On March 26, 2026, developer "Gearbox Software" and publisher "2K Games" released Story Pack 1: "Mad Ellie" and the "Vault of the Damned," which is the first of two major paid expansions for the looter-shooter. The DLC is priced at $29.99 USD, which is nearly half the cost of the base game. This expansion can be completed within two to three hours. This led to a massive player backlash, because according to players this DLC is not worth the money.
What Borderlands 4 DLC Contains?
The expansion tells a cosmic horror story starring Ellie, who is Moxxi's daughter and the series' mechanic, alongside a brand-new playable Vault Hunter, C4SH the Rogue, a CasinoBot who wields a magical deck of cards. Players are dropped into The Whispering Glacier, a frozen, eldritch new region on Kairos with new missions, two major boss fights, 16 minibosses, three Pearlescent weapons, 18 pieces of Legendary loot, and 28 cosmetic items.
Underwater exploration, which is something largely absent from the base game, also makes its debut here. On Steam, the DLC received a "Mostly Negative" review rating, as it only got around 32–34% of reviewers recommending it. Reddit and social media have filled with complaints. Even players who enjoyed the content itself are calling the $30 DLC price unjustifiable for the length on offer.
Why Are Players So Angry?
Players feel the "Borderlands 4 DLC" length does not justify the price. Multiple players on Reddit and Steam report completing the main story in under two and a half hours without rushing. One Steam reviewer put it bluntly: "This is a small story pack, not an expansion, and it should be priced accordingly."
"Borderlands 4 Super Deluxe Edition" buyers, who paid $130 at launch, did not get the DLC included. One Reddit user wrote: "Bought the super deluxe and I got the stone demon free. But now I have to pay for the DLC and C4SH. I ain't dropping another $32 USD for a total of $170 USD on a half-assed game." This has now become one of the most upvoted complaints in the "Borderlands 4 subreddit."
Critics also point out that "The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine" for comparison. This game won RPG of the Year despite not being a standalone game, but also launched at $20 and offered 40 hours of gameplay. The most prominent official comment came from "Josh Jeffcoat," who is the Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned lead game designer, who spoke to IGN ahead of the DLC's release.
Jeffcoat said: "Come back for the adventure. That's why I built this, because I want to give people that opportunity to tell a story, go see a new place, and have fun in it." He framed the DLC as content specifically for lapsed players who want a self-contained reason to return, and also highlighted unique features like real underwater exploration and the horror-oriented tone. He also noted that players can skip directly into the DLC with a pre-leveled C4SH, meaning no main campaign progress is required.
Jeffcoat acknowledged in an interview with "Kotaku" that games in 2026 are expected to expand and update for free, making it harder to sell any paid DLC, especially one priced at nearly half of the full game. The community is waiting to see whether the backlash will affect how Gearbox approaches Borderlands 4 Story Pack 2.
Anyways, what are your thoughts on Borderlands 4 DLC? Have you completed it already? Do you think DLCs should be expanded and be provided at a lower cost? Let me know all your answers in the comments, where you can also provide the latest news so I can make a breakdown of it.