Borderlands 3 will be releasing the Designer’s Cut and the Director’s Cut as part of the game’s second season pass of DLC. This new content is part of Gearbox’s long-term plans for the looter-shooter; these plans also include free next-gen upgrades for PS5 and Xbox Series X.
The latest game in Gearbox’s long-running series of sci-fi RPG shooters has received a lot of post-game content since release. Every previous main series Borderlands game got a similar treatment, but Borderlands 3 seems to be going above and beyond, introducing more and more new planets and scenarios for players to blast through in a possible attempt to compete with live-service shooters like Destiny 2. Not all the DLCs have been total hits. The recent Bounty of Blood expansion, for instance, brought more classic Borderlands content but failed to innovate the game in any remarkable way. Regardless, Gearbox’s commitment to the game is certainly remarkable.
The team’s plans for the future of Borderlands 3 were illuminated in a recent blog post on the Borderlands website. This post lays out the ground plan for the game’s second season pass, including two major updates: the Designer’s Cut, and the Director’s Cut. The first update, the Designer’s Cut, will give each player character a whole new skill tree to explore, and will introduce the hotly anticipated Arms Race mode. The new content will be explored in a multiple-day schedule that’s been laid out in the post, starting with the skill trees for FL4K and Amara on October 20th and culminating on October 30th with live Arms Race gameplay. The Designer’s Cut is set to release on November 10th, while the Director’s Cut will be available in 2021. Gearbox is keeping quiet on the Director’s Cut for now.
If Gearbox is indeed trying to go toe-to-toe with Destiny 2, this seems like a solid way to do it. Giving each character new progression systems is an excellent way to make a game like Borderlands 3 worth replaying; fans should have a lot of fun seeing how the new ability options can help them create their ideal vault hunting build. The enigmatic Arms Race mode should encourage players to come back to the game as well; Gearbox has made a big deal about how drastically the mode will change up the core gameplay fans are used to.
Fans still have a lot of love for the satisfying progression systems and hectic gunplay of Borderlands 3, but there are certainly some aspects in which the series has aged less than gracefully. Borderlands‘ signature style of off-kilter humor, in particular, is beginning to grate with fans. While it’s unlikely that Season Pass 2 will introduce better jokes, the Designer’s and Director’s Cuts should give Borderlands 3 players a lot more cause to tolerate a few unfunny goofs.
