God of War: Ragnarök - Valhalla (DLC)

Note: This review contains spoilers for the God of War series.

In celebration of the anniversary of God of War: Ragnarök (Ragnarök­), a piece of free DLC, known as Valhalla, was announced at The Game Awards 2023, for release later in the month. Not only does this DLC contain new story content, it also provides a unique gameplay experience different from the base game, constructed more like a rougelite and with a separate menu option so you can freely jump into it. Having overall enjoyed the base game, I downloaded and played the DLC as soon as I could, finding the story direction intriguing and the gameplay loop well-executed.

Resident Evil 4 - Separate Ways (DLC)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil 4 (2023)

In May 2023, Resident Evil 4 (2023) (RE4R), the modern remake of Resident Evil 4 (2005) (RE4), released to critical and commercial success, though with some criticism aimed at some of the cut content, including the lack of the original Separate Ways campaign. After nearly six months with no official word on any additional content apart from the free The Mercenaries DLC, Capcom would finally announce, and subsequently release, RE4R’s version of Separate Ways as DLC in late September 2023 for $10. While one could reasonably question the idea of holding this content back for later, I nonetheless bought the DLC on release and ended up loving the experience.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach – Ruin (DLC)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach

Although the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise remains as successful as ever, the most recent entry from Steel Wool, Security Breach, has fought an uphill battle. The game launched in a blatantly unfinished state, with glitches galore and a story too vague for its own good. Even with numerous patches that addressed countless issues, its reputation hasn’t quite escaped the one it had since launch. Despite its troubles, however, it still received a free piece of DLC, Ruin, that offered a glimmer of hope in addressing remaining questions from the base game. While it doesn’t quite fix everything within its roughly four-hour runtime (when playing normally), Ruin does still represent a substantial improvement over the original Security Breach to the point where someone would wonder why Steel Wool didn’t simply play to their strengths the first time around.

Little Inferno: Ho Ho Holiday (DLC)

When Little Inferno first came out in 2012, I had a fun time, and on another playthrough 10 years later, I thought it still held up pretty well. Around the time of my second playthrough, a 10-year anniversary celebration was held by developer Tomorrow Corporation, which among other things included a brand new DLC campaign, Ho Ho Holiday, although I admit I did not realize the DLC existed until about a few weeks later. After playing $5 for said DLC, I found the price of admission to be worth it, though only really for fans of the original game.

Hitman 3: Ambrose Island (DLC)

Note: The following review contains spoilers for the Hitman World of Assassination Trilogy.

After about eighteen months of single-player content focused largely on Elusive Targets, Contracts and weapon variations, IO Interactive finally added a new level, Ambrose Island, to Hitman 3 in a free update. As someone who enjoyed the base Hitman 3, the announcement of Ambrose Island intrigued me, partly because it acted as a sign that IOI had finally decided to add more meaningful content to increase player retention instead of timed missions. Although Ambrose Island doesn’t actually last that long, it’s still a great step in the right direction for any future Hitman 3 content.

Bugsnax: The Isle of Bigsnax (DLC)

Two years after the release of Bugsnax, developer Young Horses’ best-selling game, they announced, and subsequently released, a free expansion called The Isle of Bugsnax through a free update. Since I enjoyed the original game, the idea of a few hours of extra content intrigued me, so I decided to check it out as soon as I could and found myself entertained once more by the world of Bugsnax, however briefly.

