8 Times DLC Ruined The Base Game

What is downloadable content if not intended to enhance the overall experience of the base game? 

At their best, DLC expansions are a welcome cherry on top of the core release, ensuring that those who loved the main game are given an extra sliver of content to feast on.

But not all DLC is created equal of course, and in some unfortunate instances it even ends up having a detrimental effect on the game overall.

Hell, in a few depressing cases it arguably even ruins the entire game, as is the case with these eight ill-advised DLC drops.

From additional story episodes which obliterate the game’s pacing to updates which throw the meticulously engineered difficulty balancing entirely out of whack, these 8 DLCs categorically ruined what was already a terrific base title.

And more to the point, in some cases players who came to these games years later had no option but to suffer through the DLC, which had been made a mandatory part of the experience in an otherwise well-intended re-release.

Above all else, these controversial DLCs are proof perfect of the age-old adage that sometimes less is more…

Let's kick things off with a mildly controversial pick, then, with Batman: Arkham City's Catwoman story pack DLC.

In theory getting to play as Catwoman for a few heist-centric sections peppered throughout the main campaign sounds hella fun, yet they're so haphazardly shoehorned into the story that they end up derailing its otherwise meticulous pacing.

Having control suddenly ripped away from Batman for Catwoman's glorified filler missions isn't nearly as exciting as Rocksteady clearly thinks it is, culminating in an infuriating Two-Face boss fight which ranks among the Arkham series' very worst.

Plus, if you're playing the Game of the Year or Return to Arkham versions of the game, the DLC is integrated directly into the story with no option to uninstall or skip it.

Though it's fun that the DLC gave players the option to simply leave Batman to die at one point - triggering a "bad" ending as Catwoman skips town - it just wasn't worth slogging through a quartet of "added value" missions which made many players groan every time they kicked off.