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Optional downloadable content for video games of all kinds has been available for players to purchase to build upon already established fun experiences in numerous interesting ways.
People could purchase DLC multiplayer maps to broaden their PVP gaming experience, short DLC campaigns in single-player games, or simple alternate cosmetics for player characters.
However, some DLCs are a bit odd compared to their more serious or dark-toned campaign and core game direction. This doesn’t make wacky DLCs explicitly bad per se, just bizarre at first glance compared to the base game features.
At the very least, wacky DLCs in serious games can help make titles stand out among the crowd or, at worst, be confusing to the game’s intended audience.
Entries are ranked by how bizarre the DLC is compared to base game offerings and how much they impact the title’s overall package.
8 Injustice 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Released
- May 11, 2017
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Alcohol Reference, Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- NetherRealm Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Warner Bros. Games
- Engine
- unreal engine 3, unreal engine 4
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Injustice
- Platform(s)
- PS4, Xbox One, PC, Android, iOS
- How Long To Beat
- 10 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- No
- File Size Xbox Series
- 33 GB (November 2023)
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Set in a world forever changed by a dictatorial Superman, Injustice is, in my opinion, one of the best DC Comics game franchises of all time due to its interestingly dark takes on classic characters and gameplay.
Injustice 2 improved upon Injustice: Gods Among Us’ story, visuals, and gameplay in nearly every way, but one group of DLC fighters is particularly bizarre to include compared to their counterparts: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a fan of the Turtles 2003 TMNT animated series, but the inclusion of TMNT in Injustice is a bit odd given the context of Injustice 2’s universe.
I mean, this is a universe where Superman inadvertently killed his pregnant wife and Metropolis, murdered Billy Batson with his heat vision, and choked Lex Luthor to death.
With a world as dark and violent as Injustice, it was a slightly weird choice to include the traditionally PG Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo in Injustice 2 as compared to the more horror-centric Hellboy.
7 Dante’s Inferno
Disco Inferno
- Released
- February 9, 2010
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content
- Developer(s)
- Visceral Games
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
- Engine
- Visceral Engine
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360
- How Long To Beat
- 8 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- No
Dante’s Inferno is a criminally underrated Visceral Games title compared to the developer’s more famous Dead Space and Sims series.
Based on the 14th-century poem The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Dante’s Inferno’s gameplay is similar to the original God of War trilogy’s combo-centric combat but arguably done so in a more horrifying way.
This is due to Dante fighting his way through the nine circles of Hell filled to the brim with grotesque monsters such as the judgmental squid-like King Minos and hostile tortured souls, including conjoined hoarders/wasters, all to save the soul of his wife Beatrice, whom he cheated on during the Third Crusade.
With such a haunting narrative and visual direction, it was a bit odd when Visceral released a Disco Inferno costume inspired by the 1974 The Trammps song of the same name with Dante’s Inferno’s Dark Forest DLC.
It’s the only alternate costume in Dante’s Inferno that’s outwardly comedic and funky, which makes Dante’s journey of slicing and dicing Unbaptized Minions, Temptresses, and Gluttons rather jarring for me, especially compared to the more tone-appropriate default or even Dead Space‘s Isaac Clarke costumes.
6 Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of the Dead
- Released
- November 9, 2010
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Treyarch
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- iw
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer, Online Co-Op, Local Co-Op
- Franchise
- Call of Duty
- Platform(s)
- PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PC
- How Long To Beat
- 7 Hours
Call of Duty today is infamously known for often featuring DLC cosmetics that severely clash with its modern militaristic style, such as the relatively recent inclusion of Beavis and Butt-Head and American Dad’s Roger as Operator Skins in Warzone.
Long before these jarring skins became commonplace in Call of Duty, the series first dabbled with referencing modern-day pop culture in Call of Duty: Black Ops’ Call of the Dead zombies map from the Escalation map pack.
Here, players get to embody horror film and TV legends Danny Trejo, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert Englund, and Michael Rooker as they struggle to fight off zombies in an abandoned Siberian outpost, all while avoiding the zombified father of zombie films himself, George A. Romero.
Call of Duty: Black Ops’ campaign and traditional zombies maps are what I believe to be some of the darkest seen across the COD franchise, with the campaign dealing with brainwashing and zombies ending with the literal shattering of the Earth itself.
Despite this, Call of the Dead is a wacky celebration of horror in its entirety and one that I routinely play through with friends as a break from some of COD’s single-player solemnity.
Fall of the Space Core
- Released
- November 11, 2011
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda Softworks
- Engine
- Creation Engine
- Cross-Platform Play
- no
- Cross Save
- no
- Expansions
- Skyrim: Dragonborn, Skyrim: Hearthfire, Skyrim: Dawnguard
- Franchise
- The Elder Scrolls
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- How Long To Beat
- 35 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 29 GB (DECEMBER 2023)
- Metascore
- 96
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium (Special Edition)
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Being a Bethesda RPG, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim may not be as serious or dark as other entries on this list due to the game featuring several relaxing and comedic sequences, but its core world-ending threat of Alduin the World-Eater makes one particular add-on rather weird, to say the least.
In 2012, to celebrate the opening of the Steam Workshop for Skyrim, Bethesda and Valve collaborated to create the first official mod of Skyrim with Fall of the Space Core, featuring Portal 2’s Space Core.
Here, Nolan North returns to reprise his space-addicted role of Space Core as the computer personality crashlands into Skyrim for players to rescue and have it tag along on adventures.