FF7R Episode INTERmission (DLC)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Over a year after the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, with no word yet on the second full installment, Square Enix released an updated version, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, for the PS5. Square Enix not only offered this upgrade for free for existing PS4 owners, sans those who downloaded the free PS+ version, they also released a piece of DLC exclusively for PS5 owners (as of this writing). This DLC, FF7R Episode INTERmission, would explore Yuffie’s role in Remake and release as a separate $20 purchase for those who didn’t purchase Intergrade. This was how I played it, as I didn’t want to buy the same game again at full price, though the process involved in getting to that point ensured that I couldn’t actually play it on launch day. As soon as I could play it, however, I explored just about everything it had to offer and found it worth the asking price. Mostly.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard DLC (Banned Footage Vol. 1 and 2 + Not A Hero + End of Zoe)

When I first played Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, I was aware of the additional Banned Footage DLC that came out after the game’s launch. However, I wasn’t willing to spend $25 at the time to play them and wouldn’t get a chance myself until the Gold Edition re-release had them, plus End of Zoe, on the disc. As part of my deep dive into Resident Evil 7 for a proper review, I naturally revisited the game's DLC, but did so in rough chronological order. Since this was a second playthrough, it actually worked out pretty well.

Little Nightmares: Secrets of the Maw (DLC)

Shortly after the release of Little Nightmares, a three-part DLC was released called Secrets of the Maw, which follows a different protagonist known as the Kid as he explores new areas of the Maw. My plan was to play the entire thing after all three episodes had been released, however I ended up putting it off for some time until I noticed that the Season Pass was discounted to $5 instead of $10. Even then, I couldn’t access the DLC right away until I learned that, despite purchasing the pass, I still had to claim and download each chapter individually. After finally getting to play through the DLC, I found it to be a worthy addition to the world of Little Nightmares.

The Last of Us Remastered + Left Behind

Note: This review contains spoilers for The Last of Us and Left Behind

I originally played The Last of Us when it came out seven years ago on PS3 and though I remember liking it, I didn’t think about it again until The Last of Us Part II was announced. As time went on, however, I lost interest in playing the sequel, due to certain behind-the-scenes information that came to light and certain information from leaked footage. This made me consider replaying the original The Last of Us to see if my opinion had changed after all this time, which I fulfilled through the PS4 remaster, released only one year after the PS3 version, which I had bought but never opened. Doing this made me realize why I liked it in the first place, but now I see the flaws a lot more.

Moss - Twilight Garden (DLC)

Last year, a year and a few months after the release of Moss for the PlayStation VR, a free update was released that added access to a special level known as Twilight Garden. I will admit that I honestly did not know about this new content until recently, however once I learned about it, I booted up the game again so I could check it out. After doing so, I felt that, while short, it was an interesting way to expand on the story and gameplay.

Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind + Concert Video (DLC)

Note: The following review contains spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III.

When I played Kingdom Hearts III last year, I liked it overall, but thought it had something missing within the comparatively weak storytelling and mishandled gameplay. A free Critical Mode patch fixed this, but the idea of paid DLC was still officially on the table. This came to fruition with Re Mind, a $30 expansion ($40 if you want exclusive concert footage) that promised additional story content related to the ending of the game, along with some additional bonuses. Naturally, I pre-ordered the $40 version and played it as soon as I could to see if it could fill in that part of game that felt incomplete. While it did accomplish that to some extent, it felt overpriced for the amount of content I got.

Sonic Forces (+ Episode Shadow)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Sonic Forces.

The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has had its ups and downs over the years, including a rocky transition to 3D, but nevertheless remained popular and profitable. To commemorate the franchise’s 25th anniversary, Sega announced Sonic Forces in 2016, which released the following year in 2017 and notably featured character customization. I had pre-ordered it at the time, mainly for the Persona 5-related DLC that came with it, and felt that the game was lacking at its initial $40 price point. Now, nearly two-and-a-half years later with a full replay of the game, my original opinion hasn’t changed all that much.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - Extra Op: Jamais Vu

When Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes first came out on March 18, 2014, it was a big deal that the PlayStation and Xbox versions of the game would both be getting exclusive content in the form of an Extra Op. For the former it would be Déjà Vu and for the latter it would be Jamais Vu. During my review, I covered what goes on in the Déjà Vu mission, with Big Boss recreating moments from Metal Gear Solid on Camp Omega, as well as find logos for the other games and make them disappear with a special light. It was unknown at the time if the exclusive missions would make it to the other consoles until on May 1, 2014, where the missions were finally patched into the other version. More recently, I finally found out how that worked and popped in my PS3 copy of the game to find out just what Jamais Vu was like. For the most part I’m glad I finally got to play it, but I’m not sure I missed too much of anything.

