Borderlands 4 – Bounty Pack 2: Legend of the Stone Demon has dropped for Gearbox Software’s Borderlands 4. However, Legend of the Stone Demon doesn’t quite deliver the depth I expect for an additional paid content pack.

Legend of the Stone Demon centres on newcomer ally Defiant Calder’s request for your Vault Hunter to investigate the mysterious substance “Ordinite” and the resulting anomalies in the Stone Mine. I looked forward to exploring Calder’s hinted worldviews from the base game, but his involvement and added backstory lacked the depth I anticipated. 

My journey into the Stone Mine started with curiosity about what surprises it might hold. However, similar to previous caverns (such as the Caustic Caverns and the Mines of Avarice from Borderlands 2) this area lacked personality. Beyond the absence of unique NPCs and diverse enemies, the environment in Legend of the Stone Dragon felt lifeless—even the antagonists lacked energy.

Legend of the Stone Demon includes new enemy variants, crystallised foes called the “Ordinate-encrusted”, which essentially are the standard Borderlands bandits and creatures mutated with crystals that make them more durable than usual. There isn’t necessarily a challenge to be had with these enemies, apart from them taking longer to take down.

Shooting off the crystals makes them damageable and makes typical encounters feel slow-paced and repetitive. Likewise, the four mini-bosses and even the Stone Demon himself have very “meh” attack patterns, making them way less interesting and downing them incredibly unsatisfying.

It does have the inclusion of the new Pearlescent drops, but I had barely any satisfying loot instances and minimal encounters with chests. Some of the Pearlescent loot drops are exclusive to those who purchase the DLC, like one for completing the Ordinate Processor event. The Stone Dragon can drop them too, but it’s very rare, and I can’t see myself keen to face off against the beast again, and the likelihood is minimal, meaning boss farming is really the only way to get one eventually.

One of the most out-of-place elements for me, aside from the lack of “Borderlands” feel, was that the audio was off-putting and out-of-place, especially during combat. There wasn’t necessarily music so much as an ominous, discordant cacophony of droning and piano chords that didn’t fuse well with combat encounters.  I never felt “amped” up, which made the incredibly repetitive point, shoot, loot gameplay loop feel like even more of a slog.  

By the time I felled the Stone Dragon, there was a feeling of “is that it?” The DLC is incredibly short, and due to the lacklustre experience, I was relieved it was over. Borderlands 4: The Legend of the Stone Dragon/Bounty Pack 2 has almost no style or substance. It feels shallow and doesn’t delve deep enough into a side character’s possible story arc or into more secrets of Kairos.

If you already have the Deluxe or Super Deluxe Edition of Borderlands 4, you might want to spend an hour or two in the mines, but otherwise, as a standalone purchase, it’s worth waiting until Bounty Pack 2: Legend of the Stone Demon goes on sale.  

Written by: Yasmin Noble