10 Video Games Whose Best Ending Was In DLC

You want to punch god in the face? That's gonna cost you extra.

Witcher 3 blood and wine ending
CD Projekt RED

There are few things an audience unanimously demands more from a story than a satisfying ending. The perfect wrap up to everything the story had been building to from the start, a good ending can be all that determines whether your story will actually stick in the general audience's mind after they're done with it.

Some games have good endings, some have great endings, and others...well, we don't like to discuss the others. But even when an ending is fantastic, there can still be room for more. Maybe some lingering questions that need to be addressed, or a sequel whose plot points can be set up early in a climactic cliffhanger, or maybe your original ending did suck because you didn't have enough time to actually finish your game before the deadline.

Whatever the reason, DLC and expansion packs are a concept the gaming public has accepted for decades. And some of them even contain what fans consider to be the actual conclusion to the story. Whatever the quality of the base game, these DLC/Expansion Packs put an end to things on a much higher note.

10. Broken Steel - Fallout 3

Witcher 3 blood and wine ending
Bethesda

The ending of Fallout 3, where the Lone Wanderer must sacrifice themselves to return clean drinking water to the wasteland, would've been much more effective, had the game not provided you with a Super Mutant companion who could easily do it for you and not die from the radiation. In the base game, Fawkes' fatalistic philosophy is what keeps him from going into that room for you, but due to fan outcry, Bethesda created a DLC to address this. 

Granted, the Fawkes dilemma wasn't the only reason that fans hated the original ending. The true reason was that it, well, ended the game. So whatever sidequests you had left, or areas left unexplored? Well tough break, buddy. Bethesda made Broken Steel to tie up both of these controversies at once, filling a plot hole, while also (and more importantly) letting players continue exploring the world.

In Broken Steel, you survive the process and wake up 2 weeks later in the care of the Brotherhood of Steel, who are renewing their fight to cleanse the Capital Wasteland of Super Mutants and the Enclave. You decide to help them because really, what's the alternative? Fight against the guys with the giant nuke-throwing robot? 

Broken Steel not only addressed fan complaints about the ending to Fallout 3, but it also gave fans an entire expansion built off of that. And the new ending is significantly more satisfying as a result.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?