Before I begin, I also want to point out that this will count as a DLC review, since, as far as I know, this content did not originally exist on the disc.

During the loading screen, the player is treated to a text narration discussing possibilities within our universe. Our galaxy consists of about 300 billion stars; about half of these are orbited by planets and on average two planets per star have the conditions to support life, so it is entirely possible that the universe is home to a myriad of life forms. The sorts of intelligence that might develop on these worlds are beyond our imagination, but we also cannot say that our universe is the only one. At the quantum level, Schrodinger’s Cat, where the cat is simultaneously alive and dead, is in effect until a wavefunction collapses under observation. During this observation, these two possibilities branch off into new worlds until the universe splits infinitely. If the universe continues to split into infinity, it is possible that it will eventually recreate scenes from the past, and if it played out differently, then our reality wouldn’t be negated, but a new future would be created out of that paradox. This is one possible story in one possible universe, born of paradox, after paradox, after paradox…

After that justification of this non-canon Extra Op, the mains story is thus: A soviet commuter jet crashed near Camp Omega and something came out of the wreckage before telecommunications blacked out for 24 hours. After this period of time, their report was a suspicious “conditions normal” before ceasing communication. It was confirmed later that the base had been taken over by body-snatchers, referred to as “Snatchers”, who killed most of the soldiers there and stole their identities. Due to their suspicions, the CIA hires the Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF) to investigate and eliminate the Snatchers on the base. As explained by Kazuhira Miller, the mission is too great for Big Boss to handle, so they end up hiring a time-travelling cyborg named Raiden to take care of the Snatchers, as his body would be immune to their abilitites. In exchange, MSF will give Raiden all of the XOF patches that they have previously collected (the mission, like Déjà Vu, becomes available upon getting all nine XOF badges in the main game). Thus, on the day of XX/XX/XXXX at 00:01, Raiden is dropped into Camp Omega to begin his mission.

How you know you've found a Snatcher.

What I like about this story is that while it does end up amounting to “it’s an alternate universe”, the narration goes out of its way to explain exactly how something like this would be plausible in the world of Metal Gear trough the application of real world science. It’s fascinating really, since one aspect I love about the series in general is how detail-oriented it is (despite the occasional retcons of course). I find the idea fascinating in general though that Raiden, as he appears in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, can even be in the same place and time as Big Boss. Not only that, but the plot being inspired by both Invasion of the Body Snatchers and a previous Hideo Kojima game, Snatcher, also isn’t that bad of a concept, since in a military base it would be terrifying to not know if you can trust someone you work with all of the time. So, as far as concepts go, this premise is very creative and out there (in a good way), although the execution would be difficult to discuss since after being dropped into Camp Omega, the gameplay takes over.

Between the parent game and this Extra Op, the gameplay is largely the same, with Raiden capable of greater stealth than in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. However, Raiden also retains his Ninja Run technique from his own game, making it easier to run away and reload when necessary (although you can still totally die if you’re not careful). Also, rather than use his sword, Raiden instead uses guns in order to lethally take care of the Snatchers. This ties in pretty well with the gameplay of Ground Zeroes and allows Raiden access to relevant weaponry, although I couldn’t help but feel that it would have been more interesting in a way if Raiden could use his skills from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, including the Zandatsu, or if the mission was more geared towards his type of action. It felt in some ways like playing as Snake but with Raiden’s body and Ninja Run ability, so some more variety would have been welcome. I also didn’t like that the mission ends in a drawn out firefight, but this would have been the perfect opportunity to introduce more of Raiden’s abilities (then again, Miller does tell Raiden that while he does have regenerative fuel cells, the soldiers of Camp Omega wouldn’t have any more) or take more advantage of him being a separate character.

Raiden takes the stealth approach this time around.

