Borderlands 3has 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 thefranchise’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.
DespiteBorderlands 3having 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. InBorderlands 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.
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The DLC Trend Thus Far
WhilecomparingBorderlands 3’s expansionstoBorderlands 2can 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 latestBorderlandsgame’s expansions:
Clearly, Gearbox has an affinity for covering popular genres, withBorderlands 2touching on Fantasy via the belovedAssault on Dragon Keep DLC. Seeing that trend continue inBorderlands 3is 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 theBorderlandsuniverse.
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The Inspiration For Ava’s DLC Questline
Borderlands 3’s Director’s Cuthas 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 ofBorderlands 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 beassisting the young Sirenon 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. Withmajor casting decisionsfor theBorderlandsmovie being revealed, and major progress being made on the adaptation, it seems fitting thatBorderlands 3has seen its DLC content so heavily influenced by film.
Borderlands 3is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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