WELCOME as it is for hardcore fans of specific games and franchises (who are the most likely to shell out for season passes and special editions), DLC nevertheless suffers from a wider image problem. Many gamers see it as an afterthought - even though developers must commit to making it before finishing the games it is designed to augment. It’s a problem that developers and publishers can partially tackle via clearly set out post-launch DLC plans, but sometimes those aren’t possible: every so often, developers will find that DLC seems to take on a mysterious life of its own.
Perhaps the most extreme and fascinating example of that is Far Cry: New Dawn. Publisher Ubisoft probably wouldn’t admit it, but New Dawn is essentially a rare and pioneering example of an item of DLC that mushroomed into an entire game in its own right. For that reason alone, it wasn’t exactly met with the most enthusiastic critical reaction when it was released in 2019, less than a year after the game on which it was based, Far Cry 5.