Borderlands 4’s Loveless debuts; Gearbox sells DLC separately

Gearbox introduced Loveless as the sixth Vault Hunter for Borderlands 4 and said it will sell the character’s cosmetics for $9.99 and the accompanying Story Pack content for $19.99. The studio also announced it will offer more DLC elements as separate purchases instead of only bundled packages.

Loveless is scheduled to arrive in early September alongside Story Pack 2 and Bounty Pack 5. Gearbox described her as an “ex-Anshin hacker turned assassin” with advanced cybernetics and added that she “shares her mind with a digital virus of her own creation, which can digistruct into a physical form that acts as a deadly extension of her shared, perfection-seeking will.”

Under the revised sales approach, players can buy Loveless and her cosmetics for $9.99 and the new zone and story content for $19.99. Gearbox noted Story Pack 1 had combined two pieces into a single $30 bundle that prevented players from purchasing components separately, and the studio will split narrative and cosmetic elements for upcoming packs.

Bounty Pack 3 will follow the split model: narrative content and core gear priced at $5.99 and a separate $5.99 option for the Vault Card 3 pass. Version 1.8 of Borderlands 4 launches Thursday, June 25, and will include the free Takedown at Hadron Abyss update alongside the paid Bounty Pack 3: A Zane to Kill For.

Bounty Pack 3 sends players into an arcade machine in Moxxi’s bar to play Private Dick, a neo-noir game where Zane’s memories are stored and a murder mystery unfolds inside a physics-defying, cyberpunk city. The free Takedown at Hadron Abyss adds an endgame gauntlet set in a submerged laboratory and culminates in a boss encounter with the Child of Terramorphous.

The Takedown supports increasing Mayhem levels that raise enemy strength and rewards. Advancing to higher tiers requires completing runs within time limits, and the highest tier includes a hardcore mode where any single death ends the run for the team.

Gearbox set Bounty Pack 4, titled Murders and Acquisitions, for Thursday, July 30, with a separate Vault Card available for purchase. Story Pack 2, Bounty Pack 5 and Loveless are scheduled for early September.

The June 25 update will enable cross-platform saves tied to a player’s Shift profile so progress can be carried across platforms. Golden Keys will not transfer and must be used on the platform where they were first activated. Gearbox added it is “looking into a similar approach” for older DLC, which could allow players to buy individual elements from past bundles.

The studio will release paid and free content across the summer while offering characters, cosmetics and story content as separate purchases.