may not be a fully-fledged live-service game, but it’ll still have an endgame that should hopefully keep players busy, months after beating the main story campaign.Gearbox took the stage at PAX West today to reveal Borderlands 3’s sprawling endgame. After beating the main story mode, there will be a combination of different progression paths that should keep you occupied. As such, Borderlands 3’s endgame will comprise of: True Vault Hunter Mode, Guardian Rank, and Mayhem Mode.
True Vault Hunter Mode is Borderlands 3’s New Game Plus. Players will be able to tackle the main story campaign again, only it’ll be much harder. Luckily, players can keep their weapons, levels, and other perks they earned the first time around.
Guardian Rank replaces Borderlands 2’s Badass Rank but acts pretty much the same. Players can unlock stat improvements by leveling up a Guardian Rank XP bar. Each bar unlocks a Guardian Token, which can be spent to unlock stat bonuses from three different skill trees. The further players progress, the better the rewards.
Finally, there’s Mayhem Mode. After finishing the campaign, a terminal on the Sanctuary III opens up three different Mayhem Mode difficulty levels. Enabling a Mayhem Mode serves as a modifier where the world of Borderlands 3 becomes more dangerous, but the rewards become better.
For example, a Mayhem Mode can increase an enemy’s health and shields, but also increase their cash drop. There are also random modifers called Mayhem Mods which will activate on every planet that mixes up the fights in different ways. One example Gearbox showed off was “You’re a Wizard” which reduces normal bullet damage from players, but increases their elemental damage output.
Combined with the wave attack mode Circle of Slaughter and time trial mode Proving Grounds, and Gearbox is promising Borderlands 3 players plenty of activities and rewards to chase once the credits roll. There’s also Campaign DLC and seasonal events Gearbox hasn’t revealed yet.
Gearbox also announced that Borderlands 2 VR on PS4 is getting the Bad Ass Mega Fun DLC pack for free on September 6. This includes 16 DLC content from Borderlands 2, but in VR. Borderlands 2 VR is also coming to PC in fall 2019 with both the base game and DLC.
For more, check out our Borderlands 3 preview and interview. Borderlands 3 comes out on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on September 13, 2019.
Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.
