[SimonPStevens]

Yeah, expansion type DLCs are at the border here. But the overall experience with scammy stores has left me leaning away from trusting any game with any significant DLC.

For example. Dirt Rally 2 honestly feels like a complete scam. The base game comes with 6 rally locations (not counting some rally cross tracks). And there are 7 more available as DLC. The base game feels intentionally slimmed down to make you feel you need to buy the DLC. it pads in extra junk content to make it seem long without actually having much there (like for example the rally cross tournaments make you compete in about 6 rounds of heats on the same short track to make it seem like there are lots of events, but in any other game all the rally cross tracks would have been a single event with perhaps one qualifier and one final on each track). Lots of the daily challenge type activities use the DLCs so are unavailable if you don't by them. All the locations are listed in the menus along with the not-included ones with just a small "DLC" flag across a corner. In addition there are perhaps dozens of cars available as DLC. And several very unclear things like the "flat out pack" which incorporates some of the other DLCs It very much feels like they've taken one game, a split it up into small parts to make you pay more for what would have been one purchase in the 90s. And the multiple small packs with overlapping content seem designed to make you accidentally pay more or buy the same thing twice through confusion. I completely refuse to engage with this and despite being a bit fan of rally games I won't touch this DLC, and tbh if I'd known the game was like this I wouldn't have even touched the base game.

On the other hand, Mario Kart 8 on switch comes with 12 "cups" each with 4 unique tracks, so 48 tracks in total. They have a single DLC which adds a further 12 cups and 48 more tracks for £22. (About half the price of the base game). 48 tracks in the base game feels substantial, I was happy with the game and didn't feel short changed. And the DLC that doubles the number of tracks also feels worth it without being a scam. But I have to be honest, because of the scammy nature of the rest of the business my default stance is to avoid DLCs so it was a while before I purchased this one, despite it being on the better end of the spectrum.

So there's a good way and a. And way to do DLC. But the bad way is poisening the whole market and putting me off considering the DLCs that are done well.