Borderlands 3 has featured well over a year of post-launch content, from a marriage set on a Cthulhu-inspired planet, to a trip into the mind of the franchise’s most well-known pyscho. Each DLC features unique weapons, characters, crew challenges, and locations, with some changing things up even further via new vehicle types. The result of this diverse approach is a set of expansions that sees each sporting a unique tone and telling a story that feels wildly different from the DLC pack that came before it.
Despite Borderlands 3 having a lineup of expansions that go out of their way to be different, there is one thread connecting each of them. While this connection is not as obvious as a character crossing over across each DLC or the use of similar mission structure and gameplay mechanics, it is noticeable if fans pay close enough attention — and fans of movies and television may have already picked up on the trend early on. In Borderlands 3, every expansion has been based on a recognizable movie or TV genre, and it looks like Gearbox has continued this setup with some of the Director’s Cut content.
While comparing Borderlands 3‘s expansions to Borderlands 2 can highlight interesting connections between the games, Borderlands 3’s DLC inspirations are even more clear. Each expansion released for the game thus far boasts a connection to some genre of storytelling, and a few show this connection more clearly than others. So far, here are all the movie and TV genres that have been covered by the latest Borderlands game’s expansions:
- Moxxi’s Heist of The Handsome Jackpot — Heist Movies: This one is a bit of a given considering that “heist” appears in the tile of the expansion, but Borderlands 3’s first DLC boasts all the tropes of the genre. Moxxi not only needs to complete the impossible task of stealing Handsome Jack’s outer space casino, but she recruits a team of fellow renegades to do just that. From Handsome Jack’s doppelganger Timothy to the fire-loving Ember, the team of misfits’ plan comes together in a way that one would expect from a Heist story.
- Guns, Love, and Tentacles – Romance and Cosmic Horror: Borderlands 3’s second post-launch expansion covers the marriage of Sir Hammerlock and Wainwright Jakobs. Along with several unique Jakobs weapons to acquire, the expansion features some heavy connections to The Thing — with the planet named Xylourgos being one of them. With the entirety of The Lodge serving as a reference to classic cosmic horror tales, one of its two genre inspirations is obvious. Several tropes of romance stories also appear, such as Wainwright and Hammerlock questioning if their relationship will work out.
- Bounty of Blood – Western: Much like with its predecessors, Borderlands 3’s third expansion makes no attempt to hide its genre inspirations. While outlaws may be riding dinosaur-like “demons” instead of horses, everything else lines up perfectly with what would be seen in a Western. The hub area is an old-style town ran by a sheriff, while the villainous Rose dons a cowboy hat and a stylish revolver. While the planet Gehenna’s Japanese architecture helps make the locations stand out from the usual Western, the story and themes do not shy away from the Western genre whatsoever.
- Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck – Sci-Fi: While Krieg’s expansion is the hardest to narrow down in terms of its inspiration, the premise of his story can be connected to Science Fiction stories. Aside from highlighting the experimentation done on Krieg to make him who he is, the entirety of the DLC takes place inside the character’s mind, with Krieg altering the surroundings and characters within the made-up world. The genius scientist Tannis helping the Vault Hunters enter Krieg’s brain at the start of the DLC screams Science Fiction as well, as there are few other genres that can match such off-the-wall concepts.
- The Designer’s Cut – Game Shows: Considering that Borderlands 3’s Designer’s Cut is made up of different content and not functioning as a usual expansion, this could have been the place where developer Gearbox put an end to the pattern of movie and TV-themed releases. Instead, it was continued via the unique, roguelike Arms Race game mode. With returning Borderlands 2 Vault Hunters Axton and Salvador calling the action, the entire event is treated like a game show, with the commentary being entertaining and the “prizes” being massive weapon drops.
Clearly, Gearbox has an affinity for covering popular genres, with Borderlands 2 touching on Fantasy via the beloved Assault on Dragon Keep DLC. Seeing that trend continue in Borderlands 3 is intriguing and could imply that future Borderlands games keep this setup intact. Regardless of whether more movie and TV-themed DLC comes in future games, Borderlands 3’s Director’s Cut has been confirmed to continue this tradition – bringing another popular genre of movies and television to the Borderlands universe.
Borderlands 3’s Director’s Cut has been receiving a lot of praise for its Multiverse skins, battle pass system, and raid boss, but its new Ava story is equally interesting. The story missions could be Gearbox’s chance to make one of Borderlands 3’s most despised characters likable, as many took issue with Ava’s attitude throughout the game’s main story. Regardless of whether the missions succeed in this area, though, they do continue the pattern of genre inspiration.
In these missions, players will be assisting the young Siren on a series of murder mysteries. If the detective story inspirations were not clear enough, the mission structure should tip players off regarding the genre that Gearbox is paying homage to. With the extra quests seeing players search crime scenes for environmental clues, Ava’s missions seem to lean just as heavily into mystery fiction as previous expansions did with nods to Westerns and Heists.
Like Guns, Love, and Tentacles, Ava’s mission chain boasts a second inspiration, pulling from ghost hunting shows in a big way. While players explore several different planets to solve the cold cases, Ava will be documenting all the findings via a podcast titled “Mysteriouslier.” With the mysteries described by Gearbox as “potentially supernatural slayings,” Borderlands 3’s Vault Hunters may be dealing with ghosts in the next DLC. With major casting decisions for the Borderlands movie being revealed, and major progress being made on the adaptation, it seems fitting that Borderlands 3 has seen its DLC content so heavily influenced by film.
Borderlands 3 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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