When you’re favorite game ends, it's difficult to know where to go next. While starting a whole new adventure is always a good option, sometimes you just want to stay in the same world with the same cast of characters you’ve come to know and love. Fortunately, thanks to expansive expansions and delightful DLC, there are a plethora of ways to continue your favorite games.

Most games offer a short piece of story DLC that barely hits the three-hour mark. However, there is a handful of lengthy DLC that considerably adds to your overall playthrough. With experiences offering perilous encounters with all-new villains and expansions that add entirely new areas for you to explore, these DLCs are absolutely worth your time.

These games are presented in no particular order.

Updated October X, 2023 by Jacqueline Zalace: We've added a few more games with lengthy DLCs to this list, giving you tons of content. Additionally, we've included spec boxes for many of the games included, providing information on platforms, launch dates, and developers.

22 Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

Monster Hunter World takes roughly fifty-odd hours to beat if you’re not dealing with any of the side content. It’s a beefy game filled with beefy monsters and even beefier swords. There’s a lot of beef. So, when an expansion was announced, players were correct in thinking it too would be a beefcake.

Fortunately, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne does not disappoint. In fact, it’s truly enormous. Featuring new locations, monsters, stories, and more, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne can take you anywhere between 35 and 120 hours to complete. For those just looking to spend hours fighting giant monsters and exploring gorgeous locations, then Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is for you.

21 Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak

While we’re on the topic of Monster Hunter, it feels pertinent to discuss Monster Hunter Rise. Just like Monster Hunter World, Rise takes players a very long time to see its end credits roll. There’s so much content packed into this phenomenal Nintendo Switch experience, that it has rightly deserved its title of being one of the best games on that platform.

For those who want even more monster-slaying greatness on the go Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak adds an enormous amount of content. This DLC features new locations, missions, monsters. However, it goes above and beyond adding follower quests and a slew of much-needed updates. For most players, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak will take around 30 hours to beat.

20 Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion

Splatoon 2’s single-player offering was fantastic at launch. It gave players a series of ingeniously designed levels centered around its core mechanic to blast through at their own pace. However, it was over before you knew it, and was in dire need of additional content. Fortunately, the Octo Expansion greatly expanded upon the single-player content with 80 new levels.

Filled to the brim with varied content, exciting set pieces and challenging bosses, the Octo Expansion really brought together the best elements of Splatoon 2. It expanded upon the lore considerably and featured more cutscenes than ever before. While not nearly as long as the Monster Hunter DLCs, Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion will take you roughly eight to 12 hours to beat.

19 Prey: Mooncrash

What makes Prey: Mooncrash such an incredible piece of DLC is just how different it is from the base game. Where the base game offers a detailed and engrossing immersive sim, Prey: Mooncrash instead gives players high-octane roguelike gameplay. While the setting and visuals remain mostly the same for the most part, these two games couldn’t be more different.

Prey: Mooncrash is also interesting for essentially being Deathloop before Deathloop was released. As both games were developed by the same studio, many feel that Prey: Mooncrash was the developers testing the waters to see if this time loop style gameplay could work. Coming in at around ten hours Prey: Mooncrash provides hours of entertainment.

18 The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion - Shivering Isles

The Elder Scrolls games have had their moments of strange fantasy. However, for the most part, their worlds, characters, and stories follow the tropes of high fantasy to a tee. Well, that is aside from Oblivion’s incredibly well-received piece of DLC, The Shivering Isles.

This incredibly long piece of DLC sent the player off to a bizarre and colorful land wherein the Daedric Prince of Madness, Sheogorath, lies. The new world you get to explore is truly massive, around 25 percent of the size of the base game, taking you roughly 12 hours to beat.

17 Assassin's Creed: Odyssey - Fate Of Atlantis

If you thought that the base Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey experience was missing an injection of the wonderfully bizarre Greek mythology, then its incredibly long piece of DLC, Fate of Atlantis, is absolutely for you. Featuring the Greek Gods, the Underworld, Elysium and of course, Atlantis, this DLC is packed with references to Greek mythology.