Beyond this though, I found that some small touches made the mission more fun overall. The first time you aim at a soldier and identify that he is a Snatcher, for instance, the MSX version of “Creeping Silence” from Snatcher will play. In addition, there are plenty of references to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, including the appearance of specific tracks from that game being a part of the mission’s soundtrack and the chopper that drops Raiden down bearing the Platinum Games logo on the fuselage. This is one of those cases where the little touches help sell an idea.

I’d also like to bring up something about the voice acting. There’s nothing really wrong with the performances, but I did find it odd what they did with Raiden. After the ending, one of the credits listed is Keifer Sutherland for Snake, even though Snake doesn’t even speak during the whole mission. It seems that what they did for Raiden was they took voice clips from Snake related to interrogation and applied heavy filters to make it sound robotic so that it nearly matches the voice Quinton Flynn had in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but I honestly feel it would have been more authentic, and believable, if they actually got Quinton Flynn to record those lines himself.

Having not been able to play the Jamais Vu mission until now, I feel satisfied in my knowledge of what the previously Xbox-exclusive Extra Op entailed. Being able to play as Raiden is a neat incentive and the non-canon story actually has a fascinating idea and explanation behind it. While the references to other games are fun and it’s interesting to play as Raiden in Camp Omega, it might have benefitted from going all the way with the character, down to having Quinton Flynn voicing him. In any case, I’d encourage PlayStation users to give this mission a try, since now some additional replay value has been added to the main game. In the end, it’s a flawed, but still pretty fun addition to an already great game.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance DLC Story 02 - Blade Wolf

Spoiler Warning: Due to the nature of this DLC, there will be unmarked spoilers regarding the events of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. You have been warned.

Since I’ve reviewed the first DLC story for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Jetstream, it’s only natural that I look at the second one, Blade Wolf. Like the previous story, the idea behind Blade Wolf is that we get to know more about its title character, in this case what life was like for Blade Wolf, aka LQ-84i, before Raiden came along and freed him from Desperado. Once again, the reason I’m going over this now is because recently I discovered that it was made free (I slip up every so often when it comes to news about stuff). Blade Wolf runs into some of the same problems as Jetstream, in that a lot of it is recycled, however, it actually makes more of an effort to stand out from the main game.

Before the events of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Blade Wolf was a robotic canine with the name LQ-84i, suggesting that he had advanced AI compared to the other LQ-84 robots in the PMC. At the point in time the DLC takes place, he is to go on a mission with Khamsin (the desert storm, which continues Desprado’s wind-based naming convention), but Mistral wants to give LQ-84i VR training to not only prove that he is capable of the mission, but also to try and make him more subservient. As he goes through each training exercise however, LQ-84i wants to obtain something that he’s never had: freedom; he learns just how far he is willing to go to experience it for the first time.

He is also very capable of kicking ass.

The events of this DLC turned out to be better written than Jetstream, which is a huge step up in fleshing out a rather unique character. Blade Wolf’s backstory is easier to empathize with, since he is a thinking machine yet unable to know what certain concepts are like to his rather limited world. Mistral’s treatment of him is somewhat standard villain stuff, but when you see LQ-84i take control of his own life for the first time, and fight for it, it makes him a character worth rooting for, making you wonder if he’ll finally feel freedom and get to keep it. However, the main problem with the story is that Khamsin, the final boss, feels underdeveloped (although the Metal Gear Wiki seems to state otherwise). I hardly knew anything about him before, during or after the fight with him, but then again he’s not really the highlight of this DLC; he’s simply someone from Desperado forced to try and kill you. There’s indication that the story goes into the Abkhazian Coup from the beginning of the parent game, creating a much better transition than Jetstream, which simply ended with Sam suddenly in Abkhazia.

