After months of speculation Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s first official DLC is released in “New Power Awakens”. Following an original in-game storyline based in the “Battle of Gods” arc Goku and Vegeta are introduced to God of Destruction Beerus and his Angel companion Whis. Coming to realize they stand no chance against the ultra powerful beings they must unlock a new level of power to save the Earth from unstoppable annihilation.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a 2020 action-RPG, it is developed by CyberConnect 2 and published by Bandai Namco. It is currently available for PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One. The first DLC “New Power Awakens” is available now via season pass and the Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Ultimate Edition.

Editor’s Note: A review copy for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot “New Power Awakens” was provided by Bandai Namco via an earlier provided review copy of the Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Ultimate Edition at launch in support of this review. Medium to near complete spoilers for the base game, “New Power Awakens” and canonical Dragon Ball Z/Super storylines may be present within this review. Our review of the base Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot game can be found here.

Lord Beerus makes his presence felt in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s DLC.

Initially released in January, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot told one of the most known tales in all of anime and mange; the story of Son Goku. A Saiyan from Planet Vegeta who was raised on planet Earth as a human, having saved the planet countless times from his own race, a galactic tyrant named Frieza, aiding in the battle against the Androids and Cell, and even the entire universe from the evil Majin Buu Goku found the Earth peace for several years. Unfortunate as is the case with the Saiyan peace only lasts so long as a new threat the likes of which never seen before arrives in the God of Destruction Beerus. With the help of Vegeta, Goku must unlock the power of the Super Saiyan God for either of them to stand even remotely of a chance against the mighty God.

The Super Saiyan God arrives in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.

THE GOOD: First before starting this review let me give a heads up in saying that if you haven’t already then grind Goku and Vegeta to level 100 prior to starting the DLC (you’ll thank me later). Second, “New Power Awakens” is a retelling of the Battle of Gods arc from the 2013 film of the same name and the Dragon Ball Super anime. This isn’t canon much like a fair bit of the base game, but it’s written in a fun work around of sorts by CyberConnect 2’s staff and I believe series mangaka Akira Toriyama had a hand in developing the story for the game. Like the anime it takes place following the Buu saga, but the difference here is that Goku and Vegeta are contacted telepathically by Whis informing them of their required assistance in entertaining Lord Beerus. In the anime version of the story Beerus awakens from a vision of the Super Saiyan God returning from extinction wishing to challenge him when he arrives. Whis introduces himself to the Earth Saiyans while enticing them with the new legendary transformation they can learn and use to possibly defeat Beerus with. From this point on you’re free to explore Beerus’ planet and unlock any moves or upgrades you missed before beating the base game.

Face off against the God of Destruction Beerus and his assistant Whis in “New Power Awakens”.

After being able to move freely you can change characters between Goku & Vegeta and take on several challenges laid out by Whis. This is usually included with optional objectives such as winning a battle with a finisher or melee attack. Completing each task will unlock a much stronger version of previous transformations such as Kaioken and Super Saiyan (with God Ki for example). When you unlock every transformation you have the opportunity to unlock Super Saiyan God. I’m absolutely thrilled CyberConnect 2 & Bandai listened to fan feedback about difficulty or lack thereof from the base game. While the simplicity of controls can’t exactly be changed Beerus and Whis do provide a bit of difficulty similarly to that of the super high leveled enemies spread throughout the world map of the base game. And in a lot of cases are even more difficult than those enemies.

Follow an alternative take to the Battle of Gods film and anime counterpart.

THE BAD: It would have been nice to have the option of more side quests on Planet Beerus, though given how the scenes featuring Beerus’ planet was written this can be forgive. That being said given how CyberConnect 2 has already made several rewrites to the overall story I don’t think many would have mind more originality given the situation.

“New Power Awakens” takes the feedback of laxed difficulty and gives it a much needed upgrade.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: “New Power Awakens” is the first of a handful of DLC coming to Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot and while we may have a bit of a wait for the remaining parts this first one is an excellent upgrade. The change in challenge makes for a much better player experience, but the lack of side quests is disappointing but forgiven thanks to writing issues.