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Unannounced, free DLC adds co-op to Spec Ops: The Line

Earnest Cavalli
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Spec Ops: The Line
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Enjoying the shooting action of Spec Ops: The Line, while simultaneously baffled at how excellent the game’s storytelling is? Bewildered by a shooter that at least attempts to veer toward the cerebral from time to time? Of course, that’s how we all feel about the game, but if it’s missing any one crucial feature, it’s the ability to play the thing alongside a helpful, trustworthy friend.

As of now that all changes: Publisher 2K Games has just launched a previously-unannounced batch of downloadable content for the game that adds a series of co-operative missions to the title’s existing content. The press release offers details:

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The cooperative bonus content in Spec Ops: The Line features a series of objective-based cooperative multiplayer scenarios set in Dubai after a series of cataclysmic sandstorms have wrecked the city. It includes four fast-paced missions, each with its own unique objectives, environments and playable characters. The two players must work together to fight through waves of enemies and blinding sandstorms to complete their objectives, emphasizing teamwork and utilizing a variety of weapons and explosives.

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That’s neat, but the best part of this announcement is learning that all of this DLC is now available free of charge. Whether you’re using an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or Windows PC to play the game, you can visit your respective downloadable content marketplace and grab this thing right this minute absolutely gratis.

As for why 2K Games has opted to release this DLC free of charge, when it so easily could have charged $5 or more for the addition, seems to be a simple matter of thanks. 2K Games, which describes the DLC as “the perfect complement to the provocative single-player narrative campaign,” seemingly wants to give back to the fanbase that has made Spec Ops: The Line a sleeper hit and what better way to do that than to offer them more ways to play a game they already love? Yes, of course “comically oversized bags of cash” would have been a better way to say thanks, but this free downloadable add-on is a far more realistic, feasible offering for 2K.

So, cheers all around? Yes, for now, but this announcement makes us wonder what other DLC offerings might be coming in the future from 2K Games. It is, after all, a capitalist business, and the firm has to make money somehow, so it only makes sense that it would offer some sort of for-pay DLC to complement today’s act of generosity. Maybe a few new guns, maybe an epilogue; just something to convince players to hand over their hard-earned cash for even more Spec Ops: The Line content. As soon as 2K opts to break its silence on the issue, expect a full report.

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Earnest Cavalli
Earnest Cavalli
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Earnest Cavalli has been writing about games, tech and digital culture since 2005 for outlets including Wired, Joystiq…
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