Commander Lilith and the Fight For Sanctuary – The Free Explanatory DLC for Borderlands 2

So I finally got around to playing the new DLC for Borderlands 2, Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary. It was given away for free at the same time the Handsome Collection was massively reduced in price, to coincide with the proper announcement and trailer for Borderlands 3. The DLC fills the gap between Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 3, thrusting the plot forward. It had taken a while to play because brother, the ultra Borderlands fan and nerd, wanted to play with a full squad. Which is fair but probably made it all easier.

The story happens a little bit after Handsome Jack’s downfall, but also after the end of the Pre-Sequel where Athena tells her story and before she is executed, something intervenes and tells the Vault Hunters to prepare. I’m not actually sure where the ending of Pre-Sequel fits in here. Either way, everyone is happy, there’s some peace on Pandora but of course there’s some fuckers who think they can do better. This baddie comes in the form of Hector, who has created a biological weapon that turns people into weird plant zombie things. He wants to turn Pandora into a “paradise”, which will turn pretty much everyone and everything into weird plant zombies too, basically causing a mass extinction.

Hector has a bad understanding of what “paradise” means. Why? Because… well, I’m not suite sure. Hector, like most people, was tricked and stuff and was told him and his men would be going to Pandora to retire and be happy and then was stiffed. That’s a running theme around here.

Anyway, Lilith is running the show, has been since everything went down. Hector takes over Sanctuary, taking the Vault Key with him and we need to save Sanctuary. This involves fighting new infected enemies and avoiding toxic gases which will quickly drain your health and kill you.

It’s a basic plot but it’s workable. Hector is a deluded bad guy who thinks he is making things better. Lilith is struggling with her role as leader. We meet up with all the old crew. There are explosions and boss fights. It’s all good.

Not that any of this matters though. Because Scooter is dead. Apparently he died in Tales from the Borderlands but damn, that caught three out of the four of us by surprise because we hadn’t played Tales from the Borderlands.

Anyway, there are other cool things too. There are some new bosses, new guns, new fights and most of the game happens in new areas. Including a somewhat new Sanctuary area. There are also Rainbow quality items which make up a set. Finishing the main quest grants you a Rainbow quality relic called Mouthwash, which alludes to something else, and we also found two cool Rainbow skins for the vehicles and a Rainbow weapon.

We also have the return of several characters from Tales from the Borderlands and set up a new base. Which leads us to a small issue. In order to be able to, you know, continue playing the game normally, there is a massive continuity error at the end of the new story quest. It involves explosions in an area that you somewhat cannot go back to. But can go back to afterwards. But that goes into spoiler territory.

What is also interesting is that the level cap has been increased, we all got to level 73 and found level 74 items, so I assume it goes to 80 now. Or maybe 90. Who knows.

Commander Lilith is a good DLC and for free, I can’t complain. It’s basically a last hoorah for Borderlands 2 and it’s a bit of fun. It’s not the hardest thing around,especially  if you have level 72 or OP1-8 gear and all the good shit already, which a lot of hardcore players will have. But it’s all fun, new content and a perfect kickstart and hype machine for Borderlands 3.

9/10, would recommend. Apart from the continuity issues. And the fact that Tiny Tina is literally just stretched a bit to make her look taller.