Good old 2024 was a middling year for DLCs, with relatively few releases. Still, quality trumps quantity, and this year we had DLCs so good they were competing for the Game of the Year title at The Game Awards.
Enjoy this parting gift to mark the year’s end: the best DLCs of 2024, ranked. There is something for everybody here, from obscure indie titles to AAA blockbusters, so take your pick.
8 Rise of Ix
Dune: Imperium
The board game received the Rise of Ix expansion in 2022, but its virtual counterpart joined the party in 2024.
Dune: Imperium builds upon the franchise’s tradition of strong strategy games, and this adaptation follows the aesthetic direction of the new films by Denis Villeneuve.
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Rise of Ix is the first expansion available for the game, and it adds transformative elements to the game, primarily through the tech tree of innovations from planet Ix.
Besides new ships, the Rise of Ix DLC adds new leaders, abilities, and a whole new game mode that supports more concurrent players.
7 Space Age
Factorio
Simulation
Real-Time Strategy
Released August 14, 2020
Developer(s) Wube Software
Publisher(s) Wube Software
Engine Proprietary Engine
ESRB T For Teen Due To Blood, Violence
Metascore 90
OpenCritic Rating Strong
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The Factorio experience depends on who you ask. Some will tell you it is about building circuit boards with extra steps. Others consider it a life-ruining addiction.
Whatever excuse you use to keep playing it, Factorio delivered with its Space Age DLC in October.
The expansion adds four new planets to explore, each with its peculiarities. Fulgora, for example, is a desert where you have nothing but persistent lightning strikes and scrap left behind by an alien civilization that either died or took off before you.
With new planets come new dynamics, augmented by the Quality mod which allows vertical upgrades as an alternative to the endless sprawl.
Rather than just launching a rocket and being done with it, the goal in Factorio Space Age is to build a space platform that can reach the edges of the solar system.
6 Frontline-59 Campaign
Project Wingman
It has been four years since Project Wingman entered the scene, with Sector D2 being the only developer brave enough to take the fight to Bandai Namco’s Ace Combat on its turf.
The Frontline-59 campaign takes pilots to the forgotten Magadan Front, a major engagement happening concurrently with the base game’s timeline.
You play the role of a battered but not broken Pacific Federation pilot who redeploys from the Bearing Strait to defend against a major Cascadian invasion.
In traditional arcade flight sim fashion, Frontline-59 has giant boss planes, insane tunnel-flying sequences, and a trip to extreme environments.
The DLC also adds a distinctive new artistic style that brings that Battlefield 3 nostalgia back.
5 Winds of Change
Regiments
When Regiments came out in 2022, it was a breath of fresh air for real-time strategy players tired of the sweaty meta gameplay of Wargame: Red Dragon.
The streamlined interface, realistic battle mechanics, and excellent ambiance made an impression, but the campaign length left many players wanting more. Bird’s Eye Games heard the cries, and it delivered with the Winds of Change DLC.
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You get cool units and new countries, including the everlasting cool of the French Army’s late 1980s aesthetics, but what Wind of Change shines at is the new War Paths mode.
This dynamic campaign generator works beautifully and is one of the best examples of procedural generation done right.
Winds of Change adds infinite replayability to this hidden gem of modern strategy, cementing it as one of the finest products of the MicroProse revival.
4 Dawntrail
Final Fantasy XIV
Released August 27, 2013
Developer(s) Square Enix
Publisher(s) Square Enix
Engine Originally the Crystal Tools engine, but currently it’s a custom engine using parts of the Luminous Engine.
ESRB T for Teen – Language, Mild Blood, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
How Long To Beat 99½ Hours
PC Release Date August 27, 2013
Xbox Series X|S Release Date March 21, 2024
PS5 Release Date May 25, 2021
Steam Deck Compatibility Playable
How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs) 3347 Hours
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It was a busy year for Final Fantasy fans. The year started with the epic release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (no matter what the haters writing the Square Enix quarterly reports say) and kept up the pace with the Dawntrail expansion for Final Fantasy XIV.
While Final Fantasy XVI’s Rising Tide DLC floundered, Dawntrail made waves in the community. As with any Square Enix release, it had its fair share of detractors but kept a positive balance.
Dawntrail takes a more grounded approach to storytelling, moving away from the more dramatic ‘the world is ending’ shenanigans of previous expansions.
There is nothing revolutionary about it, but that can be a good thing. The low-stakes approach allowed Dawntrail to focus more on storytelling, aided by the improved facial animations and beautiful soundtrack.
3 The Lake House
Alan Wake II
Remedy Entertainment has a rich IP library, and the Finnish company is not afraid to mix and match.
The Lake House DLC for Alan Wake II takes you inside the mysterious brutalist wonders of the Federal Bureau of Control’s facility by Cauldron Lake. You play as FBC agent Kiran Estevez, who is the only familiar thing on this horrific site.
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Alan Wake 2 is packed full of Easter eggs and references to other properties – Remedy’s or otherwise.
The five floors of the research facility feel as infinite as they feel unsettling, and the developers managed to strike the perfect balance between tension, horror, and pure enjoyment.
The Lake House makes you feel small compared to other Remedy titles, as you have no powers or supernatural gadgets to help you.
Once inside the facility, every corner of it brings nothing but terror, and you have to use whatever tools at your disposal to make it out alive.
2 Shadow of the Erdtree
Elden Ring
Most DLCs live and die quietly, enjoying plenty of love from the game’s existing fanbase but never making serious waves elsewhere.
None of this applies to Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. We are talking about a DLC so good and thorough that it scored four nominations at The Game Awards (Best RPG, Best Art Direction, Best Game Direction, and the coveted Game of the Year category).
The nomination did not go down well with many gamers since we are talking about a DLC rather than a full game, but the message is clear: Shadow of the Erdtree is a banger.
We are talking about over 40 new bosses, an incredibly dense Realm of Shadow, and a soundtrack that goes hard.
The artistic value of the DLC is unmatched, but it is still held back by performance issues that can defeat powerful computers.
1 The War Within
World of Warcraft
Released November 23, 2004
Developer(s) Blizzard
Publisher(s) Blizzard
Engine Unreal Engine
ESRB T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence (online interactions not rated)
Expansions World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic
X|S Optimized yes
Steam Deck Compatibility yes
Cross Save yes
Cross-Platform Play pc, ps
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The year 2024 marked the 20th anniversary of World of Warcraft, and Blizzard whipped up a worthy reward for players.
The War Within came out in September, and it earned universal praise for being the best World of Warcraft release in years.
Although at surface level this might seem similar to any decent DLC for the series, one of the standout features of The War Within is that it does not require you to be a full-time player to enjoy it.
You can comfortably pace yourself through the story alone, with NPC allies joining you if you go dungeon-busting.
The expansion also rewards your time in ways that feel almost alien for World of Warcraft. From the cutscenes to the artistic impressions left in every corner of the DLC content, The War Within feels like a war cry.
World of Warcraft is not only alive, but it is improving. Saying “happy anniversary” never felt this joyful.
Next
Eight more dungeons added to the roster!
