Borderlands 3 is even more fun since the crazy event “Revenge of the Cartels” was introduced. The highlight of the event is the assault on the cartel boss’s villa. Our MeinMMO author Jürgen Horn enjoys it so much that he would prefer to do nothing else.
Here’s what the cartel event is about: Borderlands 3 gets something new every month. Sometimes it’s big add-ons like the latest DLC featuring guns and tentacles. Other times it’s smaller events, like the current “Revenge of the Cartels”.
In this one, I need to help Maurice, the friendly dinosaur from the neighborhood, out of a jam. He accidentally ate a member of the big Eridium cartel after a poker game, and now the cartel’s killers are after him. They’ve already broken the poor lizard’s arm, and now they want to get him once and for all!
Luckily, the solution is simple: I need to kill cartel members to find out the location of the villa of the big boss and then lay waste to the place along with the boss and all his minions.
Never was breaking and entering so beautiful
This is how awesome the cartel event is: At first glance, the event doesn’t seem like anything special. Cartel thugs spawn occasionally on various maps, and once you’ve taken down enough of them, you can breach the boss’s villa.
But what sounds simple is actually a ton of fun. Besides the humor and storytelling, the wild shootouts in Borderlands are the most enjoyable part. The glorious gunplay with countless crazy weapons is simply a blast!
The cartel enemies spice up regular battles in the game. Where there might have been a dozen foes before, there are now twice as many, including mini-bosses and corresponding loot. The enemies swarm towards you, and you can be grateful if your ammo holds out!
So much fun is the assault on the villa: The pre-slaying in the regular game world is already a nice appetizer, but in the villa, I dive into the main course. There, I am treated to a good fifteen minutes of epic carnage. Enemies come at me from all sides, and I need my best weapons to handle the flood of enemies.
Especially cool: Different enemy types and sections of the villa are included with each run. One time there are high-tech security troops, then a horde of psychos with a food fetish, and then again a bunch of little gremlin dwarfs with heavy weapons!
This is what the villa looks like: The villa has a crazy style, designed like a gangster boss villa from an 80s action movie. You’ll find tasteless ostentatious decor in gold and purple.
All over, there are gaudy statues and decorative elements, and even the toilets are gold-plated. By the way, anyone who uses all the bathrooms in the villa gets an achievement.
Additionally, a lot in the villa can be shot to pieces. And let’s be honest: Wrecking an ostentatious gangster villa is something everyone would love to do at least once.
This soundtrack makes it the most fun for me: And even though the 80s soundtrack of the villa is cool, I prefer my own shooter playlist on Spotify. To this music, I blast through the seemingly endless hordes of enemies, and especially the final fight becomes even more epic.
This is how cool the boss fight is: The entire shooting spectacle traditionally ends in the basement of the villa in the boss’ sanctum, Joey Ultraviolet. He unleashes various enemies, his underbosses, and deadly laser traps and pools of acid on me.
The final fight is a wild shootout and jumping around because enemies are constantly rushing at me from all directions, roaring. My adrenaline spikes each time, and when everything is over, I stand in a sea of rubble, dead enemies, and exquisite loot.
The best loot in the game
This is why it’s even more fun to repeat it: Like a good chili that gets better after reheating, the villa is even more fun on subsequent visits. The event can be repeated as often as desired, and with each run, there’s a chance for particularly juicy loot. The two currently most overpowered weapons in the game can be found in the villa:
- The Atlas Assault Rifle OPQ System, which deals massive damage per shot and even operates autonomously as a drone!
- The extremely strong rocket launcher “Yellowcake”, which can blow away entire groups of enemies even at high Mayhem levels.
- The thick assault rifle “NoPewPew” from COD, which fires incredibly fast and thus also turns battalions of enemies into bloody spray.
With these guns, additional runs of the villa become even more enjoyable. You can also crank up the new Mayhem levels for more challenge! And that leads to even better loot! An exquisite vicious cycle from which I never want to escape.
This is why the villa is worth it even more: Moreover, it’s the Eridium Cartel that I’m taking down here. Therefore, there are piles of the rare resource scattered everywhere. Together with the already generous loot, every raid through the cartel boss’s villa is a feast for my in-game bank account, and I rarely leave the villa without a level-up or various Guardian ranks.
If you love Borderlands, you will love the Cartel event
I, Jürgen, admit: I am addicted to wrecking villas. The nightly breaking and entering, followed by a bloodbath and the final loot orgy, has become a fixed part of my after-work routine.
The event is simply perfectly portioned. While regular Borderlands quests or events often take quite a long time and sometimes require a group, I can quickly blitz through the villa alone in 15 to 20 minutes and grab a huge sense of accomplishment along with optimal loot.
This is particularly convenient for me as a father of a 1-year-old child. I can also quickly run through the villa when the little one plays with mom for half an hour or takes a nap.
This, along with the non-stop Borderlands action, makes the villa from the event “Revenge of the Cartels” so great for me. Therefore, I join the fans’ call: “Please bring more content in this form and let the villa be a permanent event in the game!”
