Team Talk | What is the best DLC you've played?

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The Division 2's Warlords of New York expansion is sure to please fans of the series, as it takes players back to the place it all started – The Big Apple. DLC can fundamentally change the game or simply add more of the good stuff, and these downloadable content drops are essential.

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by Chris Brand

@SuperCrisco

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by Team PTC

@pass_controller

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Chris | Mass Effect 3 - From Ashes

Mass Effect 3's From Ashes seems integrated with the base game so well, it's as if it was purposely cut out to be sold as DLC sometime later. Whether or not that's the case, From Ashes adds more than just a new companion.

Javik, a Prothean revived from stasis some 50,000 years after the destruction of his race, represents hope. As an Avatar of Vengeance, and the last surviving member of his species, Javik has an axe to grind and first-hand experience of fighting the Reapers. The Prothean is, initially, mistrustful of his rescuers, but his single-minded determination to put an end to the Reapers sees him ally with Shepard and Co.

Over time, Javik warms to the crew of the Normandy, sharing details about his life and race that were previously thought lost to the ages. He quickly became my permanent companion as I jetted around the galaxy, introducing my new friend to everyone I met, to see how they react to a real-life Prothean. 

Ultimately, his presence amounts to nothing; Commander Shepard will still have to choose between the same three, unsatisfying, fates once the grand plan is played out, but the journey to get there is more complete.

Joker's suggested moniker, Prothy the Prothean, did not go down well.

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Sam | Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening

After being somewhat enamoured by the concept of DLC following its mass adoption - more from your favourite games is, after all, an exciting prospect - it didn’t take too long for me to fall out of love. It’s been largely bastardised and devalued to the point that I now just ignore 99% of DLC. 

I had to look back to the Xbox 360 days to compose a shortlist that largely consisted of the usual suspects. Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den, The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles; all are well-recognised for their contributions, but Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening narrowly takes the crown for me.

I’ve sung the praises of Dragon Age: Origins before, and for all the same reasons I love Awakening. What sets it apart, though, is that it’s essentially a sort of quasi-sequel made in the same engine.

Awakening features an all-new cast and narrative underpinned by the same excellent gameplay found in the main game. It can be hard at first to leave your old companions behind, though the (former) masters at BioWare excelled at making you grow attached to the fresh band of virtual vagabonds in no time.

The perfect mix of old and new.

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Liam | Call of Duty: World at War - Der Riese

The most fun I’ve probably had with a DLC would have to be Call of Duty: World at War’s Map Pack 3, specifically it's Zombies map, Der Riese. Me and my older brother would regularly link up for a game of “zombs,” so much so that I still remember our preferred strategy more than a decade later.

We’d save ammo and currency during the early rounds by taking out the weaker zombies with a few melee hits, then once they started to speed up, we’d move to the right of the main room where we’d each pick up an MP40 and wait out the next few waves in a long corridor.

We’d stay there until we hit the dogs that appeared every few rounds, replenishing our supplies with the Max Ammo power-up they always dropped. When things became too crowded, we’d make our way towards the back of the factory in the hopes of nabbing a Browning 0.50 cal or MG42 from the mystery box before holing up on a raised platform in the adjacent room.

It was a perfect spot to defend; enemies could only attack us from the front, and we could snipe at them from afar with a pack-a-punched “Wunderwaffe DG-2” if we were lucky enough to have one.

Running and hiding are not options.

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James | XCOM 2: War of the Chosen

There isn't a lot of DLC that will draw me back to a game that I've moved on from (though when we get more Control you know it will be beckoning me back in), but XCOM 2's War of the Chosen had me replaying the whole game from start to finish.

Some DLC updates, even substantial ones, can feel tacked-on or disconnected from the rest of the experience. Perhaps your character wakes up one morning and an island is suddenly accessible where it wasn't before, or a new character suddenly appears to give you an intricate series of missions which take you to an area you've been before, but now...it's at night.

War of the Chosen brings us back to the turn-based alien invasion of Earth and adds features like bonds between your squad-mates and negative traits which happen following trauma for your units.

Most importantly, there are charismatic villains in the eponymous Chosen, who bring a sense of dread and panic when they turn up uninvited in the middle of a battle, and ultimately make the climax far more satisfying.

For the record, if you haven't tried the game by now, you can probably pick it up cheaply these days, and the console controls are excellent.

Check out James' first attempt at saving the planet.

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Share your favourite piece of downloadable content with us below.