Gearbox and 2K Games have pulled back the curtain on the premiere piece of content in the Borderlands 3 Designer’s Cut DLC pack. A new game mode is coming to Vault Hunters everywhere that boasts escalating odds, a shrinking arena, and big loot to score.
The new mode is called Arms Race, and while it borrows Fortnite’s encroaching storm conceit, the mechanics are similar to a roguelike more than a battle royale. Vault Hunters will be dropped into the Stormblind Complex — a Dahl facility located in a hitherto unexplored corner of Pandora — without any equipment, skills, or passives. To win, players must scrounge for gear and face off against waves of Borderlands 3 baddies while outrunning the Murdercane’s storm wall.
The mode is framed as a reality television show, hosted by two previously-absent Borderlands 2 favorites: Salvador and Axton. While some gamers may be disappointed to learn that the Borderlands franchise isn’t taking its first deep dive into PvP, the new mode is undoubtedly easier to fine tune and balance for PvE, making it better suited to the franchise’s loot-driven, party-based gameplay. Some commenters on YouTube expressed dismay at the mode’s passing similarities to battle royale titles, so the lack of a true PvP experience may be for the best.
Arms Race drops on November 10 as part of the Designer’s Cut DLC, the first expansion in the game’s second season pass. Gearbox Co-Founder Randy Pitchford teased the new game mode at PAX in September, promising something that would radically change the way players experienced the game.
Also included in the Designer’s Cut DLC are new skill trees for each of the game’s characters, and Final Form cosmetics. The new skill trees that have been revealed open up a host of new build options, and will hopefully satisfy those disappointed by the lack of new Vault Hunters. There are also new Final Forms, which overhaul the Vault Hunter’s base character model and are compatible with other customizations such as heads and color schemes.
Introducing a completely new game mode to a year-old game is a bold move for Gearbox. Properly executed, the new mode could breathe fresh life into Borderlands 3, but with stellar roguelikes like Hades breaking new ground in the genre, Arms Race will need to bring a well-crafted, compelling experience to avoid being branded as a bandwagon gimmick.
It will be interesting to see how the game develops throughout its second season pass, and whether Arms Race becomes a new staple for the franchise. While the new DLC reveals the fate of Axton and Salvador, Borderlands 3 still has plenty of lingering questions to answer.
Borderlands 3 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with forthcoming releases for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
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