Borderlands 4’s First Story DLC Looks Like A Total Nightmare (In A Good Way)

The first major expansion for Borderlands 4 is officially launching later this month, bringing a rather unsettling spookfest to the usual looter shooter shenanigans.

Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned is the official title of Story Pack 1 – promising quality-of-life updates, an expansion to the Vault Hunter roster and a brand spankin’ new adventure across a frostbitten wasteland:

It’s good to see some familiar faces joining us on the descent to madness. Fan-favourite Pickle hasn’t been seen since Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, so it will be a joy to see what nightmarish shit happens to the beloved fingersmith this time around. It is also a joy to hang out with Ellie again, the no-nonsense daughter of Moxie who always has a wrench in her hand and a proclivity to use it for more than just fixing vehicles.

The newcomer of course is the card-flinging robot casino dealer C4SH, joining the cast of vault hunters as the first new playable character within Borderlands 4. Throughout the gory and unsettling trailer we see C4SH setting the scene with his card-flinging signature ability – described back in 2025 as “involving an element of chance”, so it will be cool to finally figure out how much RNG will play into the dude’s kit.

In a separate bit of news, Gearbox has also detailed some great quality of life that is coming to the game alongside the DLC – such as how map progression, SDU tokens, Hover Drives, and cosmetic rewards will now be shared across all characters on your account. There is also a new ‘skip’ option coming to get new characters straight into the action earlier, bypassing the intro and hitting the ground ready to (conveniently) access the new DLC. Shared character progression has been a arse-blister for a long while, so I am keen for all of this.

Speaking to the rest of the presentation: What the f#%k?

The physical horror elements with the trailer are nutty, with dudes missing body parts – and in some cases – tearing them off entirely. Borderlands has long enjoyed a delve into a horror-themed DLC, but this is the first one that really seems to be ticking all the bigger boxes, including the return of a downright unsettling creep, Mancubus Bloodtooth, seemingly acting as the steward for your descent into gore and terror.

Ellie makes it clear she doesn’t like jump scares, and girl I am right there with you. This story DLC looks like a hoot, and I am amped to kick off with it on March 27.

What do you think of Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned? Are you hungry for this quality of life changes? Tell us all about it in the comments, or on social media.