Borderlands 2 GOTY

In the previous game, the characters of Roland, Lilith, Brick and Mordecai are led to the discovery of a large alien vault on the planet Pandora, which was rumoured to hold all sorts of wonderful treasure: riches, fabulous technology and ancient wisdom.

Instead, it unleashed an ancient alien force called The Destroyer, which the players then had to defeat. Following their victory, a rare mineral begins to flourish on the planet, and in the five years to the beginning of this game, an evil corporation has seized control of all the Eridium in the name of ‘bringing peace’ to the people.

In the new game’s main story arc The Vault Hunters are on a mission to find a new alien vault – thought to be even bigger and this time filled with good things – which with they can liberate the planet of Pandora from the villainous Handsome Jack, President of Hyperion Corporation.

Our heroes set off on a train to find this new vault, but Jack sabotages it, leaving them to freeze to death in the cold. Fortunately, they are rescued and taken to a safe place, from which they can equip themselves and set out again on their main mission, while undertaking side missions as they present themselves.

The side missions include meeting up with the heroes of the first game (see below for more) and being given advice by them and/ or rescuing them from other villainy.

Collaborative campaign gameplay,

Characterisation for the Win

There are four playable characters in this game, all new, plus two bonus characters that were added as DLC. But do not fear, if you had favourite playable characters in the first game: they appear in this game as non-playing characters or NPCs. All the new characters have hefty bounties on their heads for various crimes and nefarious doings.

The six new characters are:

Axton the Commando: a military bad boy, Axton was cut loose (axed, if you like) from his regiment and his marriage because of his independent streak that caused him to go his own way. His commanding officer and wife (same person), Sarah, realised that his actions would no doubt earn him the death penalty and secretly urged him to flee. He obliged, heading over to Pandora and out of jurisdiction, where he heard rumours of the vault’s treasure

Maya the Siren: sirens are women with immense powers, and because of this they are often feared or criminalised as soon as their powers manifest. Maya has been raised by a secret Order of monks who declare her their deity, even as they keep her on a short leash. Realising they are not the good force she has always thought them to be, she kills her trainer/ handler and escapes, fleeing to Pandora where she has heard there is treasure to be found

Salvador the Gunzerker: native-born on Pandora, Salvador can wield (perfectly) any two weapons simultaneously for a short time. Despite his short stature (about five foot four, believed to have been caused by excessive steroid use in his youth) Salvador is a formidable opponent because of his special skills. He heard about the alien vault while ‘interrogating’ (aka ripping to pieces) a Hyperion agent

Zer0 the Assassin (note the zero used instead of an O at the end of the name): as his name implies, Zer0 is an assassin for hire whose emotions and kill celebration (a 0) appear on his face mask which he never (or very seldom) removes. His real antecedents are unknown, but he became interested in the vault when he heard about it after a particularly unsatisfying assassination

Gaige the Mechromancer: added as DLC alongside Krieg, this character is your quintessential science nerd. She invented Deathtrap for a science fair project to prevent bullying but was cheated of her win by her rival, the bully Marcie, whose dad bought first prize for her. Accidentally vaporising Marcie meant the Gaige had to flee with her murderous machine, which she did. To Pandora, where adventure and new friends were waiting for her, had she but known it

Krieg the Psycho: as his moniker implies, Krieg is a psychotic killer. However, it seems as though some unspeakable trauma has driven him into this state of mind as he has a conscience or inner voice who drives him to hurt only those deserving of punishment and he actively tries to avoid hurting innocents. He meets up with Maya first and after a brisk skirmish because of a misunderstanding, the two strike up a grudging friendship