silverhand, Phantom Liberty plays like a gritty tech noir novel, and is another dosage of slick, dystopic action for those who fell in love with Cyberpunk‘s base game.

With a new, dangerous area of Dogtown to explore, filled with difficult choices, new antagonists, and an incredible main questline, Phantom Liberty stands alongside Blood and Wine as one of the most important pieces of DLC ever.

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4

Elden Ring – Shadow Of The Erdtree

Enhances An Already Amazing RPG

Released: June 21, 2024
Developer(s): FromSoftware
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The groundbreaking, award-winning DLC for Elden Ring greatly enhances the story of the Lands Between, and gives players much more context for the tale that this dark game is trying to tell – one about a gruesome act of murder and betrayal among the gods (maybe. Lorebeards feel free to begin sharpening those pitchforks if this is an incorrect interpretation of every boss weapon’s flavor text).

Understanding more about the Greater Will, the relationship between the gods, and the nature of the setting, all while keeping the nose against the grindstone with even more challenging bosses and enemies, has made this a fantastic piece of DLC storytelling in classic soulslike style.

3

Oblivion – Shivering Isles

Set The Standard For RPG DLC

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Where many would rightfully condemn Bethesda for uttering the words “horse” and “armor” in the same sentence for the first time since mounted cavalry died out post WWI, Bethesda balanced out this affront to player’s wallets with some of the best post-launch content to be added to a game, ever.

Shivering Isles is an incredible piece of storytelling and exploration. While it is almost entirely separated from the main quest of Oblivion, this DLC enhances the protagonist’s personal story greatly, with the ‘canonical’ ending to the Hero of Kvatch’s story culminating in the grand, climactic events that take place in Sheogorath’s land of madness.

2

Mass Effect 2 – Lair of the Shadow Broker

Ties The First Two Games Together Wonderfully

Action RPG

Third-Person Shooter

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Released: January 26, 2010
Publisher(s): Electronic Arts
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Like many BioWare sequels, Mass Effect 2 is deeply, if somewhat superficially, linked to its original game. While many choices carry over from Mass Effect 1 to its sequel, Shepherd, in essence, has something of a fresh start in this title. A new life (literally), a new job, a new organization to work for, and new companions to work alongside.

Lair of the Shadow Broker helps keep Mass Effect 1, and thus the overall story of the trilogy, in the limelight, bringing back a fan-favorite and ensuring that anyone who romanced her gets a great opportunity to touch base between titles.

1

Dark Souls 3 – The Ringed City

A Beautiful Sendoff For This Legendary Trilogy

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While Shadow of the Erdtree is seen as an opus among From Software’s titles, and rightfully so, The Ringed City is a heartbreaking goodbye to a trilogy of titles that, while divisive, managed to completely change the gaming industry for good.

The quest for the Dark Soul (which is kind of what these games were about but also not really) ends here, at the very edge of the world, in the Ringed City. The desperate push to keep a broken cycle going has led players to an area filled with all the storytelling hallmarks they’ve come to love from the Souls series. For those looking to dig past the surface, there’s a tale of tragedy here, culminating with some of the best narrative-infused boss battles that the series has ever seen. For a title that pioneered obscure storytelling and boss battles (pioneered, not invented), that’s a pretty impressive point to end on.