Final Fantasy XV: When should you play DLC episodes? Our guide to avoiding spoilers

With the launch of Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition and Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition on PC, a whole lot more people are experiencing FF15 itself and its various amounts of added DLC content. Everything is unlocked from the start, but that's also a little dangerous, since each separate DLC episode contains spoilers for the main game.

That raises a question, then: when to play DLC episodes? This is a difficult question to answer, especially because each DLC episode takes place at various points throughout the story.

DLC is accessed through the Downloadable Content option in the main menu of FF15 - simple enough. However, you'll want to be careful about when you access them - but you may want to access them early in order to transfer their unlocks back to the main game. Here, we'll tell you the best possible time to play each episode and the multiplayer expansion Comrades. Let's do it:

Need more FF15 help? Check out our full Final Fantasy XV guide homepage, which features many more pages like this on several aspects of the game.

When to play the Episode Gladio DLC in FF15

Episode Gladio takes place at a point in the story when Gladiolus briefly leaves the party to take care of some business. The DLC explains exactly what happened in that time. It lets you unlock a special move and a special outfit for Gladio in the main game once completed.

Once you reach Chapter 7 of FF15's main story, feel free to go ahead and play Episode Gladiolus. It'll take you a couple of hours, explain where Gladio went off to and net you some neat unlocks.

When to play the Episode Prompto DLC in FF15

As with Gladio, a time will come in the main FF15 story when Prompto leaves the party and you're without him for a while. This is when Episode Gladio (which we reviewed separately) takes place. In order to preserve some plot details from later in the game, you'll want to wait to play this episode until quite late in the game, but the unlocks will still be useful.

Play the Episode Prompto DLC once you reach Chapter 12 of FF15's story. This is when the story starts to get serious, as you'll be noticing... and you're ramping up towards the end, when the final DLC opens up.

When to play the Episode Ignis DLC in FF15

Episode Ignis is a bit of a weird one, as it tells another gap in FF15's story from the perspective of Ignis, the brains of the operation. However, there's a twist: Episode Ignis has some choices, and some of those choices can lead to a non-canon alternative ending. However, if you follow the main story properly, it fits right into FF15's main narrative.

Now, this one is a little more complicated. The Episode Ignis DLC is actually set around chapter 10, but it also contains spoilers for later in the game in its final scenes. Generally speaking, our advice is to start the episode Ignis DLC either after finishing the main game or after reaching chapter 14.

The lion's share of its events happen in chapter 10, however, so if you feel less spoiler sensitive that's absolutely an option. After some pretty major events transpire in a large city location of the game. Ignis will return from those events a changed man, and that's how you know you're ready to start his DLC to learn all about how that came to be. As with other episodes, there's some unlocks for playing the DLC that transfer back to the main game.

When to play the Comrades Multiplayer Expansion DLC in FF15

The mere setting of FF15's Comrades Multiplayer Expansion Mode is a major spoiler for events in the very final section of FF15. As such, you'll want to save starting this for when you reach Chapter 14 of FF15 - truly the beginning of the end. Comrades is a huge expansion, and we've even got full separate guides on its Birthplace System, Weapons & Weapon Upgrades, Weapon Skills and Materials if you need them. 

Comrades' setting is a big spoiler and the appearance of other charaters will also be a spoiler, but it doesn't offer specific story spoilers in quite the same way - so if you want to start Comrades, go ahead and do so - just don't say we didn't warn you.