As someone who always got a chuckle out of the space core’s space-addicted ramblings in Portal 2, I always installed Fall of the Space Core whenever I played Skyrim on PC to add some lighthearted sci-fi to my medieval Dragonborn journey.
While Fall of the Space Core isn’t a traditional DLC, its official development from Bethesda and Valve warrants it a spot on this list.
4 Dead Rising 3
Super Ultra Dead Rising 3′ Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha
- Released
- November 22, 2013
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol, Sexual Content
- Developer(s)
- Capcom Vancouver
- Publisher(s)
- Microsoft Game Studios
- Engine
- mt framework, forge engine
- Franchise
- Dead Rising
- Platform(s)
- Xbox One, PC
- How Long To Beat
- 15 Hours
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
It wouldn’t be a wacky DLC list without mentioning Dead Rising 3’s rather ridiculously titled Super Ultra Dead Rising 3′ Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha DLC.
This DLC is a four-player co-op 90’s neon-doused mode where players can control Frank West, Chuck Greene, Katey Greene, and Nick Ramos as they compete in several classic Capcom-inspired challenges.
Along the way, players can unlock Capcom-inspired Super Moves and Costumes such as Street Fighter’s Ryu for Ramos, Dino Crisis’ Regina for Katey, and Vampire Savior’s Baby Bonnie Hood for Frank West.
Dead Rising is wholeheartedly more comedic-leaning than its sister zombie franchise Resident Evil, but the original three mainline Dead Rising games are serious enough to make this DLC exceptionally jarring to DR3’s base campaign.
While some of Dead Rising 3’s psychopath bosses are over-the-top and some of its gameplay mechanics are rather wacky, such as the Ultimate Mecha Dragon, Dead Rising 3, at its core, is a serious story about a man striving to save his loved ones and discover the truth about himself.
3 Far Cry 3
Blood Dragon
- Released
- November 29, 2012
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft Montreal
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Engine
- dunia engine
- Franchise
- Far Cry
- Platform(s)
- PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC
- How Long To Beat
- 20 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
Far Cry 3 is an incredibly dark and violent game centered around Jason Brody as he struggles to rescue his friends from pirates on the Rook Islands and slowly becomes a monstrous killing machine, weary of returning to society.
Save for a few crazy hallucinations and dreams, Far Cry 3’s gameplay and characters are mostly based in reality, so when Ubisoft announced Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon in 2013, it was a pretty shocking departure from the base Far Cry 3 and the overall Far Cry franchise.
Inspired by 1980s action and sci-fi films, Blood Dragon drops players in the boots of the military cyborg Sergeant Rex “Power” Colt, played by Aliens’ Michael Biehn, as he fights zombies, soldiers, and titular Blood Dragons, all in a Tron-like visual style.
While Blood Dragon is a crazy, wacky departure from the psychological torment of Far Cry 3’s base campaign, it’s arguably one of, if not the best, iterations of a Far Cry story the series has ever seen.
More often than not, I’ll go back to Far Cry 3 to play Blood Dragon rather than the base Far Cry 3 campaign, purely for its visual style and perfect 1980s reinvention of Far Cry’s world.
2 Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Jack’s 55th Birthday
- Released
- January 24, 2017
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Capcom
- Publisher(s)
- Capcom
- Engine
- RE Engine
- Franchise
- Resident Evil
- Platform(s)
- PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Switch, Stadia, PC
- How Long To Beat
- 10 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard was a return to Resident Evil’s survival horror roots after the divisive, more action-oriented releases of Resident Evil 5 and 6.
Inspired by The Evil Dead, Biohazard follows Ethan Winters as he journeys to Dulvey, Louisiana, to find his missing wife Mia, only to discover an incredibly creepy estate filled with the monstrously mutated Bakler family, giant bugs, and zombie-like Molded.
Many others and I praised Resident Evil 7 for its renewed focus on survival horror, leading Capcom to develop multiple DLCs for the game, but one DLC was quite different from the rest: Jack’s 55th Birthday.
On Jack’s 55th Birthday, players embody Mia, and must roam around various stages of the Baker estate and collect enough food to appease his appetite in short time periods.
This game mode is the most arcade-like in the game and arguably the most ridiculous, as Jack Baker is shown wearing a birthday hat and a clown nose as he eats, making his original menacing presence a bit more comedic, at least for me.
1 Red Dead Redemption
Undead Nightmare
Red Dead Redemption
- Released
- May 18, 2010
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar San Diego
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Engine
- rockstar advanced game engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Red Dead Redemption
- PC Release Date
- October 29, 2024
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
- August 17, 2023
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360
- How Long To Beat
- 18 Hours
- Metascore
- 95
- How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs)
- 46 Hours
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Red Dead Redemption is widely regarded as one of the best cowboy games of all time, thanks to its intriguing tale of redemption and betrayal of former outlaw John Marston.
However, Rockstar Games threw me and thousands of other players for a loop when they announced Undead Nightmare as a zombie-focused story and multiplayer expansion to this early 1900s western tragedy.
While zombies and cowboys may seem like an odd mix at first, Rockstar nailed Undead Nightmare’s execution perfectly, delivering an incredibly fun and engaging horror-western twist unlike any seen before.
It’s a DLC where players can explore Marston’s character from a more heroic perspective in one aspect to roaming around on horseback slaying hordes of special infected and cryptids such as chupacabras, sasquatches, and more in another.
To me, Red Dead Redemption feels incomplete without Undead Nightmare, despite how odd the concept of zombies in the wild west may seem at first, as it elevates the entire game with its unique campaign and gameplay variety that DLCs should always strive to do.
