Borderlands 4‘s first major story DLC, Bounty Pack 1, is out today for all players — and it’s available for free, because there’s less in it than was initially planned.
There are two types of story DLC for Borderlands 4: Bounty Packs and Story Packs. Bounty Packs add new narrative missions and cosmetics to the game. They’re available to anyone who picked up the Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions of Borderlands 4, or you can get the Bounty Pack bundle separately for $39.99. Story Packs, meanwhile, are larger in scope, adding new Vault Hunters to play as, new open-world zones to explore, and new loot to… loot. Two of those are planned for Borderlands 4, and come included with the Super Deluxe edition; the bundle for those is purchasable separately for $49.99.
Image: Gearbox/2K Games
Bounty Pack 1, “How Rush Saved Mercenary Day,” adds a questline centered around Rush, the rebel leader you assist in the game’s first area. Gearbox said in a news release that these quests are intended for players who are midway through Borderlands 4‘s main campaign. Bounty Pack 1 will also add a raft of cosmetics to the game: five weapons skins, five vehicle skins, four character skins (one for each Vault Hunter), and four heads (usable by all Vault Hunters), plus four skins and two attachments for your Echo-4 bot companion. But it’s still less than Gearbox initially expected to include in the pack.
“However, with the continued efforts to improve the Borderlands 4 experience, the team ran out of time to stuff as much mayhem-fueled content into the Bounty Pack 1 stocking as originally planned,” publisher 2K Games said. Gearbox planned four Bounty Packs for Borderlands 4, but as a result of making the first one free, will release a fifth one down the line.
The first Story Pack, Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned, is expected to come out in early 2026. It’ll add C4SH, a robot cowboy casino dealer whose play style Gearbox described as “unpredictable,” to the roster of playable Vault Hunters. There will also be a new zone to explore in Kairos, though Gearbox hasn’t shared details about it yet. It’s anyone’s guess as to how that’ll fit into the Borderlands 4 map.
