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Bastion gets The Stranger's Dream DLC next week, $0 on PC, $1 on XBLA

It looks like the folks at Supergiant Games are really getting into the holiday spirit. As "a show of thanks" to their fans, the Bastion devs are releasing The Stranger's Dream DLC on December 14, "a new fully narrated Who Knows Where sequence, bigger and more challenging than the others. You'll gain a bit more insight into Rucks' backstory as well as the history of Caelondia if you can survive this fight."

In addition to that Who Knows Where sequence – think challenge arena, if you haven't played Bastion yet – this DLC pack will enable a "Score Attack Mode" in which your combat performance is evaluated in each level, and a "No-Sweat Mode" so those of you who really stink at video games can still enjoy the narrative and aesthetic experience of playing Bastion. The catch: To access The Stranger's Dream and Score Attack Mode, you'll need to finish the game at least once; fortunately, No-Sweat Mode can help you make short work of that challenge.

The other catch: Though the update will be available for free for PC, via Steam, the Google Chrome version, or other online vendors, the Xbox Live Arcade version needs to cost something. That's Microsoft's policy, holidays be damned. So Supergiant has priced this DLC at just 80 Microsoft Points or, as you and I may call it, $1. Supergiant's Greg Kasavin said that price is "about as close as we could get" while following Microsoft's policy. We appreciate that.