Once again, a lot of the Blade Wolf DLC is recycled from Raiden’s campaign. However there is a surprising amount of work put in an attempt to feel different. About half of the story is LQ-84i going through VR training, which allows for the opportunity to do more than just fuse a few levels together and shove as many enemies in it as possible. Indeed, the levels flow much like how a series of missions would and there is actually a very interesting 3D platforming segment at the end of the training that requires some different skills than slaughtering everyone in sight, although there is a lot of that. Blade Wolf has more of a stealth approach, granting bonuses for Hunt Kills, meaning you sneak up behind the enemy and dispatch them with a quick thrust of his chainsaw. It’s still very likely that you’ll get into combat, but the fact that you can approach a situation more than one way is a sign that they were sticking truer to how the main game worked. When you do get in a skirmish, it’s actually a bit fun. Controlling LQ-84i is more varied from Raiden due to the difference in body type and the sorts of attacks he was designed for. In times when the chainsaw isn’t in use, you can use heat knives as a sub-weapon, the only one in the DLC actually, which shows effort in staying true to the depiction of the character in the parent game. In general it was just very interesting to watch the animation and see just how much more unique of a character LQ-84i is from Raiden in every way.

During the final act of the campaign, you end up having to dispatch quite a few enemies via stealth or head-to-head combat, but unlike Jetstream there aren’t any recycled bosses. In fact, it’s a little refreshing that the final boss, Khamsin, is a very original sequence that takes skill and cunning to successfully get through in one piece. The fight is very well constructed and the only real shame is that you have to play through the entire DLC just to fight him again (also you can only fight him as LQ-84i).

Khamsin (right) is one of the most original things in the DLC.

Other high marks would be the voice acting and music. Mistral and Blade Wolf/LQ-84i show off how fitting the voice actors are for them and Khamsin has a pretty good performance behind him. I’ve always liked the music of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and continued to do so throughout Blade Wolf, including the DLC-exclusive tracks and remixes.

Blade Wolf is a bit of DLC definitely worth playing through. The way the story ties into the main game is interesting and Blade Wolf is an interesting character (especially one to base an entire campaign off of). Some things are the same from the parent game, but there is a lot more effort put into making the campaign feel very different, even if one section is just a mirror of what Raiden goes through, and overall it’s a very fun experience. Those who already have Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance are encouraged to try this out, especially if they felt burned by Jetstream, as this will almost certainly wash away the feeling of sameness from that campaign, In general, after playing through something that felt very much the same as its source, it felt really good to play something completely different.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance DLC Story 01 – Jetstream

Spoiler Warning: Due to the nature of this DLC, there will be unmarked spoilers regarding the events of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. You have been warned.

While we wait for the eventual release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, there’s an opportunity to look at more things Metal Gear. In this case, we will be looking at the DLC stories released for Metal Gear Rising: Revengance, more specifically the first one, which revolves around Jetstream Sam. Sam was a very interesting character in the main game, and an important one, as he is the one who drives Raiden to become stronger before taking down all of Desperado Enforcment, LLC. PMC and posthumously assists Raiden during the climactic battle with Senator Armstrong. With this DLC (which I finally got around to playing because I noticed it was free instead of “free in exchange for money” like before), the idea is that we finally learn how Sam became involved with Desperado and becomes one of MGR:R’s greatest antagonists. Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot to say about that here.

As I explained, the idea is that we see what Samuel Rodrigues was like before he became affiliated with Desperado and what exactly he was doing before his fight with Raiden in the main game. Well, the answer is somewhat of a contrivance. Armstrong and Monsoon are in the main building of Desperado waiting for Sam, or Minuano as Monsoon first calls him, to show up since he is a prime candidate to join their PMC. Sam arrives on his motorcycle and, after a run-in with the cops, enters the sewers and makes his way through the building from the bottom up. And…that’s kind of it. Aside from the Codec calls Sam receives during the mission, that’s all we ever know about that. We don’t really even know that much more about him apart from a confirmation that he is Brazillian (Minuano refers to the cool Brazillian wind, thus continuing the wind theme naming of Desperado members). Sam is characterized as someone who travels all over the world dispensing justice like a vigilante, which actually sets up some parallels with Raiden, strengthened by him having certain tendencies mirroring Raiden during the story. I really wish there was more we could see or learn in this one to two hour adventure, but sadly I’m left hanging and wanting more.

