So I played this game a TON back on console and I, unfortunately, paid full price for everything and witnessed this amazing experience turn into a cluster ♥♥♥♥ of pay to win tomfoolery. That said, with the sale going on, the entire game and DLC for under $20 is an absolute steal. And this game offers so much more replay value than the original trilogy, 100% an underrated gem.
BUT that said, most of the best weapons in the game are locked behind a paywall and annoyingly grindy challenges to unlock *cough cough* Mortar Shotgun *cough cough*. Though, I think the devs kinda caught onto this and like half of the DLC weapons don't even have elements but rather an upgrade that boosts headshot damage at the cost of body shot damage. Cool on paper until you remember this is a sniper elite game, you want to go for headshots. Now can you go through all of the base game and DLC story and its challenges with base game gear? Plus why use those when you can use explosives? Like the Mortar Shotgun? The saving grace of the DLC is at least the free L4D characters have the same perks other DLC characters have (with the exception of Hector's perks but he's objectively the worst one to play since divine items don't even work on him soooo).
Hoard mode is a fun little distraction too giving a rouge lite twist on the wave based gameplay. Plus there's 4 difficulties and a special modifier for campaign missions that changes the enemies you fight into a harder set of spawns for extra content (Free content btw).
All and all for the sale it's on right now, the complete edition is so worth it from the money you save alone. Outside of a sale, the campaign DLCs are great if you want more story and game content. The DLC weapons you can really cherry pick if you do decide to get some. Again, Mortar Shotgun is so broken. DLC characters are just kinda ehh. I usually just play Karl since he gets more crit from range which is huge for damage, and he's base game so there's that. Again, for DLC character perks you can just use the L4D characters. In terms of lines and skins and other cosmetics, it's just whatever you want man, they're subjective.
Overall, great game especially for $2.49. Or $17.12 with everything. At full price, base game is good but the complete edition is a lot of filler and nonsense.
