As someone who paid for the Super Deluxe Edition for Borderlands 4, hearing about the first paid DLC drop becoming free when it was supposed to be included in a pack I already dropped money on, initially, I felt slighted. That is, until I remembered how poorly executed the Halloween event was. Then, when I booted it up expecting very little for what was advertised as a minor DLC package, I ended up being pleasantly surprised by the time I finished it.
Granted, “How Rush Saved Mercenary Day” is, at the end of the day, a short and sweet Christmas story. But all of the little bits of dialogue, action, and exploration in a new zone kept a smile on my face. This DLC felt like “classic Borderlands” to me, which, despite really enjoying the story in Borderlands 4, having a reprieve with humor, guns, and mayhem is exactly what made me fall in love with the series when I played Borderlands 2.
Putting the Screws to Mercenary Day
The DLC opens up with Rush receiving a starter pack for the Borderlands universe’s holiday season, Mercenary Day, from Marcus Munitions. With the whimsical promises of gift-giving bringing warmth to Rush after the events of the story, he enlists the Vault Hunter to go around and send gifts down various chimneys. It is a tale as old as time. But sadly, disaster strikes. As Kairos’s Minister of Culture, Screw, turned the gifts into bombs in secret to rob Rush of his promised holiday cheer.
The gifts go off one by one, killing citizens snug in their homes all around the Fadefields. This, of course, forces Rush’s hand and asks the Vault Hunter to deal with Screw. With a shiny new vehicle to ride into battle, the Vault Hunter finds himself in an ominous and snowy enclosure. Chipping away at Order forces, lighting up Screw’s base of operations with holiday cheer, and taking quite a verbal thrashing from the grumpy Screw. He’s a mean one, and quite the Grinch if you ask me (I’m not sorry for this line).
The rest of the DLC plays out like normal. It’s a simple run-and-gun, destroying things to progress and listening to Claptrap sing. It’s lighthearted and genuinely a fun time. The boss with Screw is also pretty fun to take on and grind out for new gear. Speaking of new gear…
A Brand New Holiday Vault Card in Borderlands 4
The first of the Vault Cards finally arrived in Borderlands 4. Featuring a ton of classically themed cosmetics and 4 new legendary guns to earn. What makes the Vault Card unique is how you can constantly buy the new legendaries to get random rolls on them. As opposed to previous entries, where guns would just have different stats. The guns in this game can roll with different aspects of different gun manufacturers. I am still earning Vault Card Tickets, so I have not purchased a re-roll on one of these guns. However, the idea of being able to see what gun can roll with what different parts is a very exciting endeavor to grind for.
The only problem I have with the current execution of the Vault Cards is the way the challenges are set up. I would prefer to just kill Order or Ripper forces in general instead of certain types in certain areas. Everything else seems to be generous right now. But maybe the weekly challenge could give more tickets for the time investment.
Overall, though, the Christmas DLC for Borderlands 4 is worth jumping into for a few reasons. The first being is that it is free; it is treated as just another normal update, but with stuff to do. The Minister Screw fight is fun, and the grind in the Vault Card is something to keep coming back to. All the while, we learn more about Rush, our very first friend in the game’s story. Granted, there are also more fixes and improvements that you can read about in the updates’ patch notes.
For a free update, it is definitely worth jumping in for. Even if it’s for a short story and a new grind to undertake.