Jetstream Sam has a few parallels with Raiden.

One thing that’s been noted, that I have to agree with here, is that every asset for Sam’s story is recycled from the main game. Levels, setpieces, enemies and bosses are all taken directly from Raiden’s campaign, the only really noticeable difference being the Depserado logo plastered on Metal Gear RAY; the other bosses Sam fights are a more aggressive Bladewolf and a similarly structured Senator Armstrong. They do manage to seamlessly connect the sewer, building and rooftop levels together into an interesting string of environments, but it doesn’t do much to reduce the feeling of déjà vu from playing. If there were one or two original sections thrown in then it would be more forgivable, but as it stands it feels more like playing through parts of Raiden’s story again.

Where Jetstream Sam and Raiden begin to differ a bit is the combat. Sam’s moveset is very similar to his rival’s in a lot of ways, but he does have a couple attacks that stand out. These are his famous quickdraw ability as well as a charge move that is surprisingly effective (Protip: Spam it against Bladewolf and Armstrong). His animations are also similar in some ways, but there are a lot of subtle differences that give the feeling you are actually playing as a different character, such as how Sam draws and retracts his sword or the way he runs. Also notable is that his overall style is like Raiden’s total offense, but Sam is focused a little more on the air and less on flash. Also, instead of having Augment Mode to see more deeply into the environment, Sam has the ability to taunt enemies to temporarily enrage them; taunting increases your score. This change suits his personality, but trying to find certain things was made a little harder as a result. Speaking of which, you can still find a lot of things in the environment, though items like the cardboard box and oil drum feel a little less useful thanks to the more action-oriented approach of Sam’s levels. You also have to find your upgrades manually, so you really have to look around if you want Sam to be strong enough to take down the enemies (Protip: You start with no upgrades every single time you play).

This actually sort of ties into a problem I have with the DLC: you must do everything in one shot. There’s no ability to pick a segment that you want to play, which means that if all you want to do is fight Armstrong, you have to start from the beginning every time. It’s not exactly easy either, since no matter what difficulty you pick, you’ll be faced with a good degree of challenge. Because of this, it’s also annoying to play the VR missions, which surprisingly will allow you to use any items (including Repair Nanopaste) that you’ve collected during normal play. Unfortunately, if you use any items, you don’t get them back, so you have to play at your own risk. However, the VR missions can only be accessed while you play through the entirety of Sam’s campaign, so if you want to try again, you have to suffer through the long grind to get to it and hope that you’re not too weak in the end. It may not be worth the trouble though, since four of the five missions are of the “kill every enemy in the room” variety and the last one is a platformer. While the last one is unique in its presentation, the lengths you have to go through to access it in the first place are just nuts.

Despite the differences, Jetstream Sam is kind of the same.

On the upside, the (recycled) music is great, including a DLC remix of one of the themes from the game. I also liked the voice acting, though Armstrong’s voice and Jetstream Sam’s delivery sounded a little off to me. I know they’re the same people behind the scenes, but still. The only one who didn’t sound off was Monsoon, who has a pretty good presence in the events.

As free DLC, Jetstream has some pretty cool ideas, but squanders them a bit through the mass recycling of scenery and gameplay. There are some small touches that show dramatic bursts of creativity, but, at least on consoles, there isn’t much incentive to keep playing the campaign, not even for the VR missions. There are some missed opportunities, especially in terms of story and the idea of being able to play as Sam during Raiden’s levels, so that bogs it down. In the end though, if you want to get more out of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on consoles, this is a good way of doing it, if only to get a glimpse of what playing as Sam would be like.

