Best Expansions across all genres?

[NecroLord]

What are some of the best video game expansions you can think of?
I'm thinking stuff such as:
Quake: Scourge of Armagon
Half-Life: Opposing Force
Age of Empires 2: The Conquerors
Dark Forces 2 Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith

What are your picks?

 

[mkultra]

Gothic II: Night of the Raven or maybe Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Mysteries of the Sith... that one is not exactly... highly regarded. but i'm not sure i played it, i probably did but can't remember anything from it.

 

[Drakortha]

The Sims: Livin' Large

 

[NecroLord]

Mysteries of the Sith... that one is not exactly... highly regarded. but i'm not sure i played it, i probably did but can't remember anything from it.

It's great, but a lot harder than the base game.

 

[Chuck Norris]

I think the objective answer would be early Blizzard expansions: Brood War, Lords of Destruction, Frozen Throne. People were hyped for them more than new releases. They were an "event". Nowadays, it's hard to find a DLC or expansion with that level of reverence. Shadow of Erdtree came close, but still, I don't think it reached the same level.

 

[deama]

Mask of the betrayer
Fallout new vegas? Or is that counted as a completely seperate thing?

 

[Falksi]

The amount of quality content which Royal adds to Persona 5 is just silly. Feels almost like a new game at times.

 

[Strange Fellow]

The Dark Souls 2 DLCs are much better than the base game and some of the best stuff Fromsoft has ever done.

Also, Mysteries of the Sith is shit.

 

[Lemming42]

Hexen 2: Portal of Praevus
Call of Duty: United Offensive

Both overall better than the base games.

 

[NecroLord]

Strange Fellow
Yeah, man, Dork Soulzz 2 is da best gaym EVAAAR!
Fromsoft best dev confirmed.

 

[Lawful Pacific]

When I get sick of community slaughter wad, I'll replay Plutonia.

Spoiler

 

[Morenatsu.]

there is no such thing

 

[luj1]

We talked about this but,

• Brood War
• Lord of Destruction
• Yuri's Revenge
• Wake of Gods (fanmade but still)

 

[catfood]

In general pretty much every strategy game expansion was at least good quality. The biggest examples are of course stuff like:

Rise of Rome (AoE)
The Conquerors (AoE2)
Broodwar (Starcraft)
Frozen Throne (Warcraft 3)
Mongol Invasion (Shogun Total War)
Viking Invasion (Medieval Total War)
Yuri's Revenge (Red Alert 2)
Shadow Magic (Age of Wonders 2)
Beyond the Call of Duty (Commandos)
Cataclysm (Homeworld)

And the list can go on and on. The most stand-out exception to this rule is the very unfortunate Alien Crossfire for Alpha Centauri. Winter of the Wolf for Battle Realms was also sadly a poorly made product.

Shooters on the other hand don't fare nearly as well. Pretty much all of the expansions for the classic games are inferior to the base game. I just can't think of any standout ones. Quake, Quake 2, Unreal, Jedi Knight, all of these games had shit expansion packs. The only exception is probably Opposing Force for Half Life. Interestingly enough, the newer official expansions for Quake 1 and Quake 2 were all very solid and probably even better than the base games. I guess when you have 20+ years of experience making maps for these games you can put together some pretty good levels.

For RPG's it's a mixed bag. Tales of the Sword Coast for BG 1 is a lot better than the base game, but Throne of Bhaal is complete garbage. The expansions for Icewind Dale were meh. I didn't particularly liked any of them. The expansions for NWN were better than the base game but that's a very low bar to being with. Mask of the Betrayer was phenomenal though, and SoZ as we all know is SoZzy! R00fles!

 

[Dark Souls II]

Dark Souls II: Crown of the Sunken King
Dark Souls II: Crown of the Old Iron King
Dark Souls II: Crown of the Ivory King

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Stand alone expansions are usually good, such as Dawn of War - Dark Crusade and Supreme Commander - Forged Alliance. Spellforce 3 - Fallen God was also great.

 

[Eldrin]

One Way Heroics -Plus-

 

[JarlFrank]

I just can't think of any standout ones. Quake, Quake 2, Unreal, Jedi Knight, all of these games had shit expansion packs.

You forgot to mention Doom... the Episode 4 they released as a later expansion was utter dogshit.

 

[Reality]

Age of Empires 2 : The Conquerors

Star Craft : Brood War

Roller Coaster Tycoon: Corkscrew Follies

Majesty : The Northern Expansion

So I prefer 90s "standalone game or equal length to vanilla campaign stuff"

It just occured to me that their are more board game expansions that really matter than video games ones.

 

[DemonKing]

I like expansions well enough but it's hard to think of any that have blown me away more than the original game.

I enjoyed the expansion packs for Medal of Honor Allied Assault, Half Life 1&2, Company of Heroes etc but none of them knocked me over like the original. CRPG expansions tend to be particularly troublesome as you're usually just shoehorning in some additional maps/content that sit outside the main quest and are basically just extra long sidequests with some rare exceptions like Mask of the Betrayer.

 

[Damned Registrations]

One Way Heroics -Plus-

I was about to get angry at you but then double checked my games list and realized it was the mystery chronicle version that shat the bed. OWH Plus was indeed pretty fucking awesome.

 

[Eldrin]

I was about to get angry at you but then double checked my games list and realized it was the mystery chronicle version that shat the bed. OWH Plus was indeed pretty fucking awesome.

Yeah, Mystery Chronicles was from a different developer that bought the license from SmokingWOLF, and fcked it up.

One Way Heroics and the Plus addon were remarkable games when it comes to the price-performance ratio.

 

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

Dragon Age Orgins:-Awakening Expansion.

My favourite and pretty much the last of it’s kind for RPGs from medium size/ large studios.

 

[ferratilis]

23 posts in, not even one mention of Expedition. Cocksuckers, the lot of you.

 

[Ivan]

+1 Mask of the Betrayer