The topic of must-have Paradox Games DLC is storied and, perhaps, historical. The popular AA game publisher has an almost endemic approach to post-launch DLC. Like it or not, it's also fairly successful, and practically ensures that there's always another expansion pack to be looking forward to.
Whether it's city-builders or grand strategy games you enjoy most, there's just no avoiding Paradox no matter what. And yeah, we'll admit that we're pretty darn big fans of theirs. Having said that, we fully understand if you're not ready to dish out several times more money on DLC than you did on the base game experience. Now, there's been heaps and heaps of discussion on which DLC is best for each of Paradox's greatest titles. Today, we're going to try and offer our own take on what the must-have Paradox Games DLC is, with short explanations and all.
Since we could never hope to do this guide if we were to cover all of Paradox Games' main titles, we decided to limit our guide to five extremely popular games. These are the following:
Widely regarded as the very best that Paradox has to offer, the best DLC for these five games will make for the bulk of our article! If you're wondering why Cities: Skylines isn't on this list, that's because we've already covered it in a similar manner!
This article is going to give you all the DLC pointers you could wish for. The specifics, however, you'll find via each of the provided DLC links. And, really, you're going to want to check those out regardless. We've got deals and discounts running basically all the time! Without any further ado, let's get to the good stuff.
Best Stellaris DLC List
For those who might've not been keeping track, Stellaris has been around a good long while at this point. The game launched in 2016, and though it kicked off with little other than praise from reviewers, Paradox wasn't waiting around, twiddling their proverbial thumbs. Quite the opposite: over the past four years, Stellaris got a huge number of awesome expansion packs and DLCs. If you're preparing to start a galaxy-spanning adventure of political conquest, you're probably reeling from all the choices far as DLC goes.
As promised, our list of best Stellaris DLC ought to help you out with that. Below, we've prepared our picks for the greatest expansion packs the game has to offer. Suffice it to say, if you're going to get any DLC for Stellaris at all, these should be somewhere at the top of your list!
Generally speaking, these DLCs add features and functionality that you will definitely find interesting if you intend on spending any serious amount of time with Stellaris. Utopia, for example, introduces Ascension Perks for loads of endgame options, when you get to them. Further, the variety added by Synthetic Dawn and MegaCorp is downright incredible. Whether it's an intergalactic cyberpunk empire or a literal hive-mind you want to create, these DLCs will ensure that you have the tools to do so. Neat, right? When you're done with all that, the Leviathans DLC will keep you busy with moon-sized space monsters and incomprehensible anomalies.
Best Hearts of Iron IV DLC List
Now that we've covered the sci-fi niche, we can get to the historical portion of modern Paradox classics. Hearts of Iron IV is a grand strategy game set in world war 2, which means it's going to focus primarily on combat and wartime encounters. If you're more interested in the political aspect of history, you're going to want to scroll on. For those who specifically want an awesome WW2 strategy, however, HoI 4 is downright unbeatable.
As for its DLC, there are heaps to choose from. The specific poison you're going to be interested in will depend on your nation of choice. Instead of opening that can of worms, we decided to offer a more generalized look at what all players will probably be interested in. Here's the list:
With the La Résistance DLC, you'll get a whole bunch of espionage-related features, while Man the Guns explores naval combat in similarly dizzying depth. Death or Dishonor will almost certainly interest players who find Yugoslavian history fascinating, on the other hand. All of this is tied more closely together with the aptly-named Together for Victory DLC. It introduces so-called Dominions for history-altering interactions between each playable nation. The five bonus pieces of DLC we mentioned above will easily make your copy of Hearts of Iron IV the best WWII strategy game on the market, and that's no small feat.
Best Europa Universalis IV DLC List
Europa Universalis IV has had its fair share of awesome post-launch content. In fact, we'd even go so far as to say that it's one of the more difficult games to be buying expansions for, because just going ahead and picking a DLC out of the blue won't be easy.
Our goal was to select five of the biggest DLCs that offer the absolute best bang for your buck. These range from entirely new features to vast improvements to baseline offerings. What they all have in common, however, is that they will greatly improve your moment-to-moment gameplay in Europa Universalis IV.
Though the name of the game is - literally - Europa Universalis, that doesn't mean its universe exists in a vacuum. The Mandate of Heaven DLC adds the Chinese Ming Empire to the mix, for example. If you're worried that the base European nations might suffer due to this, however, fret not! The Emperor DLC will add so many new features and bonuses that you'll have a hard time keeping track of them. In fact, its own religious gameplay focus is bolstered even further with the Common Sense expansion pack, which is a must-have for those who intend to build a non-secular empire.
Best Crusader Kings 2 DLC List
Back to wartime business with our pick of the very best Crusader Kings II DLC. Now, sure, Crusader Kings III may well have come out, but that doesn't mean it necessarily offers more than its direct predecessor. We need to keep in mind that CK2 came out way back in 2012 and that it got an almost ridiculous 8 years of post-launch content support over time. Talk about things that are hard to keep track of...
Somehow, we managed to narrow down CK2's incredible array of DLC to five best content packs that no player should go without. Here's what we believe is a must-have:
As with any game that has a history as storied as Crusader Kings II, we're well aware of the fact that not everyone will agree with our selection. Having said that, these five will do wonders for fans of grand strategy games, and we feel that they add by far the greatest variety of content when all is said and done.
Of course, it would be ideal if everyone could have all of CK2's DLC, but that's hardly realistic. Nabbing the DLCs we mentioned above will build upon the game's key features in ways you may not have expected, and we think that's what really counts.
Best Victoria II DLC List
While most of the games we have mentioned above have some sort of widespread recognition, we feel that Victoria II remains the most niche product of them all. Note that this doesn't mean it's bad at all. Quite the opposite, Victoria II may well be the best 19th-century grand strategy game ever released. It's just that other Paradox titles managed to outpace it in the eye of the average consumer.
If we successfully brought your attention to it, you won't be very surprised to hear that its expansion packs add more stuff to the mix than you would want to miss out on. What may be surprising, however, is that there are only two major DLCs to choose from!
A House Divided DLC will introduce an all-new starting point in 1861, allowing you to experience the American Civil War in all its horrific glory. It also adds a new layer of political complexity with various new reforms and populist features. On the flip side of the coin, the Heart of Darkness DLC will allow you to colonize new lands and keep track of your accomplishments with the Newspapers feature.
All in all, two awesome additions to the mix, and ones you don't really want to play Victoria II without.
Wrap-up!
We hope we managed to give you a bit of insight into the best DLCs for each of Paradox's most well-regarded games. Given the sheer amount of material we had to work with, it's hard to go into real depth on each piece of content. That said, this article should offer guidance on which DLCs to go after, with each of their respective store pages providing further detail, if you are so inclined.
In other tangentially related news, we've recently covered all sorts of exciting gaming developments. For example, we've got a strange take on the specific kind of "exclusivity" that the upcoming Demon's Souls Remake will be released under. We're also pretty excited about all the football games that are coming out this year.
Of course, there's heaps more coming soon, so stay tuned for more - right here at 2Game!
The topic of must-have Paradox Games DLC is storied and, perhaps, historical. The popular AA game publisher has an almost endemic approach to post-launch DLC. Like it or not, it’s also fairly successful, and practically ensures that there’s always another expansion pack to be looking forward to. Whether it’s city-builders or grand strategy games you enjoy most, there’s […]
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