Second Look - Asura's Wrath (+ DLC)

Asura's Wrath (and all of its DLC) has been discussed before on this blog, but recently I decided to take the opportunity to replay it, only with a different approach. Since much of the DLC actually contributes to the main plot, I decided to play all of the Episodes of the story in order (with DLC Episodes 11.5 and 15.5 in their respective places), while also skipping Episode 18 in favor of viewing its Interlude before going straight for True Episode 18 as a lead-in to Part IV: Nirvana (I also played the Lost Episodes DLC packs afterward to complete my experience). In addition to this, I did all of this on the Easy difficulty setting with the Thermoregulator Gauge equipped (this Gauge lets you recover from overheating faster). Now that I've explained what I did in order to re-experience this game from last year, I suppose I should say what I thought of this experience. It was not only interesting to play everything in order the way I did, but I think it made for a much better and fulfilling story as a result.

When played in this manner, I felt that the story seemed more fleshed out, especially with the ".5" episodes filling in a couple of gaps in the plot; on the other hand, this means it's also much easier to see how off-model the ".5" animations from STUDIO4°C can get, but they help the story nonetheless. Experiencing the story this way, I think, also gives the events of Part IV: Nirvana a much greater impact and makes the final boss fight against Chakravartin much more epic than it already is (in fact I would consider it the greatest boss battle ever, but that's just my personal opinion). Aside from the animation of the fill-in episodes, everything flows together rather neatly when put in their proper order and further shows the great scope that CyberConnect2 had planned for the story during development. In this new context, while there is evidence of when the Lost Episodes would take place, the end of Lost Episode 2 seems to show that they're more of a enjoyable side story independent from the main plot.

After over a year, the graphics of this game still look good, though with some minor texture loading and slight lag during the Part IV material. When played in order, the animations of the fill-in Episodes look a little jarring next to all the others, but they are animated well despite their off-model nature. The gameplay still holds up rather well, though I think we'd have to wait a little longer to see if the game has really stood the test of time. I'm not sure what else I can say here other than that everything else holds up well after a year.

Asura's Wrath is still an amazing game and is a more interesting experience when the main game and DLC are played in their proper order. If you have not picked up this game yet and you don't mind Quick-Time Events, what are you waiting for? For the best experience, I would recommend purchasing the DLC before starting up the game for the first time, since it is well worth the price and only enhances an already great story, ending with one of the most epic clashes you will ever see in a video game.

(As a side note, this is the first review published under the blog's new logo in the header, which I had a hand in designing.)

Second Opinion - The Beginning of the End (DLC)

To conclude discussion of the story-driven DLC for Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3, I will be discussing The Beginning of the End, a sort of prequel to the main story. While this post will end up a bit short, I still want to discuss my opinion on this, as it presents something rather interesting.

The main purpose of this bit of DLC is to explain exactly what happened to you after the events of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episodes One and Two. At the Startling Developments Detective Agency, Gabe is feeling a bit jumpy, so Tycho takes him to Desperation Street to help take care of something for him. When they see You at your once again ruined home, Tycho stuffs You into a sack and ties it up, leaving eye holes for You to be able to cooperate (this solves the issue of You being customizable in earlier episodes). The humorous events that follow confront Gabe and Tycho's roles and do an interesting job of explaining what happened to You and why it wasn't brought up much in Episode 3. While the revelation is a little strange, it does at least acknowledge what it needed to (but still no answer to what was in Dr. Stripe's safe deposit box).

Combat is a little faster paced this time around, if only due to the overall length. There are no class pins in sight, justified by when this takes place, so as a result, each ally only has one class and strategy is more focused and linear as a result. You, for instance, are a Gardenar and have more rake-based attacks. Also, potions are the only items, but they hardly got used in the end. I was still satisfied and the enemies were still able to provide a good source of entertainment in their descriptions. The music is also still good and the environments are well-designed with some interesting exposition about them.

While The Beginning of the End may only last about 90 minutes, it's still an essential part of the experience that Rain-Slick 3 owners should definitely not miss out on. The combat is simple, but it still retains the edge that made the parent game so great to play. If you have Rain-Slick 3, play it. If you don't, the $5 to get it, and the $0 to play this, are very well worth the time and money. Now to see how Rain-Slick 4 ends up when it releases this Friday.

