One of the more thrilling rumors or leaks to stir about lately is that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt may be receiving a brand-new story-related DLC, perhaps an expansion of the same scale as Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. Not only would this be fantastic for anyone who adores The Witcher 3, but it is also supposedly intended to bridge the gap between The Witcher 3 and CD Projekt Red’s upcoming Witcher 4, possibly making it required reading before The Witcher 4 launches.
This rumor’s implication has the chance to shake the video game industry. Similar to the plenitude of remasters and remakes, it would be neat if games were revisited years later with substantial story-related DLCs that connect them to new sequels. Such DLCs could be a boon for countless story-rich games, but particularly those with highly anticipated sequels announced or games whose cliffhangers deserve closure.
Batman: Arkham Knight
The fact that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League derailed Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham universe so disastrously and the Arkhamverse community is still so desperate for a new flatscreen game is a testament to how profoundly beloved the Arkham continuity is. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is further evidence of this, as its gameplay and open-world Gotham City are unabashedly comparable to those of Batman: Arkham Knight.
Camouflaj’s Meta Quest 3/3S-exclusive Batman: Arkham Shadow was phenomenal, but its exclusivity as a VR game guaranteed it would be a niche product with a smaller playerbase than the flatscreen Batman: Arkham games. Now, especially with Batman: Arkham Shadow’s sequel having been canceled amid Meta layoffs, the demand for a proper, flatscreen Batman: Arkham game is tremendously high.
Whether it takes place before or after the events of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a sequel could follow Batman: Arkham Knight and carve a path ahead. In preparation, a story-related DLC for the third game in Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham trilogy (the same position that The Witcher 3 is in, ironically) would be a godsend.
For example, there are numerous fascinating story beats that a brand-new Batman: Arkham Knight DLC could touch on, such as Batman’s post-Arkham Knight evolution as the Demon Bat, Bruce Wayne agreeing to join the Justice League, or Tim Drake’s Robin and Barbara Gordon’s Oracle, particularly how they’ve developed as husband and wife. A new, Robin-led Batman: Arkham Knight DLC would be especially pertinent and poignant, seeing as how a clone of Batman supposedly kills Tim later on during the events of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Cyberpunk 2077
Startlingly, it has been over five years since Cyberpunk 2077 was originally released. It doesn’t seem like it has been anywhere near that long, though, because Cyberpunk 2077’s patches and updates have been bandaging its wounds ever since.
Of course, by the time that Cyberpunk 2 launches, that gap will have probably been extended by several more years, and that’s presuming CD Projekt Red’s future development roadmap is rigid and reliable. CD Projekt Red’s Witcher franchise is about to make a big splash, for instance, with The Witcher 4 and a remake of the first Witcher game merely being the tip of the iceberg in terms of what players can look forward to.
If CD Projekt Red is truly choosing to develop a brand-new story-related DLC expansion for The Witcher 3 before The Witcher 4 is released, it wouldn’t at all be out of the realm of possibility for the studio to do the same for Cyberpunk 2077 before its sequel, even if players aren’t having to wait more than a decade for Cyberpunk 2 like they are with The Witcher 3’s sequel.
Plus, it would have the potential to boast some of Cyberpunk 2077’s best content if it’s anything like Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty DLC, which completely eclipsed players’ previous gripes with the game and transformed it into the beloved open-world sci-fi RPG epic it is today.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is more divisive than its web-swinging predecessors, and there would arguably be no better game released in the last few years to receive story-related DLC. This is doubly true thanks to rumors still floating around that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 DLC was canceled, and there is apparently a Venom-led half-sequel game akin to Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales that may or may not be on the table anymore.
Meanwhile, Marvel’s Wolverine—a foray into the X-Men’s corner of Insomniac’s original Marvel universe—is scheduled to be released by the end of 2026, with Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 following it.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s story is full of cliffhangers that guarantee Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 will be unsatisfying if they aren’t all addressed. These include Peter Parker still possessing an Anti-Venom symbiote (with no parasitic or malevolent side effects to worry about) while his best friend, Harry Osborn, toils under a mysterious illness; a Spider-Verse tease that might not have any closure; or super-villains like Carnage or Chameleon being teased, and whose side quests are hopefully considered.
A DLC could give the threequel ample legroom to pursue the ending of the mainline trilogy without having to juggle all these loose narrative threads.
Mass Effect 3
If BioWare’s upcoming Mass Effect game were planned to be indirectly connected to the original trilogy, like Mass Effect: Andromeda, it could probably arrive without a big exposition/lore dump for players to connect the dots. However, it has been made fairly clear that this new Mass Effect game is indeed a sequel to the original trilogy, and there are numerous directions it could take following Mass Effect 3’s multiple endings.
If it is a direct sequel, Mass Effect 4—or Mass Effect 5, if Bioware counts Andromeda as 4—has an obligation to follow one of these endings and confirm that it is canon. The new Mass Effect game’s announcement teaser makes it seem more likely that a canon ending has retroactively been chosen due to its reveal of Liara T’Soni.
Therefore, a story-related DLC bridging Mass Effect 3 to this upcoming installment could be a great way to remind players of all the choices they made in previous entries (it has been nearly 14 years since Mass Effect 3 was released, after all, with no release window in sight for the new title).
Assuming that BioWare’s new game follows Mass Effect story tradition, players may get a say in which ending is canon, as well as what decisions they previously made to affect certain outcomes or relationships.
Likewise, it could also make the transition from the original trilogy to a new sequel much smoother, so long as decades-old choices do still matter and the narrative isn’t branching too far away from Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3.
The Last Of Us Part 2
Just like The Last of Us’s ending, The Last of Us Part 2’s ending leaves a foot in the door for a possible sequel, while still leaving that door shut enough for the IP to be shelved if need be. Despite what Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann has stated, there is no certainty whether there will or won’t be a third Last of Us game.
Regardless, The Last of Us Part 2 is in dire need of story-related DLC that can explore what’s left to be explored and illustrate how a third game’s narrative can take shape. A prequel DLC following Joel and Tommy before the events of The Last of Us, or a prequel DLC further exploring Ellie and Joel’s relationship before the events of The Last of Us Part 2, could easily rival The Last of Us’s Left Behind DLC and satisfy a lot of players.
If The Last of Us Part 3 chooses to debut a survivor group that a brand-new protagonist belongs to, a Last of Us Part 2 DLC could be a palatable way to introduce them before they star in the threequel. Otherwise, The Last of Us Part 2’s best bet for story-related DLC would either be a depiction of Ellie as she survives on her own or goes back to Jackson, or a depiction of Abby and Lev as they reach the Fireflies on Catalina Island. Either way, it’s yet another game that could benefit from The Witcher 3‘s rumored approach to upcoming DLC.
- Released
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May 19, 2015
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content
- Engine
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REDengine 3
- Cross-Platform Play
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yes
- Cross Save
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yes
- Expansions
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The Witcher 3: Hearts of Stone, The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
- Franchise
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The Witcher
