We take a look at brand new DLC releases for three games that we covered earlier today, checking out new content for Sniper Elite 5, family friendly racer Paw Patrol: Grand Prix and dark fairytale puzzler DARQ.
Sniper Elite 5’s Season Pass Two has launched
If there’s one publisher out there that has players covered when it comes to post-launch DLC content for their shooters, it’s Rebellion. Both their Sniper Elite and Zombie Army series have been very well supported with additional campaigns and weapons over the last few years, and Sniper Elite 5 is no exception – season pass two just launched, kicking off another season of fresh content.
We reviewed Sniper Elite 5 almost a year ago, and enjoyed its map designs and updated visuals for a new console generation, so we were eager to jump back in for the new season. It’ll eventually contain two full campaign missions, 6 weapon packs, 2 weapon skins and 4 character skins, and at launch the first mission and weapons pack have already been made available – with a second weapons pack being launched alongside it for free.
The new mission, dubbed Rough Landing, feels a bit inspired by the Regalino Viaduct mission in Sniper Elite 4 – which we thought was one of the best missions for that game when it launched, so that’s good news. It’s a relatively compact map though, in which you have to find two pilots who have been shot down over an enemy-controlled area – taking you through some woodlands as well as inside a mine, which is a drastic departure from the larger maps with multiple avenues of approach. Included in the release are the Mosin-Nagant rifle and the Sjögren shotgun – the latter one being great during those close quarters moments of the mission.
All players, even those who aren’t jumping aboard for the new Season Pass yet, also get free access to the Trench Warfare Weapons Pack, which includes the Carl Gustav M/1945 SMG, the Trench Gun and the Double 1866 pistol. If you’re pretty loyal to your standard loadout that won’t make too much of a difference for you, but if you’re anything like us and like to experiment, these give you new ways to play the existing missions – which can be a great warm-up exercise to see if you want to jump aboard for the new Season Pass.
Paw Patrol: Grand Prix gets new Arena Mode DLC
We reviewed Paw Patrol: Grand Prix back on October and found it to be a very competent kart racer for young audiences and families, and now publisher Outright Games and developer 3DClouds have released a second helping of DLC for the game, adding an Arena Mode to the game after the Race in Barkingburg pack already added three additional tracks and six alternate vehicles for the pups to race around in.
But where Race in Barkingburg stuck to the regular game of the base game, the new Pup Treat Arena addon actually turns things upside down with a brand new way to play the game. Much more battle- than race-oriented, it pits four players against each other in an arena setting where you have to try and grab as many treats as possible. Also mixing things up is the fact that any pup can now use any weapon/power-up, rather than being restricted to having character-specific ones. It makes the action a lot more hectic and unpredictable, and offers a nice break from the normal race action.
The DLC includes three different arenas to battle in (with either local players or AI pups), with Adventure Bay, the Jungle and Jake’s Snowboarding Resort acting as backdrop. There’s a good amount of diversity in the level designs for these arenas as well – some emphasizing verticality and jumps more than other, making for different experiences (with Adventure Bay being a good place to start from). The Pup Treat Arena DLC definitely enriches Paw Patrol: Grand Prix, and the only negative we can see is that the combined price of the base game and its DLC is on the high side.
DARQ – Ultimate Edition launches with new DLC
If you regularly read our reviews, you might have noticed our coverage of DARQ’s Complete Edition back in 2020. And how do you expand on something that’s ‘complete’? You launch an ultimate edition!
In terms of pure gaming content, the Ultimate Edition of DARQ is pretty much identical to the previously released Complete Edition, containing both the base game and its two DLC campaigns (The Tower and The Crypt). As such, it also replaces that version in the PlayStation store, though the versions for PS4 and PS5 are separate from one another and don’t come bundled.
What does come bundled, however, is a digital copy of the graphic novel DARQ: Dream Journal, which is a nice little extra for fans of the game. Rather than just a retelling of the events in the game, it features a lot of background information and additional lore – as well as fleshing out the story through locations and events that are exclusive to the Dream Journal. It’s a lovely addition to fans of the game, though we’re not sure if an (automatic) upgrade for those fans is available – fingers crossed, as it’d be a shame to have to buy the whole game again just for the graphic novel, as good as it is.
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