After giving away Grand Theft Auto V and Civilization VI, the Epic Games Store has moved onto a third free title. Borderlands: The Handsome Collection is free on PC until June 4. If you download it now, it’s yours to keep forever.
In a nutshell, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection contains Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and all of their related downloadable content (DLC) packages, and there are A LOT of them. That’s 2 full games and 50 pieces of DLC for zero dollars. To give you an idea of how good a deal that is, Steam is currently selling the bundle for $88.17, but puts its total value at $339.46.
For those new to the series, Borderlands is a first-person shooter known for its roleplaying and looting elements. Borderlands 2 hit PC and consoles in 2012, followed by The Pre-Sequel in 2014, refining the humour, addictive levelling and powerful abilities that the original game was praised for.
Visually, the franchise uses cel-shaded graphics to give it a kind of cartoony look that still holds up today. In fact, 2019’s Borderlands 3 follows the same design principles.
Set on the planet of Pandora, Borderlands 2 lets you play as one of 12 characters, each with their own special abilities and skill progressions. The assassin ZerO, for example, can become invisible for a short time and spawn hologram decoys to throw enemies off his scent. While the base game contains four playable characters, the DLC adds a whopping 8 additionals.
While similar to Borderlands 2, The Pre-Sequel – which takes place on Pandora’s moon – adds new gameplay elements like low gravity environments where loot and enemies can float away, 2 new varieties of weapon, a grinder machine that allows you to trade in weapon combos for one of greater rarity and more.
For those who are new to the franchise, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection is a great way to get into it, even if you haven’t played the original Borderlands, which is fairly light on story elements.
If you’re ready to burst into Pandora and stir up some chaos, be sure to jump into the Epic Games Store to get Borderlands: The Handsome Collection free on PC until June 4. Once it’s in your library, it’s yours to keep forever.