The Beginning of the End (DLC)

Continuing with the DLC for Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3, we got into the second and final bit of story DLC, The Beginning of the End. This particular story takes place before the events of the main game (Episode 3) and explores your fate from Hothead's Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episodes One and Two. Having played through this story to see what had happened to me between Episodes Two and 3, I found the experience to be somewhat satisfying.

After the harrowing experience of taking down two dark gods, Gabe feels a little jumpy and decides to rest. Just as quick as he gets to sleep, however, Tycho wakes him up and takes him on a trip to Desperation Street, the place where their last two adventures began, in order to seek your aid. While the story is short, lasting about an hour and a half, You are treated to another hilarious adventure as You help Gab and Tycho on their quest (the problem of having yourself be customizable in the Hothead half of the OTRSPOD series is even cleverly solved by having You be inside of a sack). The ending is a bit weird (I'm not going to spoil it for people who haven't played it yet), but overall it feels like a nice continuation of Episode Two.

Gameplay is similar to that of Episode 3 and the Lair of the Seamstress DLC, with the twist that your party only has one class, with You being a Gardenar with slighty different, more rake-focused powers. The battle system is otherwise the same, but you are also treated to a whole swath of new enemies including evil mail boxes, tumbleweeds, and many others, most of which have a funny description that continues with the Penny Arcade brand of humor. The final boss is as much of a surprise as the campaign's ending, but once again I won't spoil anything here. This is all complimented by some very catchy music, utilizing music from the main game while also including at least one original piece to help it feel more unique.

The Beginning of the End is a great add-on to an already great game, one that you don't even have to pay for since it was added for free through another patch. As the game says, it is best that you play through the $5 Episode 3 (and maybe even Episodes One and Two) before exploring this story, since if you jump to this right away you might be confused about a few things. Hopefully the upcoming Episode 4 will provide a satisfying conclusion to the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness storyline when it drops on Friday.

And just what was in Dr. Stripe's safe deposit box anyway?

Second Opinion - Lair of the Seamstress (DLC)

Within the next couple of weeks, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness will finally be complete with the release of Episode 4 from Zeboyd Games. A few pieces of DLC have been automatically added to Episode 3 since it was first released, two of which (Lair of the Seamstress and The Beginning of the End) actually contribute to the story of the game. Since we're a bit behind on those, we decided it would be a good idea to actually play these bits of additional gameplay as a lead-in to the upcoming Episode 4. Now without further ado, let's take a look at the first of these, Lair of the Seamstress.

As I mentioned in my review of Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3, the gameplay involves Class Pins that offer you new abilities in combat, of which there are 17. Once you reach Level 40 on all 17 Pins, you must go to the top floor of the temple, where a portal is opened that leads you to the titular Lair of the Seamstress. Your entire party (Gabe, Tycho, Jim, and Moira) is then brought down to Level 1 (but only within the DLC area) and must face waves of enemies of increasing difficulty as you Level back up.

While the gameplay isn't any different, it is an interesting experience to be de-powered and then have to fight in order to gain your abilities back. Though some enemies are ones you may have faced in the main game, what I like is that some of the ones chosen are ones that represent each of the Class Pins and what powers they have to offer. As I went through each encounter, I had to really think about what strategy I wanted to use with the abilities I was given to work with. There are also some additional moments of hilarity in the text boxes, on par with that of the game itself, which only enhances the experience of it being a Penny Arcade game. The final boss against the Seamstress is a very difficult one indeed; even after lowering the difficulty to Easy during my multiple attempts, I somehow managed to beat her with what I would consider a great deal of luck, coupled with the strategy I developed over time with the intent to take her down.

One of the most satisfying screenshots you will ever see in DLC for a retro
installment in an episodic game based on a webcomic

Overall, the Lair of the Seamstress DLC, while challenging, is a fairly short but fulfilling side-quest to explore. Your efforts are rewarded at the end, though that's all I'm going to say about it to prevent spoilers for those that haven't played OTRSPOD 3 yet. If you haven't already, have we mentioned it only costs $5?