All sorts of whisperings were swirling yesterday concerning the next installment of DLC for Borderlands 2, and we now know it's officially a pirate's life for Pandora's vault hunters.
Titled Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty, the DLC will take players Jolly Roger style to an entirely new area of Pandora, a former oceanic resort that's now a barren wasteland called Oasis. The DLC adds new Pandoran pirate characters, missions, trophies / achievements, currency, enemy types, and, just like Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford hinted at, a new vehicle called a sand skiff, (seen below) inspired by the Star Wars vehicle.
The announcement comes on the heels of the release of Borderlands 2's first DLC character, Gaige the Mechromancer, the fifth character class to join the other vault hunters. Gaige is now available for free for players who pre-ordered Borderlands 2. For those who didn't, Gaige can be snagged for about ten bucks, or 800 Microsoft Points. Gaige commands the Deathtrap, which Gearbox's president Randy Pitchford described as Claptrap's big angry cousin, calling it a, "gigantic evil robot that'll just beat the living shit out of the enemies." Like Tiny Tina, this makes her one dangerous teenager, even by Pandora's reckoning.
Hats off to Gearbox for doing DLC the right way. Not only did they offer the Mechromancer ahead of time, but now the next DLC is coming just in time for when most players are completing their first playthrough and maxing out their first characters.
Lengthier DLC expansions ARE expected in the future. As for adding more character classes beyond the Mechromancer - "We created the ability in Borderlands 2 to add additional characters because we want to use that ability. The Mechromancer is the first one. I hope to do more. The success of the Mechromancer will help to define this. Our ambition and passion and our fans requests will also contribute to decision making about what we do."
Gamers will get their chance to raid booty when the Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty is out on Oct. 16, a mere 5 days from now.
