Thanks to games like PUBG and Fortnite, battle royales are arguably the most popular genre in gaming today. Borderlands 3 doesn't have a battle royale mode to speak of, but it does have a rather lengthy side quest that's themed after the battle royale craze. Anyone who wants to experience this side quest completely for themselves should be wary that this article will have some spoilers for the Borderlands 3 battle royale side quest, but everyone else can read on.
The Borderlands 3 battle royale side quest is called Kill Killavolt and it takes place when players reach the planet Promethea, in Lectra City, and it's given out by none other than Mad Moxxi. In this side quest, players are tasked with entering themselves into a battle royale competition so that they can win the prize of having sex with Killavolt. But instead of having sex with Killavolt, players wind up fighting him to the death in an electrified arena.
The Borderlands 3 battle royale mission lacks some of the trademarks that make a battle royale game a battle royale game. Players get to keep the loot they've collected, there's no scavenging for resources, no circle of death closing in on the player, and no dropping down onto the map. Instead it's just a large area that's basically a massive free for all with gunfights everywhere. There are three enemies in particular that players have to fight through the madness to get to and kill so that they can collect their tokens and fight Killavolt.
The Borderlands 3 battle royale side quest pokes fun at the battle royale craze, but it also takes some jabs at the people that have helped battle royale take off in the way it has. The battle royale craze is directly linked to streamer culture, as battle royale games like Apex Legends and Fortnite are often the most-popular games to stream on sites like Twitch. Killavolt himself is streaming all of the carnage for his viewers, and a camera actually follows the players around while they fight their way through this section of the game.
The battle royale side quest also works as a nod to the battle royale movies and books that inspired the video games to begin with. This includes things like the film Battle Royale, where the genre gets its namesake, and The Hunger Games.
Besides participating in the battle royale, Borderlands 3 players in this section of the game can also take the opportunity to complete some side quests found around here, as well as hunt down legendary weapons like the One Punch Man shotgun.
Borderlands 3 is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia version also in development.