There’s a lot more to this DLC than initially meets the eye as it explores a considerable amount of Assassin’s Creed lore. The DLC is of course quite long; it comes in at around 15 hours across all three episodes, so you’ll definitely have a lot to sink your teeth into.

16 The Witcher 3: Blood And Wine

Blood and Wine is The Witcher 3’s critically acclaimed second and final expansion. It is by far one of the most ambitious DLCs ever created, offering an enormous experience on top of the base game’s staggeringly long main story. In Blood and Wine, you’ll get access to a whole new region called Toussaint as well as a 15 to 30 hour story.

Exploring a vibrant new region brimming with color and wine, you’ll get to meet a brand-new cast of characters, experience new gameplay mechanics, collect additional Gwent cards and fight new monsters. Its story captures the magic of the base game, offering an equal parts mysterious and thrilling narrative filled with the incredible writing the series is known for.

15 Dragon Age Inquisition: Jaws Of Hakkon

Dragon Age Inquisition is an incredibly long, ambitious, and fantastical game. It’ll take you anywhere between 50 to 90 hours to beat the main game, depending on how much of the side content you interact with, which is an already impressive amount. However, the game had three additional pieces of DLC, all of which combined would take you another 30 hours easily.

By far, the best of the bunch is Jaws of Hakkon. Filled with fearless warriors, a genuinely captivating story and one of the best regions in the game, Jaws of Hakkon expands on Dragon Age Inquisition in the best ways possible. For fans of the base game looking to lengthen their playthrough, this ten-hour DLC will offer you a satisfying Dragon Age experience.

14 Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna, The Golden Country

It's rare for a JRPG to get such a massive story expansion, with very few of them ever receiving DLC beyond new costumes. However, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 got an enormous 18 to 25 hour-long expansion. Set hundreds of years before the base game, it explores a region of the world of Alrest that was previously mentioned but never seen.

While the brand-new area is enormous, the DLC even takes you to locations featured in the base game that are significantly different due to the time difference. Suffice it to say, this is a phenomenal DLC that offers a captivating story that even those who haven’t played the base game can enjoy, as well as several regions that are incredibly exciting to explore.

13 Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds

Like all good long DLC, Horizon Zero Dawn’s The Frozen Wilds adds a brand-new area, bosses, monsters, characters, and story for you to engage with. Exploring the Cut adds a whole new level of challenge to the game, and will test your skills in more ways than one. The new story brings a greater layer of depth to Aloy as well as expands on the lore and cultures featured within the base game.

With the masterful writing, plot, characters, and world of Horizon Zero Dawn to compete with, The Frozen Wilds had to condense those elements into a shorter experience. Fortunately, it succeeded, and it swiftly became one of the most memorable DLCs available. Averaging at around 12 hours, this will take you some time to complete, but it is absolutely worth it.

12 Ghost Of Tsushima: Iki Island

Ghost of Tsushima’s compelling and incredibly cinematic narrative left us wondering where the series would go next. With the Legends expansion launching offering a more fantastical experience, it seemed as if that was the new direction. However, when its DLC Iki Island launched, we were greeted with a ten-hour-long expansion featuring a brand-new location, characters, and story.

The Iki Island expansion is every bit as amazing as its base game. It continues the amazing storytelling of Ghost of Tsushima and adds several new elements to keep things feeling fresh. The island of Iki is unbelievably gorgeous and a treat to explore, featuring new side content for you to complete. If you love Ghost of Tsushima, then you absolutely need to play Iki Island.

11 Fallout 4: Far Harbor

While not everyone loves the main story in Fallout 4, it's hard to argue that its mystery-focused DLC, Far Harbor, doesn’t exceed expectations in almost every way. Its grimy, gritty, and gory new world filled with new factions, monsters, and side content is every bit as captivating as Boston while offering something new and innovative for the series.

