Best Games That Started As Expansions

Key Takeaways

• Video games are becoming longer, riskier, and more time-consuming to make, but offshoots from expansions could offer a low-risk chance for innovation.
• Experimental projects during DLC development can lead to unexpected brilliance, transcending original intentions.
• Standalone expansions and mods can evolve into full-fledged, deserving experiences.

Because video games still tend to be reviewed on their length and graphical fidelity, modern video games are getting exponentially longer, riskier, and more time-consuming to make. As such, being a development team on a project where all the serious considerations like asset and game mechanics have been addressed would be a breath of fresh air, and it would mean being able to indulge in the creative freedom to explore more experimental ideas.

While it isn’t always the case, these experiments can lead to unexpected works of brilliance. It is said that with the right spark of inspiration, a work of art often transcends its original form and takes on a life of its own. This applies not only to new video games but also to expansions, downloadable content, and even mods from the community. What starts as a supplement can evolve into a standalone experience well deserving of its own spotlight.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

The Would-Be Mission Pack That Packed A Punch

Given the amount of time between the release date of Grand Theft Auto 6 and Grand Theft Auto 5 (well over a decade), it’s astounding to think that one of the most beloved open-world crime games of all time, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, could have emerged initially as a mission pack when Rockstar had a small window free in their schedule. Rockstar didn’t have the support of their programming staff, as they were busy porting GTA 3 to PC.

In the meantime, the art and narrative design staff got to work putting some extra missions together. Six months deep, the team realized they were looking at a whole new title. From its iconic soundtrack featuring hits from the 80s to its rich cast of characters led by Tommy Vercetti, Vice City, with its iconic 80s soundtrack, sun-drenched atmosphere, and excessive decadence, proved to be more than just an evolution of GTA 3.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

The Retro-Futurism And Explosively Fun Kind Of Insanity

It’s almost impossible to imagine a publisher giving the green light to a studio to create an unabashed love letter to pulpy 80s sci-fi and low-budget action movies. Thankfully, the team at Ubisoft behind Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon had the base of Far Cry 3 to work with, and gamers got exactly that. Perhaps because they recognized that their satirical cyberpunk shooter was drastically different from the base game, Ubisoft decided to release it as a standalone work.

It’s almost hard to see the painstakingly detailed jungle lush under Blood Dragon‘s neon-drenched setting, a VHS-filtered dystopia populated by cyber-soldiers, laser dinosaurs, and a hilariously exaggerated hero (voiced by Michael Biehn). Perhaps because much of Far Cry 3 got stripped out (crafting. skill trees, and many other open-world trappings) during development, Blood Dragon delivers a viscerally condensed experience in terms of playtime that nobody seemed to mind.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

The Standalone Spin-Off That Outshone Expectations

When Uncharted: The Lost Legacy was first announced, it was easy to assume it would be little more than a bite-sized holdover to keep fans entertained until Naughty Dog’s next big project, The Last Of Us: Part 2, was ready for release. The Lost Legacy focused on side characters Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross rather than Nathan Drake, who had finally earned some downtime after several death-defying (and death-blossoming) adventures.

Naughty Dog had originally planned to make Lost Legacy a cheeky side story about Sully in his younger years for Uncharted 4, but the team found that Ross and Frazer had a certain chemistry and appeal as protagonists. What began as a DLC evolved into a fully-fledged, standalone adventure, which should be unsurprising given Naughty Dog’s track record for delivering explosive, larger-than-life sequences in the series prior.

Saints Row 4

The Head And Tail Of An Ouroboros Of Absurdity

If the premise of Saints Row 4 (the ex-thug president of the United States becoming trapped in a virtual world inhabited by 50s sitcom personalities, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, and superpowered gangsters following an invasion by space aliens with laser guns) sounds like too much of a wacky concept for a mainline video game saga about gritty street crime and turf wars, that’s a clear admission of unfamiliarity with the Saints Row series.

Initially conceived as “Enter the Dominatrix,” a much smaller expansion for Saints Row: The Third, the concept “jumped the shark” its way into a full-fledged, an-infinity-of-sharks jumping another infinity-of-sharks game of its own. Volition eventually put out the fourth-wall-breaking “Enter the Dominatrix” DLC for Saints Row 4 (after announcing it on April Fool’s Day), bringing the absurd ouroboros of overindulgent absurdity full circle (or, perhaps, full spiral).

Assassin’s Creed: Mirage

An Ostensible Return To The Series’ Origins

Assassin’s Creed: Mirage began as an expansion of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, with a focus on a smaller, more intimate narrative set in Baghdad. At some point, perhaps inspired by the feedback about Valhalla feeling somewhat “padded out” pacing-wise and bloated in scale, Ubisoft saw the opportunity to bring the series back to its roots, back to the Islamic Golden Age and the time of the original assassins.

Mirage offers a more streamlined experience that emphasizes social stealth amid crowds, parkour, and tight narrative pacing over RPG elements and the massive game worlds that had been somewhat divisive among the fanbase since its foray into skill trees and leveling systems. While Mirage was not as much of a reinvention as some fans hoped, it delivered an experience that harkened back to the formula that many fans had originally fallen in love with.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

Threaded In The Weave Without A Trace

Most games borne out of DLC usually arrive after their parent game, but it seems that Kazuma Kiryu and his story could not be contained before Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth made it to publication. Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name was developed alongside the main game and eventually let loose two months before it.

The word “gaiden” roughly translates to tale or side-story in Japanese and is aptly used, even if it does result in a lengthy title (in contrast with its short and sweet story). The Man Who Erased His Namedetails Kiryu’s journey since Yakuza 6: A Song of Life, threading through the events of Like A Dragon (Yakuza 7) and up until Ichiban’s antics across Yokohama and Honolulu in Infinite Wealth.

The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

Rebuilding The Land Of Hyrule, Physics Up

With the sheer scope afforded to players in Tears of the Kingdom, thanks to its incredible sandbox building and physics system, it would have been a shame if the game had remained just “something to do” after the conclusion of Breath of the Wild.

Despite the addition of new heights and depths, Hyrule does feel very similar between the two, but Link’s Ultrahand, a massively expanded version of Magnesis in BotW, opens up endless possibilities for problem-solving and experimentation via item fusing and construction. Hyrule, once the star of the show, becomes a backdrop for the player’s canvas of lateral thinking and physics exploitations.