Nintendo and Monolith Soft have announced an Expansion Pass for Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which will add a variety of new quests, characters, and storylines to the game over the course of 2022 and 2023.

Revealed as part of today’s Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct, the Expansion Pass will cost $29.99 / £26.99 and will be available alongside the main game when it launches on July 29.

The pass itself is broken down into four pieces, with the first release happening on the day Xenoblade Chronicles 3 launches, and the final piece dropping before the end of 2023.

First up, coming at launch on July 29, the Expansion Pass will grant a variety of unnamed “helpful items” and colour variants for your characters’ outfits.

The second drop will add a new Hero character and quests, a new Challenge Battle, and new outfits. This is promised to arrive sometime before the end of 2022, but Nintendo has yet to provide a release window. A third drop, once again adding a new Hero character and quests, Challenge Battle, and new outfits, will be released before April 30, 2023.

The final drop, which will arrive no later than December 31, 2023, will add a brand new story scenario to the game. That’s a full storyline, rather than the odd few quests, and so will presumably add a big chunk of new narrative to the game.

These individual waves of DLC will not be available separately, so players will need to buy the entire Expansion Pass should they wish to get any of the additions.

For more, check out everything we learned from the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct, including the story’s main characters, the cool Interlink mechanic, and how battle works.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.