History Main / ExpansionPack

* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' proved so popular that an expansion game, ''Persona 3: FES'' was released. This contains the original game but with an extra difficulty level (Hard), new calendar events and additional Personae to summon. The real meat of the expansion comes in the form of an extra 20-30hr scenario which serves as a direct sequel to the events of the main game. All this plus the fact that it retails for less than the original means that there's little to no reason to purchase the original any more.

Related to DownloadableContent, which, depending on what and how much they add to their base games, are basically downloaded Expansion Packs. See MissionPackSequel for when developers try to pass these off as entirely new games. Expansion packs have sometimes been retooled as mission-pack sequels because publishers would rather have stand-alone games to sell to a wider audience, or because the hardware on a particular platform isn't conducive to physically separating the UsefulNotes/GameEngine from the scenario data.

** A third party, ''We Create Stuff'' released (before ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' came out) a flash-based 2D game based on the idea of Valve's 3d Puzzle game. We Create Stuff then released a complete replacement map pack for Portal that can best be (charitably) described as exceedingly NintendoHard.[[note]]Several levels from this map pack were later [[OfficialFanSubmittedContent added]] to the Platform/XboxLive Arcade and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch releases of ''Portal''.[[/note]]

** ''VideoGame/UltimaVIIPartII: Serpent Isle'' is sometimes mistaken for an expansion pack, but was actually the next fully-fledged installment of the series -- the only reason it wasn't released as "VideoGame/UltimaVIII" was that due to time constraints, it ran on the same UsefulNotes/GameEngine as ''The Black Gate'' and series creator [[Creator/OriginSystems Richard Garriott]] insisted on programming an engine from scratch for each numbered installment. ''Serpent Isle'' eventually got its own expansion, ''The Silver Seed'', but due to clumsy marketing and a rushed release (ordered by [[Creator/ElectronicArts corporate suits]]), ''The Silver Seed'' was shipped partially unfinished; while the expansion is in 'winnable', numerous unchecked plot holes, dangling story threads, and even one or two only partially-designed-but-abandoned-midway sidequests mar the experience.

** ''Vol. 1'' (UsefulNotes/NintendoWii and UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 only)[[note]]The [=PS2=] versions of ''Rock Band'' 1 and ''2'' lack DLC, and the Wii version of 1, being a direct port of the [=PS2=] version, also does.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheLostAndDamned'' and ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheBalladOfGayTony The Ballad of Gay Tony]]'', two downloadable expansion packs that were originally UsefulNotes/Xbox360 exclusive, but were released for the UsefulNotes/Playstation3 and PC a few months later.

** The UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} version of ''Secret Missions'', the first [=WC1=] add-on, was a fully separate game that didn't need the original, but that was a function of cartridge-based games for which the method described in the ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic & Knuckles]]'' example, above, was impractical on the basis of costs (WC at the time not being the {{cash cow|Franchise}} that was the Sonic series).

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' has ''[[VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077PhantomLiberty Phantom Liberty]]'', a story expansion which is exclusive to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation5, UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS, and PC versions of the game. The expansion adds a new district to Night City, Dogtown, and is basically an extra game in terms of content, adding in new vehicles, weapons and skills tied to [[spoiler:the Relic]]. Unless the player chooses to play the story expansion right away from the main menu when starting a new game, Dogtown cannot be accessed until after the player completes a few main quests in act 2.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' has an expansion pack called [[ForWantOfANail The Tyranny of King Washington.]] Curiously enough, it ended up getting split into [[DownloadableContent three DLCs]] instead of one whole set.

** A third party, ''We Create Stuff'' released (before ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' came out) a flash-based 2D game based on the idea of Valve's 3d Puzzle game. We Create Stuff then released a complete replacement map pack for Portal that can best be (charitably) described as exceedingly NintendoHard.[[note]]Several levels from this map pack were later [[OfficialFanSubmittedContent added]] to the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch releases of ''Portal''.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/MasterDetectiveArchivesRainCode'' features four DLC packs following the game's initial release where the other detectives are PromotedToPlayable, with the canon protagonist, Yuma, nowhere to be seen.

* ''VideoGame/FZero X'' had one released only in Japan for the failed Nintendo 64DD add-on that included a car editor, a track editor, two new cups, and a few new music tracks, including a brand new remix of ''VideoGame/MarioKart''[='=]s Rainbow Road, since the base game reused another piece of music for said course instead.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' has ''Phantom Liberty'', a story expansion which adds a new district to Night City, Dogtown, and is basically an extra game in terms of content, adding in new vehicles, weapons and skills tied to [[spoiler:the Relic]]. Unless the player chooses to play the story expansion right away from the main menu when starting a new game, Dogtown cannot be accessed until after the player completes a few main quests in act 2.

** ''VideoGame/DoomII'': One year after its release, the game received an expansion titled ''Master Levels for Doom II'', a collection of 20 levels (plus a secret one) made by different people under contract. It retains all the assets (such as enemies, level textures and weapons) from the original, now remixed into longer, more intricate maps. There's also ''VideoGame/FinalDoom'', which provided two full level sets in one package, ''TNT: Evilution'' and ''The Plutonia Experiment'', the first of which was originally intended to be a freeware GameMod until id Software struck a publishing deal with its development team.

