While Gearbox is prepping for the launch of the third Borderlands 3 DLC: Bounty of Blood, die-hard Borderlands fans are already setting their sights on DLC 4. During the DLC 3 reveal, Matt Cox, Creative Director over at Gearbox for DLC 3, dropped a piece of concept art pertaining to DLC 4 and it sent the fanbase into a fervor. At first glance, the concept art simply shows a colorful rendition of a Psycho, but closer inspection reveals that this could potentially be the fan-favorite character Krieg from Borderlands 2. If this is the case, it's the perfect time for Gearbox to really flesh out and develop this beloved Vault Hunter.
Who is Krieg?
Krieg was one of two Vault Hunters added to Borderlands 2 as DLC, the other being Gaige the Mechromancer. Krieg was a predominantly a melee-focused character, which made him stand out from the other Vault Hunters in the game, perhaps aside from Zer0. What is even more insteresting is that Krieg is a Psycho, but there is still some semblance of normal human consciousness in there that allows him to help the Vault Hunters.
Krieg's skill trees turned were all based around different types of Psychos found in Borderlands 2: an elemental tree that turned him into a Burning Psycho, an explosive tree reminiscent of the Suicide Psychos, and a melee-focused tree that turned him into a Badass Psycho. He gained quite a lot of popularity thanks to the Borderlands 2 short video 'A Meat Bicycle Built for Two' which focused on Krieg and Maya. But ever since the end of Borderlands 2, fans have been wondering where Krieg went.
Krieg has yet to make an official appearance in Borderlands 3, but there are several Echo Logs scattered throughout Pandora that players can find that contain a little bit of context for Krieg. However, the concept art for DLC 4 seems to hint that this beloved not-Psycho is coming back in some capacity. In the concept art, it shows what appears to be Krieg, with the colors of the art splitting him right down the middle - representative of his dueling personalities inside his head.
It is very likely Krieg in the art due to similar design choices between the concept art and Krieg's model in Borderlands 2. Krieg has been the only Psycho in the series that we've seen that has an eyepatch over the right eye. He also still has the massive ventilator-contraption on the front of the mask as well. It certainly seems like this DLC will focus on the split personality of Krieg and perhaps bringing balance to the two sides of him.
What Has Krieg Been Up To?
After the end of Borderlands 2 and the Commander Lilith DLC, the Vault Hunters all seemingly went their separate ways, and little closure was given to any of the Vault Hunters - especially the DLC ones. Gaige came back in the 'Guns, Love, and Tentacles' DLC, and Salvador is rumored to come back for DLC 3 'Bounty of Blood' but there are a few clues as to what Krieg has been up to since the end of Borderlands 2.
In Konrad's Hold on Pandora, players can find several Echo Logs that are narrated by Krieg - both his Psycho personality and his normal personality. This is big because previously the "normal voice" was only ever in Krieg's head, and the Psycho personality controlled the body and the mouth. It seems that during the time-skip between Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 3, Krieg has apparently been isolating himself in a cave to try to gain control of himself, and to silence the Psycho side of him for good. Obviously progress has been made since he can talk in his normal voice sometimes, but there is still a lot of turmoil inside him between the two personalities.
The "normal" Krieg was trying to gain control of his body so he could see Maya again, as she was the only one who could understand Krieg even in his psycho form and could tell that there was more to him than just the insane rambling. After the fall of Sanctuary in the Commander Lilith DLC, Maya told Krieg she would meet up with him again after she did some research on Athenas, and obviously the story events of Borderlands 3 are going to make that promise a little hard to keep, which is even more reason why Krieg should be brought back for DLC 4. There are plenty of characters in the Borderlands universe who deserve screen time in Borderlands 3, but few deserve it more than Krieg.
How a Krieg DLC Could Work
The imagery of the concept art is clearly supposed to represent the split personalities of Krieg. The left side of the art is a calm landscape, while the right side of the art is fractured, with rocks and cars floating in the air. The focus on the split may mean that the DLC will focus on restoring Krieg to his normal self. It goes without saying, but Krieg will likely not take the death of Maya well, and it could cause Krieg to push past the tipping point and lose control. Perhaps Tannis may find a way to allow the Vault Hunters to enter Krieg's mind to help free him of his psychotic hold, because if anyone can figure out how to make that work, it's Tannis.
It would be interesting to have a location that is inside someone's mind, much like Tiny Tina's DLC since it was imaginary. It would allow the DLC to get wild, especially considering it is the mind of a Psycho. Since this is the fourth and final DLC of the Season Pass, odds are Gearbox will want to pull out all the stops since the bar is set high since Tiny Tina's beloved DLC was also the fourth DLC for Borderlands 2.
Whether DLC 4 is Krieg-focused or not is obviously still in the air, as we only have the concept art to go off of. But there's clearly a big demand for Krieg's return, especially now that Maya is dead. Perhaps after the first round of DLCs are over, Borderlands 3 will get a major expansion that will allow the Vault Hunters to hunt for Lilith to continue the main plot from where it left off. Regardless, fans still have two more DLCs to go before worrying about what comes next, and hopefully a couple of familiar faces to get reacquainted with.
Borderlands 3 is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.