5 Games With DLC Longer Than Most Games

DLC, for the most part, is typically quite short and designed to both deliver a little more joy in an otherwise concluded experience and flesh out aspects of the base game that were left somewhat unresolved. It is always seen as an added bonus for those who enjoyed the original game enough to want to invest a little more money into it. This is, of course, reserved for single-player experiences, as online games tend to have their DLC revolve around additional maps and modes to keep players interested and their attention retained.

However, what interests me the most are the DLC that are longer than most games, ones that end up taking you ten to twenty hours to complete. They’re fascinating because, from a development perspective, they’re infinitely more expensive to make and don’t guarantee a huge return necessarily. Developers are banking on the base game doing so well that the effort and resources pumped into these huge DLCs are worthwhile, and that’s a big risk. Of course, it almost always pays off as the game-sized DLC is discussed ad nauseam and praised for being so generously portioned. Luckily, if you’re searching for games with this kind of DLC, I have curated a perfect selection that will take you all year, or at least a few months, to get through.

5. Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dragon Age: Inquisition is already a fairly long game, especially if you choose to do all of its available side content, which I strongly suggest you do. Of course, if you choose to play through all three of its lengthy DLCs, then you’re adding a significant amount of time to your playthrough. Jaws of Hakkon is Inquisition’s longest DLC, taking roughly 10 hours to beat, which, for reference, is over half of the length of Mass Effect’s main story. It is absolutely worth playing through, especially if you enjoyed Inquisition’s brand of combat and exploration.

Trespasser is a little shorter, coming in at just 7 hours in total, but it is pretty essential, especially if you have aspirations of playing the controversial yet misunderstood Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Finally, The Descent will take players around 6 hours to beat, making it the shortest DLC, but still roughly the same length as Titanfall 2. In total, players are looking at 23 hours of extra content, which is about the length of Dragon Age 2’s entire main story. It is staggering just how much DLC Inquisition got, but all the more impressive that it is all actually worth playing.

4. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Assassin’s Creed games, especially since Origins, have always had fairly generous DLC. Ubisoft, despite its somewhat tarnished reputation, has always supported its single-player games long after launch, tweaking features players weren’t particularly pleased with and adding new missions, entire areas, and story beats for players to enjoy. This care and support is best illustrated by Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which received three extremely lengthy DLC alongside numerous important fixes to the base game that make its already fairly bloated runtime even longer.

If you enjoyed Valhalla, then the roughly 40 additional hours added by the DLC will make it seem as though Christmas has come early. Ragnarok is Valhalla’s longest DLC and takes roughly 16 hours to beat. It is followed by the 14-hour-long Wrath of the Druids, and then the excellent Siege of Paris, which will take around 10 hours to beat. To put it into context, you could beat Assassin’s Creed, Assassin’s Creed 2, and most of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood in the time it takes to complete all of Valhalla’s DLC. While Valhalla isn’t the greatest Assassin’s Creed game ever made, it certainly is the most feature-rich and will absorb all of your time should you commit to beating it.

3. Cyberpunk 2077

It was only a matter of time before Cyberpunk 2077, inarguably one of the greatest open-world games of all time, got an impressively-sized DLC. While it was reportedly meant to get two, including one set on the moon, Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion was frankly more than enough to satiate fans. Delivering around 23 hours of additional content, all set within a brand-new part of the map, and featuring a ridiculously good new plot that rivals the base game in terms of emotion, spectacle, and intrigue, Phantom Liberty may be one of the best DLCs ever created.

Phantom Liberty went above and beyond what was required of it, delivering gameplay features fans felt were missing from the base experience, such as car chase sequences and a greater focus on the underdeveloped factions like MaxTac. It also switched tones ever so slightly, feeling more akin to a spy thriller than Cyberpunk 2077’s more action-intensive story. In many ways, Phantom Liberty could have easily been its own game, with even Dogtown feeling like an impressively sized open-world for a budget title. That is what makes it all the more impressive, and all the more tantalizing to those considering whether to play Cyberpunk 2077 in the first place.

2. Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Just beating Phantom Liberty ever so slightly in the length department is Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s DLC, Torna ~ The Golden Country. Serving as a prequel to the base game, Torna delivers a triumphantly good experience that builds upon the mechanics established in XBC2, adds several new regions, and features a whole new story with a mostly unique cast of characters. It’ll take you roughly around 25 hours to beat if you want to do most of what it has to offer, but it personally took me closer to 40, as I was so enthralled by the new regions and wanted to explore every inch of them.

In many ways, Torna is better than the base Xenoblade Chronicles 2 experience, something that isn’t often the case with a lot of DLC. It can even be played as a standalone experience, which further cements its status as a separate game rather than a DLC. That being said, it is priced far cheaper than Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and comes with a number of other additions for the base game, including new missions, Blades, and items. XBC2 isn’t even unique in its series when it comes to lengthy DLC, as Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition added the 11-hour-long Future Connected DLC (my personal favorite), and XBC3 eventually got Future Redeemed, which takes nearly 24 hours to beat.

1. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

Of course, this list wouldn’t be complete without a mention of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. This is the game that first comes to mind when I think of game-sized DLC. CD Projekt Red was praised endlessly for just how lengthy both Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone were, and it almost became an industry standard. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Assassin’s Creed’s penchant for long DLC was inspired by The Witcher 3. Blood and Wine introduces a brand-new region to explore and will take you around 28 hours to beat. Hearts of Stone adds one of gaming’s best villains and a thoroughly engaging narrative that will take 14 hours to complete.

Again, for context, you could beat all of the original Witcher and half of The Witcher 2 in the 42 hours of additional content that both of these DLCs add combined. Now that they’re bundled into the frequently discounted Witcher 3: Game of the Year edition, there’s really no excuse not to try them out, especially if you’re looking for a truly exceptional fantasy RPG. The Witcher 3’s industry-leading DLC is undeniably impressive, and while perhaps a somewhat unrealistic bar to achieve for most developers, it should be the standard for those that can afford to risk the resources and development time.

Which game-length DLC is your favorite? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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