Gearbox Software and 2K Games released a Second Season Pass for Borderlands 3 and I invested a lot of time with this content. In this review, I’m going to tell you what you are getting and if it’s actually good because this package looks nothing like the first Season Pass. Therefore, I’ll answer the question for you, should you be spending your hard-earned money on Season Pass 2?
Content Overview
Borderlands 3 Season Pass 2 contains two big DLCs. You have the Designer’s Cut and the Director’s Cut. Both add very different things to the game. However, the name kinda suggests which part of the development team wanted to add more content to the game.
Designer’s Cut
The Designer’s Cut adds new ways to play the game. Each Vault Hunter gets an additional skill tree and there is a whole new game mode being added to Borderlands 3.
New Skill Trees
The skill trees are cool as they add new ways to play each Vault Hunter. Each Vault Hunter was defined by their initial skill trees, however, this left them with some weaknesses. There were things that they couldn’t do while other Vault Hunters had those options available to them.
Moze always had to jump into Iron Bear but a lot of high-level plays revolved into immediately jumping out of Iron Bear as it was simply there to trigger the Action Skill Anoint. Therefore, Moze now has the Iron Cub in her Skill Tree, a mini-Iron Bear that follows her where ever she goes.
FL4K has always been the glass cannon character, however, with the new purple skill tree they now also have proper healing capabilities and you are able to create a true pet build.
Zane and Amara now also have new and interesting abilities in their additional skill trees. This is great if you want a fresh play style for your favorite character.
During the initial release of the Designer’s Cut, the only way to use these new skill trees was to play the content that was already bundled with the game. This kinda felt lackluster at the time as the community was looking for fresh content and not playing the “same old, same old” over and over again. However, if you pick up Season Pass 2 these days you get fresh content with the Director’s Cut. That gives you new content to experience while you run a new build.
New Game Mode
Arms Race is an interesting new game mode for Borderlands 3. It pulled inspiration from popular Battle-Royale games like Fortnite where you find yourself on a map that becomes more limited over time as a storm pushes you toward the center of the map.
You need to survive the enemies and the storm as you gear up to make your way to the final boss in the center of the map.
However, while it sounds like the Battle-Royale formula it actually also includes another mechanic that is currently very popular in games. The ability to extract your new gear and take it with you into the main game.
There are new legendary weapons that are only obtainable in Arms Race. Therefore, you need to make your way to the treasure rooms, loot them, and extract the best gear. You can also sell crappy items for money and get some good gear that way because if you don’t reach one of the extractors in the map. You need to use the one after the boss fight and if you don’t have the gear to defeat him you will lose all the gear you collected.
Arms Race is a fun new game mode but it is something different from the main game. Your action skill and skill tree are defining mechanics for Borderlands and you don’t have access to them during Arms Race. This felt kinda weird to me, non the less, if you like those challenge runs this game has your thrills.
Director’s Cut
The Director’s Cut adds all these elements that you would have wanted in the main game. As the content in this sixth DLC raises the overall game to a new level.
Ava’s Murder Mysteries
Ava’s role in the main game was kinda weird as you see how things ended up. However, with these Murder Mystery Missions, you get to spend more time with her and learn more about the lore of the game. These are fun series of side quests that lead up to a big reveal and boss fight.
If you want BORDERLANDS LORE, you need to play this because it gives you a lot to think about. The boss fight is great and its arena is amazing, really mysterious, I love it!
Also, there is a Mysterious Artifact… just saying.
Vault Cards
Vault Cards are one of those sweet additional features to the game. That extra sprinkle that gives the overall experience a bit more flavor. Vault Cards are kinda like your Battle Pass. You can earn XP by simply playing the game and that way unlock cool rewards in your Vault Card.
There are 3 Vault Cards – Fallen Heroes, Welcome to Pandora, and Bunker Masters – each with its own unique theme. You can unlock new cosmetics, exclusive legendary weapons, and Diamond Keys for the Armory.
Vault Cards give you the incentive to keep playing the game. I think the next game in the series should incorporate this feature as it gives you direction on what to do next. As Vault Cards give you clear goals and rewards.
Raid Boss
One thing that was missing from the base game that everyone in the community wanted was a RAID BOSS. The Director’s Cut adds that with Hemivorous the Invisible. Finally, the door in Ascension Bluff opens and you can take on this massive boss.
This is a challenging fight and even has something extra that fans of the series will enjoy. You can get some new legendary gear from Hemivorous that can push your build to the next level. I enjoyed the challenge.
Behind the Scenes Content
The Director’s Cut also adds a gallery with Behind the Scenes Content. Here you can find amazing artwork from the game, videos of cool or weird stuff, and most notably a deleted scene that sadly didn’t make it into the game.
If you are reading this review, you likely know what has happened in the main game. Gearbox Software wanted to have a funeral in the game, however, that section got cut from the game. In the behind the scenes content you can find a video that storyboards that part of the game and they even had the original voice actors play out their parts.
It’s cool to see all the amazing work that goes into making a game. The User Interface for this content isn’t as great as you might expect from other media apps or players.
Verdict
Borderlands 3 Season Pass 2 is made for fans of the game. You get less playable content than the first Season Pass if you look at story missions. However, the content that is added with the Designer’s Cut and the Director’s Cut really levels up the game. If you want more mileage out of the game this definitely succeeds at that.
When you look at the content as separate pieces, they kinda look like small additions but as a package, it works really well.
Season Pass 2 is bundled with the Ultimate Edition of the game and that’s exactly what the content stands for, it creates the best Borderlands 3 experience that we fans want.
If you want new adventures, you can better look at Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands but if you are in for more Borderlands 3, then Season Pass 2 is your icing on the cake.
You can check the price of Season Pass 2 here if you play on PC and if you are playing on a console you can check the price here. By using one of these links you also support the site and let me continue to keep creating content for you and the rest of the community.