* ''TabletopGame/ResArcana'' has received two expansions:
** ''Lux et Tenebrae'': Its biggest additions are the Demons artifact type, support for a 5th player, and the "Inscription" magic item, which has the unique property of giving you scrolls that can be saved up for later rounds. It also tweaks the rules to {{Nerf}} the Monuments strategy a bit, and adds some new artifacts, mages, etc.
** ''Perlae Imperii'' adds the valuable Pearl essence to the game and increases the goal to 13 Victory Points. It also introduces a new magic item, new artifacts, new Places of Power, etc.

** ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has ''The Old Hunters''. The Hunter travels to the [[DarkWorld Hunter's Nightmare]], a world where hunters from the past are trapped forever. In the process they discover the source of Yharnam's curse.

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' has ''Phantom Liberty'', a story expansion which adds a new district to Night City, Dogtown, and is basically an extra game in terms of content, adding in new vehicles, weapons and skills tied to [[spoiler:the Relic]]. Unless the player chooses to play the story expansion right away from the main menu when starting a new game, Dogtown cannot be accessed until after the player completes Act 1.

** ''VideoGame/DoomII'': One year after its release, the game received an expansion titled ''Master Levels for Doom II'', a collection of 20 levels (plus a secret one) made by different people under contract. It retains all the assets (such as enemies, level textures and weapons) from the original, now remixed into longer, more intrincate maps. There's also ''VideoGame/FinalDoom'', which provided two full level sets in one package, ''TNT: Evilution'' and ''The Plutonia Experiment'', the first of which was originally intended to be a freeware GameMod until id Software struck a publishing deal with its development team.

* ''VideoGame/QuakeI'' had ''Dissolution of Eternity'', by Rogue, and ''Scourge of Armagon'' by Hipnotic. ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' had ''The Reckoning'', by Xatrix, and ''Ground Zero'' by Rogue. And ''VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena'' had ''Team Arena'' by Id themselves.

* ''VideoGame/SeriousSam4'' had a standalone expansion called ''Siberian Mayhem'', which expands on the Russia chapter that was only 2 levels long in the main game. It was developed by a group of [[PromotedFanboy fan modders]] called Timelock Studio and was originally pitched as DLC, but Creator/DevolverDigital decided it should be released separately.
* ''VideoGame/{{SiN|1998}}'' had the ''Wages of Sin'' expansion pack by 2015 Inc., which added a new set of levels, fixed a few bugs, and added a few new features, such as the ability to use the standard handgun [[GunsAkimbo two at a time]].
* ''VideoGame/ShawsNightmare'' had the ''Fotom Pak''.

* ''VideoGame/GhostRecon'' ultimately ended up with three: ''Desert Siege'', which takes place during a second war between Eritrea and Ethiopia; ''Island Thunder'', which takes place in Cuba following the projected death of Fidel Castro; and the [=PS2=]-exclusive ''Jungle Storm'', which takes place in Colombia as the Ghosts are deployed to finish off the guerilla movements that started the problems in ''Island Thunder''. On consoles [[MissionPackSequel they were released as separate games]], which has left it in the somewhat unique position of the original game and its first two expansions frequently being considered a "trilogy".

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' averages one expansion every 4 months or so.
** From 1996 with ''Mirage'' to 2015 with ''Dragons of Tarkir'', three of these expansions took place in the same setting and built somewhat on the mechanics of the previous ones, forming a "Block" of one large expansion and two smaller ones (usually). The fourth was a "core set" designed to introduce new players to the rules and reprint certain mainstay cards to keep them in circulation.

** The three-and-one model, with three large-set expansions and the reintroduced core set, which continues to the present (though the core set was later removed again in favor of another expansion). Though there have continued to be several expansions that tie into each other unofficially, like the year-long buildup to ''War of the Spark'' that included elements of the previous two blocks (as they all took place on Ravnica); the double-feature of Innistrad sets ''Midnight Hunt'' and ''Crimson Vow''; the Dominaria focused sets ''Dominaria United'' and ''The Brother's War'', and the New Phyrexia sets ''Phyrexia: All Will Be One'' and ''March of the Machine''.
** Naturally, this doesn't include the various supplemental sets that aren't always legal in all formats or attempt to introduce new ones.

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'' adds in the ''Happy Home Paradise'' DLC, a sequel to ''[[VideoGame/AnimalCrossingHappyHomeDesigner Happy Home Designer]]''. The game itself has the player assisting a resort to build perfect homes for various NPCs, but also brings in new features to your island including adding pillers to the inside of houses, new types of counter-tops, creating non-home buildings, and being able to invite villagers from your island to the resort.

** ''The Teladi Outpost'' adds a new ship set, solar system, some new mechanics and such, and unlike all previous expansion packs it allows you to continue on your old save game. '''Teladi Outpost'' was free for all owners to pre-order until the day of release, as a way to WinBackTheCrowd after the game's [[ObviousBeta disastrous launch]] a year prior.