Far Harbor is widely considered one of, if not the, best Fallout 4 DLC, and for good reason. Its narrative is by far its best element, featuring a wide cast of intriguing characters and connections to the game’s original story. Coming in at around 15 hours long, it's a decent-sized DLC that’ll keep you entertained for quite some time.

10 Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

Undead Nightmare is DLC for the first Red Dead Redemption game. If you've ever played Red Dead Redemption and thought, "this would be better with zombies", then this is the perfect DLC for you.

With around eight to 8 hours of content, Undead Nightmare gives you the flexibility to do what you want. Sure, you can blaze through the DLC in eight hours, but if you play more casually and take in everything around you, then you can spend a nice amount of time completing this DLC.

9 Dark Souls: Artorias Of The Abyss

Dark Souls is known for its difficulty, and the Artorias of the Abyss DLC is no exception. With this DLC, you will have new places to explore, as well as tons of new enemies and bosses to take on.

Although on average, Artorias of the Abyss takes between six to eight hours to beat, we all know that Dark Souls isn't that simple. Maybe you can breeze through this DLC without a problem, but chances are, you will die (several times). Additionally, if you want to 100 percent complete the DLC, it will take you longer than six to eight hours.

8 Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask Of The Betrayer

Are you a fan of Dungeons and Dragons, or even the first Neverwinter Nights game? If the answer is yes, then Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer is the perfect DLC for you. The base game is already packed with content, coming in at around 60 hours.

With Mask of the Betrayer, you are looking at an additional chuck of time ranging from 16 to 26 hours. In this DLC, you are transported to the Forgotten Realms, shortly after the base game story concludes.

7 Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is one of the newest Assassin's Creed games, primarily taking place in the ninth century when Vikings are invading England. Dawn of Ragnarok is a god-filled DLC that will take you around 15 to 20 hours to complete. If you are a completionist or like taking your time, you can expect upwards of 20 hours of great content.

It's important to note that other expansions for Assassin's Creed Valhalla are lengthy as well. Wrath of the Druids is just a bit shorter than Dawn of Ragnarok, but will still take you over ten hours to complete.

6 Skyrim: Dawnguard

Skyrim truly needs no introduction. This hugely popular RPG can be played for an infinite amount of time, due to the sheer amount of content spread around the map. Sure, the main story may take you around 30 hours, but if you are a completionist, then this is boosted all the way to over 200 hours.

Dawnguard is a vampire-filled expansion involving a conflict between vampires and the Dawnguard. The story alone will take you around seven to ten hours to complete, but this does not account for all the exploration, experimenting, and conquering that you will do. On average, completionists take around 20 hours to make it through the Dawnguard DLC.

5 Civilization 6: Gathering Storm

Sid Meier's Civilization games stretch back to 1991. In a newer title, Civilization 6, you can purchase the Gathering Storm DLC, which adds a natural element to the game. New additions include volcanos, climate change, and natural disasters.

If you are familiar with this series, then you know it's totally possible to get invested in a game, spending dozens of hours on the same map. On average, gamers take around 25 hours to beat the Gathering Storm DLC, but Civ is incredibly replayable, giving you even more enjoyment.

4 Rimworld: Biotech, Ideology, & Royalty

Rimworld DLCs are similar to that of Civilization 6; they can be played endlessly. There are three DLCs for Rimworld, including Biotech, Ideology, and Royalty. Each of these brings new content to the game, lengthening the amount of time you spend with your Rim-people.

In general, Rimworld takes a long time to get through. One playthrough can take up to 70 hours, however, it's possible to deviate from the main objective, with some completionist gamers spending a whopping 388 hours in Rimworld. With just one DLC, you can spend hundreds of hours building your base, defending your territory, and genetically modifying your colonists.

3 XCOM 2: War Of The Chosen

Set 20 years after XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2 takes place on Earth after alien occupation. In this procedurally generated world, you will need to excel in turn-based strategic combat and come out victorious against the alien forces.

The story of the base game can be completed in around 33 hours, however with the War of the Chosen DLC, you can look forward to around 35 more hours of content. If you need even more XCOM content, we suggest checking out other games in the franchise!