Borderlands 3 has finally broken its recent silence and confirmed that an official premiere of the Krieg DLC is coming August 25th, where fans will likely get the official name, the release date, and just a tease of content. However, fans who have been paying attention to the teases for Krieg may have noticed something a little odd.
Specifically, the language, teased art work, and final meditative teaser for Borderlands 3 DLC 4 all point to a similar DLC from The Pre-Sequel: the Claptastic Voyage. While it's not like to be a 1-for-1 redux, it does make for some interesting comparisons.
The Pre-Sequel's Claptastic Voyage and Claptrap's Psyche
In Claptastic Voyage, Handsome Jack sends players into the mind of Claptrap to receive the H-code, but to no one's surprise, it's not exactly a normal, functioning mind. Instead, players revisit some of Claptrap's memories while delving further into his subconscious and also dealing with "glitches" (some intended, some obviously not) that plague Claptrap and his DLC.
Claptrap's psyche is something out of a technician's nightmare, but it's not broken. As this DLC proves, Claptrap is a strange robot for a reason, and the wacky things in his mind seemingly have no end. The DLC is rather lighthearted, though, which may be in contrast to Krieg's. The more and more that it is teased, the more it seems players will be taking a dive into another mind—this time, that of Krieg.
Borderlands 3 DLC 4 and The Broken Psyche of Krieg
Around the release of DLC 2, Pitchford made this basically clear when he mentioned that fans would be seeing the "mind of their favorite psycho" in the future. The teaser image that followed with the reveal of DLC 3 features a white background, a color divide, and Krieg taking center place. And now, fans get the above where Krieg is in some sort of mystical realm, attempting to meditate.
All of this seemingly paints one picture: it's uncertain how, but it seems fans are diving into the broken psyche of Krieg. This is dangerous for quite a few reasons. As many know, Krieg already had a broken mind, with the Psycho impulses dominating an inner, relatively calmer person. This was made clear from the get-go when he was first revealed in Borderlands 2, with the inner mind being in awe of Maya, but "I'm the Conductor of the Poop Train!" coming out of his mouth instead. Krieg's mind, when he's in a good place, is likely still as wild (if not more so) than Claptrap's.
But one thing this Krieg DLC cannot avoid is that he's not in a good place, probably not even the voice on the inside. Maya's death in Borderlands 3's campaign likely impacts Krieg on a deep emotional level, perhaps even more than he can take, and it's likely to play a factor as to why players are exploring Krieg's mind. Whether somehow literally or metaphorically, exploring the mind of Krieg may mean exploring his grief, just as Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep explored Tina's grief for Roland's death.
Borderlands 3 is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
