Five games bathed in green.

2024 TechRaptor Awards - Best Expansion/DLC

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Contributed by Tyler Chancey, Joseph Allen

Published: January 15, 2025 8:00 AM

We all love a little more of a good thing, and that's exactly what expansions and DLC to some beloved favorites do. Sometimes, it's a lot more of a great thing, which is pretty awesome, too. 

Here are the nominees for TechRaptor's 2024 Best Expansion/DLC Award for the best piece of additional content to an existing game..

  • Alan Wake II: The Lake House
  • Destiny 2: The Final Shape
  • Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
  • Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
  • Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania

Check out here for our other award categories.


Third Place - Destiny 2: The Final Shape

Guardians standing ready

Developer: Bungie | Release Date: June 4th, 2024

Written by Tyler Chancey

Bungie's Light and Darkness saga concluded this year with Destiny 2: The Final Shape. This finale managed to end their space opera tale and deliver the most robust expansion ever to the game.

The Pale Heart location is a stellar showcase of Bungie's impeccable art direction, presenting familiar locations twisted into grotesque corrupted shapes. The story campaign managed a strong blend of pitched gunbattles, haunting imagery, and powerful character moments.

Its fundamental game design reached a zenith with the introduction of Prismatic subclasses and its most challenging Raid to date, Salvation's Edge.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape reminded the world of Bungie's talent and dedication. For an entire generation, this expansion will be what they remember when they imagine what this studio is capable of.

Second Place - Alan Wake II: The Lake House

A man is curled up with his back to the frame, sealed in a transparent cell with lights pointed at it.

Developer: Remedy Entertainment | Release Date: October 22nd, 2024

Written by Tyler Chancey

While light on runtime, Alan Wake 2: The Lake House continues the atmosphere and overarching themes of the original game. Blending the reality-bending surreality of a world at the whims of Alan's creative process with the sterile procedural office culture of the Federal Bureau of Control.

The level design also manages a similar mix, combining the key-hunting navigation of Control with the meticulous dangerous monster encounters of Alan Wake 2. This is punctuated perfectly with the introduction of the new painted enemies.

In two short hours, Alan Wake 2: The Lake House expands the possibilities of the Remedy Connected Universe and alludes to the nightmares and thrills that we may see in the next title

Winner - Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

A humongous tree bathed in light towers above the land.

Developer: FromSoftware | Release Date: June 21st, 2024

Written by Joseph Allen

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is longer, more involved, and more rewarding than many full-length games.

Given the huge success of the base game, director Hidetaka Miyazaki and his studio FromSoftware could have just indulged in a victory lap, but that’s never been their style, and Shadow of the Erdtree is arguably even more ambitious than the foundations upon which it’s built.

This expansion packs in some of Elden Ring’s most beautiful (and horrifying) sights, from ruined, flooded castle courtyards to caves embedded with giant coffins and gorgeous fields full of delicate blue flowers in bloom.

The story you’ll discover as you explore those locations is characteristically obscure, but Miyazaki and company know that if you’re invested in Elden Ring enough to reach the point you need to in order to access Shadow of the Erdtree, you’re in it for the long haul.

It’s that attitude that also allows FromSoftware to craft some of the most involved, satisfying, and occasionally maddening bosses they’ve ever put forth in one of their signature Soulslike action RPGs.

It’s best to know as little as possible about Shadow of the Erdtree’s gauntlet of boss encounters before playing, so if you’ve yet to experience this near-masterpiece, I won’t go into detail. Suffice it to say that if, for some reason, you thought Elden Ring went too easy on you, Shadow of the Erdtree will give you the run for your money you want.

Like all of FromSoftware’s work, it’s not perfect, but Shadow of the Erdtree cements the studio’s legacy as an art-driven collective looking to engage and inspire you with its work rather than simply to help you kill time.

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