I propose two general categories of games: reset games and build upon games. Reset games involve a fairly short play experience and reset/conclude upon a Game Over with little to no carryover to the next play session. Notable reset games include Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros, and Splatoon 2’s turf wars mode. Conversely, build upon games typically convey a story that can be resumed after a play session formally ends. Some examples of build upon games are Bayonetta 2, Monster Hunter Generations, and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Postgame content, the additional gameplay available after a game’s formal conclusion, typically takes place in these build upon games because they usually incorporate a sprawling story that can be continued after its last scene. Although rarely executed with excellence, postgame content can add hours of entertainment to an already phenomenal game.
Padding: Poor postgame content
To artificially extend a game’s total play time, and subsequent value as many interpret, game designers occasionally pad a game with needless requirements or challenges once the main campaign concludes. Even home run hitting franchises, such as the Mario series, exercises this unsatisfying approach. Super Mario 3D World, for instance, offers a robust campaign with hundreds thrilling challenges to complete. Once all of the game’s missions are completed and the game formally ends, postgame content is introduced with a technically arduous platforming level. This difficult challenge is a fitting reward for the player dedicated enough to complete the game. The issue, however, is the requirement to complete the game. In addition to completing every level, finding every collectible, and finishing each level on the top of the classic Mario flagpole, each stage must also be completed with all of the game’s five characters. This final qualification produces unnecessary backtracking through each level. Rather than completing a level to explore it for collectibles, this requirement results in players monotonously trekking through each level to mindlessly reach its conclusion. This approach does not engender active, entertaining play styles; rather, it ends in the player drowning out the gameplay to complete the game. Poor postgame content removes, rather than adds, to a game’s overall experience.
Cathartic postgame content
After twenty hours of gameplay spent growing alongside the story’s characters and motives, it remains understandable how some games offer postgame content to emotionally satisfy the player. The war-based tactical RPG Valkyria Chronicles 4 rewards the dutiful player who defeats the final boss on a harder difficulty with several cutscenes illuminating character connections after the final struggle. Most of the game elegantly conveys an ambiguous romance between two of the main characters, yet the game’s action and plot prevents them from acting upon any potential feelings. The postgame cutscene finally reveals the intended direction for these two characters, thereby rewarding the player with the satisfying knowledge of their dynamic. Postgame content can properly satisfy the player on an emotional level, even through a simple cutscene earned with additional gameplay.
New gameplay: The best postgame content
I argue that the most satisfying and entertaining postgame content is novel gameplay for the player. After all, the player likely enjoyed the gameplay enough to devote the time and effort necessary to reach the game’s formal conclusion. Postgame content in the form of unseen gameplay, then, satisfies the player who enjoyed such gameplay. But any game can provide additional content through the use of new saves. This possibility relates back to the reset games, and does not easily relate to postgame content, the additional content beyond completing the game. Instead, strong games offer postgame content though new gameplay. By offering untouched challenges and objectives, the game can engage the player on a different, more experienced level. After formally beating the game, the player is presumably competent in the game. Thus, this postgame content can be harder, more exhilarating challenges never seen before by the player.
To picture this idea, compare Super Mario 3D World’s postgame content to Super Mario Odyssey’s. Both games reward a player’s strong gameplay with additional gameplay, yet Super Mario Odyssey more generously rewards the player with more content and more reasonable unlockability of such content. Instead of providing the player with one new level, Super Mario Odyssey blesses the player with over two times the previously completed game content! This content is easy to unlock, and subsequently, easy to enjoy. This content’s novelty creates a fresh experience, destroying the player’s previous perceptions of being done with the game. Postgame content here reminds the player that their odyssey is just beginning: yahoo!
One game series with some of the strongest postgame content is the Pokémon franchise. Pokémon Silver, Gold, and Crystal incorporates a substantial journey only to shock players with nostalgic postgame content potentially doubling the size of their play experience because after the game’s main region is explored, the last generation’s Kanto region opens. Completely unaware of such an addition, surprised players joyously relive their Kanto journey with several twists and alterations to keep gameplay fresh.
A more competitive example of this shock appears in Pokémon Emerald. After the main campaign is completed, the Battle Frontier opens. An elite fighting facility with an equal emphasis on difficulty and gameplay variety, the Battle Frontier signifies a dramatic shift in the player-game interaction from mostly casual to completely competitive. The Battle Frontier offers seven additional facilities with their own variations on the tried and true Pokémon battle gameplay. One facility has the player use unfamiliar rental Pokémon in battle while another facility pressures the player in a brutal dungeon crawler. The extreme variety and novelty that the Battle Frontier presents elevates the gameplay experience, easily catering to seasoned players. As my favorite example of postgame content, the Battle Frontier enthralls players with dozens of hours in additional content whose novelty makes gameplay lavish and dynamic.
Conclusion
Although not required, or even appropriate for all types of games, postgame content helps aggrandize games from an already enjoyable time to an unforgettably rich experience. Their unexpected nature keeps players committed, despite a game’s formal conclusion. Games do not have set end points; while all players start the same game at the same point, each player decides when to end his/her experience with the game. Postgame content extends the time a player gives the game, and can further its plot, characters, and gameplay. When included well, postgame content is the cherry on top of a great game, and is thereby worthwhile for players to enjoy.
Kommentarer