GLOBAL GAME AWARDS

View 2013 Awards View 2014 Awards View 2015 Awards View 2016 Awards View 2017 Awards View 2018 Awards View 2019 Awards View 2020 Awards

Best RPG

Best Multiplayer

Best DLC/Expansion

This generation has seen a seismic shift from traditional expansion packs to bite-sized downloadable content. Seldom does a game get released now without a flurry of additional content following swiftly behind, and it’s become harder than ever to know which bits will be worth buying. Fortunately, there are still titles that manage to stand out from the crowd, with huge fully fledged expansions that almost feel like new titles in their own right. These are the titles where you just can’t get enough, taking the dynamics of a beloved title and expanding on it in new and compelling ways.

Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood

The common thread among FFXIV is that this MMO, against all odds, has the best Final Fantasy story yet. Stormblood takes that challenge and runs with it, providing one of the grandest, most involving RPG tales we’ve ever seen. It’s amplified by the gorgeous new city of Kugane and two fantastic two playable classes - Red Mage and Samurai. A genre long criticised for its narrative failings, Stormblood breathes new life into the genre with aplomb.

Horizon: Zero Dawn - The Frozen Wilds

Horizon: Zero Dawn was already a special game, and we were only too happy to oblige when Guerilla Games promised us even more of it. The Frozen Wilds is an expansion pack in the truest sense of the work, taking Aloy beyond the northern mountains to the harsh expanse of the Frozen Wilds. This DLC packs hours of new story content, powerful machines to take down, and a huge new area to explore.

XCOM 2 - War of the Chosen

By now we should know Firaxis doesn’t do expansion packs by halves, but even so, we were taken aback by the depth and complexity layered onto an already engrossing tactical strategy game. In true Firaxis fashion, rather than tack an expansion onto the end of XCOM 2’s campaign, War of the Chosen sits on top, filling in all the gaps with the new Chosen, the Lost, several new soldier classes, heaps of new environments, mission types, weapons, and, well, just about everything.

Forza Horizon 3

Everyone knows that any racing sim can be made infinitely better with the use of stunt tracks, and no tracks are more… stunted than Hot Wheels. A match made in high-octane heaven, Forza Horizon 3: Hot Wheels did that rarest of things - an expansion that actually improved on everything the original game had to offer.