Games used to be released and never changed over time, until the DLC became a straightforward way to extend the lifespan of a game and make money.
However,some developers were never interested in selling their updates and new content; instead, they opted to keep supporting the game with a mountain of new stuff.
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Certain entries here have been going for 14+ years without asking for a single dollar past the initial price, and that’s somehow still a viable business plan.
I’ll be going over the games that are the best at providing free content updates that massively changed the game for the better. Some paid DLC isn’t a dealbreaker, but the less of it, the better.
I won’t be considering any fully free-to-play games, as their entire business model runs on “free” updates with microtransactions, and I certainly wouldn’t call that generous.
10Among Us
Suspicious Additions
Among Usis the rare occasion where previously paid DLC became free, then more and more content kept being added for free after the game’s massive success in 2020.
Since the lockdown, we’ve gotten a ton of settings, two new unique maps, dozens of new cosmetics, including, and an increased player count with new colors.
The biggest highlights of this are the new roles, adding a ton of counterplay and even more variation to games, and a completely new Hide and Seek mode, which a ton of people did on their own before.
The only reason it’s this low is not because of the content itself, but rather the fact it’s technically Free-to-Play on phones specifically. Because most people tend to play on PC or console, I feel it’s fair to include it.
9Monster Hunter: World
Mountains of Items
Monster Hunter: World Game
WhileMonster Hunter: Worldhas a paid expansion called Iceborne, both it andthe base game got tons of support and new content well after their release, and it almost always adds several hours of content with each big update.
They provided new game modes, new locations, armor, weapons, and missions, and had a huge focus on improving the quality of life with each update, with the game feeling better every time.
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These patterns of huge updates change a ton of aspects of the game for the better. WhileIcebornekept up the trend, I consider it less important since $40 is a massive asking price for a DLC expansion.
It feels like a massive dedication to the game that continued for around 3 years. It’s nothing to scoff at, and some of the highest commitments to free updates I’ve seen from a major Triple-A production.
8Cyberpunk: 2077
Fixed Right Up
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077launched asone huge, intensely buggy experience.While it’s not completely bug-free, most game-breaking stuff has been fixed, on top of a boatload of new stuff added across the span of four years.
It does happen to have a $30 expansion on top of an already $60 game, which bumps it down quite a bit, but even if you’re only running the base game, you’ll find it’s way better than it was at launch.
It only got truly fixed to an acceptable state two years after the initial launch, but it was better late than never, and with added character customization, improved map design, and a huge wave of bug fixes.
After that,we got a ton of quality-of-life changes, police chases, and a more lively and improved world that made the game feel like how it probably should’ve felt all along, exactly four years after launch.
7Hollow Knight
Enormous Expansions
Hollow Knight
Hollow Knightwas released in 2017 and promptly threw in four major expansions of free content, none of which have you playing as Hornet, despite what the Kickstarter may have led you to believe.
The first added much-needed fast travel and a couple of bosses, the second added an extensive side-story with a tough boss, and the third polished everything up immensely on top of adding another boss.
The fourth and final update is probably the most iconic, adding a ton of characters, hidden locations, and a massive new area to re-fight bosses, including five pantheons that all end in a unique fight.
This massive amount of content was somehow all finished around two years after the game was released, so if you’re still waiting forSilksong, this is your sign to finally beat Pantheon 5, since you probably haven’t.
6Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
The Four Horsemen
Shovel Knight
Shovel Knightwas released as a standalone game around 2014 and had three extra campaigns promised from its rather unreasonable-looking Kickstarter goals, yet they all came eventually.
The first of these campaigns to release was Plague Knights, which took theSonic 3approach of having a new character explore the same levels, which was fine, but nowhere near as astounding as the next two.
Specter Knight’s campaign was both a cool Switch launch title and afull-on expansion of Shovel Knight,with brand new levels and a far more in-depth story, it felt like a complete sequel and total overhaul.
King Knight’s campaign, as the last hurrah for this game, sought to improve everything and added even more brand-new levels and a hilarious story, plus it was a Wii U game released in 2019, and that’s hilarious.
5Sonic Frontiers
Speedily Created Content
Sonic Frontiers
Sonic Frontierswas pretty janky at launch, with some solid speedy exploration and great boss fights, but a few dozen issues kept the game from being something incredible, especially the rather awful ending.
Most major issues people took with the game got patched up, on top of several fun challenge modes, a new spindash that gave you some of the most fun movement in the game, and more playable characters.
We also got some of the best music tracks in the entire series, and an entirely re-done fifth island, with precision platforming challenges that I adore and that most other people hate, for some reason.
The ending was also given an alternate path that changes it significantly, coming to a similar conclusion but with a far more satisfying way of getting there, and a new banger vocal track for the boss.
4No Man’s Sky
Neverending Content
No Man’s Sky
Like withCyberpunk, the story ofNo Man’s Skycame from passionate developers who refused to give up on their poorly received game, and unlikeCyberpunk, it added massive new content updates and never lets you pay for them.
This began in 2016 and has continued for nearly a decade now, beginning with a big update adding base building and promising a ton of extra free content, then overdelivering on expectations.
After that,they added more vehicles, overhauled the story, added procedurally generated missions, proper multiplayer, better aquatic environments, way better planet generation, and a huge pile of quality-of-life and bug fixes.
This was just within the first four years, and since then, they’ve been nonstop working on new content, always making huge improvements and adding to the experience, despite it still being kind of buggy, all things considered.
3Stardew Valley
One-Man Band
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valleyis another 2016 game that’s gotten a bunch of massive overhaul updates that keep giving us farming enjoyers food every year or so, and never once asks for a penny in exchange.
We all thought that ConcernedApe, the solo developer of the game, would’ve stoppedStardew Valleyupdates after announcing his new gameHaunted Chocolatier, but the game is still going strong to this day.
The world was already expansive and plenty satisfying on launch but got filled to the brim with new NPCs, crops, items, and a huge additional islandthat nearly doubles the content of the game and finally adds a credits screen.
You’d think that update would send the signal that the game was finished, but after that came a huge quality of life-centered update, with new NPC portraits, new events, and a ton of unique and cool items.
2Minecraft
And It Don’t Stop Coming
Minecraft’s updates are famously huge, frequently expanding on existing content and adding a mountain of improvements and bug fixes on top of unique additions, even in recent years where fans frequently complain about their free updates.
Even if you’re not a fan of the additions, you have to acknowledge the supreme dedication to the game from Mojang. Updating a game for free since 2009 is nothing to scoff at, with a few huge overhauls making the game significantly better.
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Sprinting, a final boss, Elytra, Villager trading, and Nether Biomes were all massive updates to the game that only came after the initial release, each of them building upon things without changing what makes the game fun.
The more recent updates past 1.16 have been far more focused on smaller additions and self-contained biomes or structures, but that’s not inherently bad, considering you never have to spend another dime on Minecraft content after buying it once.
Please, Take My Money
Having released in 2011,Terrarianever gave up on improving the game, with around a dozen “final updates” releasing that all massively overhauled the game, never failing to make the experience feel fresh.
For a game that is frequently available for $5, it’s wild to see a huge number of bosses being added, incredible levels of polish that make the game look better with each update, and a treasure trove of content.
Each update considers every aspect of the game up for tinkering, constantly building on the core game design and redoing anything that doesn’t work, no matter how big or small.
Any time Re-Logic has said they’ll stop working on the game, they just keep coming back, and it somehow still makes them money to be a fully indie studio working on the same game for 14 years straight.
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