Have you ever found yourself slowed down by Borderlands 2’s dated gunplay mechanics while replaying this iconic “looter shooter,” wishing for a faster-paced, “run-and-gun” style experience?
Despite the humor showing its age, the PC modding community has passionately supported the Borderlands franchise for over a decade. They’ve introduced a wide range of modifications, from extensive balance changes to skills and weapons, to the addition of hundreds of new guns. There’s even a recent mod that transforms Borderlands 2 into a Roguelike experience, aptly named “Roguelands.”
Naturally, with this level of creativity, someone has also crafted a mod that enhances the game’s core movement and gunplay mechanics, delivering a smoother, more dynamic experience reminiscent of classic titles like Quake III Arena.
Developed by Dr. Bones, the “Snowbound” mod for Borderlands 2 has been in the works for about four years, with the primary goal of completely overhauling the game to emphasize fast-paced, fluid combat.
Snowbound transforms Borderlands 2 into a fresh run-and-gun experience, adding over 70 new items and reworking various unique weapons to ensure they not only become viable but also stand out within the game’s extensive arsenal.
One of my favorite features of Snowbound is the introduction of “hybrid” weapons. In the original Borderlands, some weapons had the rare ability to drop with unique parts from higher rarity weapons, creating exotic “hybrids” with unique attributes which were more or less worthless and added nothing to their versatility but provided a sense of accomplishment and bragging rights due to the sheer low chance of such a weapon being generated in the first place.
In Snowbound, all unique weapons with a prefix can drop as hybrids, granting them the stats of other unique weapons. Additionally, Snowbound includes stat tweaks to in-game skills and enhances boss battles to make them more engaging.
It also incorporates dedicated loot pools for the reworked weapons, thanks to the integration of the Unofficial Community Patch, which is included as part of the mod. Additionally legendary tier items has been divided into two categories based on orange and yellow, with the addition of the “Dark Magic” element from Gearbox’s rubbish Wonderlands spin-off.
In Snowbound, there doesn’t appear to be any movement penalty while shooting, and accuracy while moving has been significantly increased. This change encourages players to keep moving during combat, embracing the “run-and-gun” style.
To fully realize this concept, Snowbound adopts a movement style reminiscent of Quake Arena, with a strong focus on rocket jumping. While it was already possible to perform such actions in-game using low-level rocket launchers, Snowbound takes it further by removing self-inflicted damage from RPGs and enhancing rocket shells to propel you backward with greater acceleration.
Coupled with the increased mobility and control, both on the ground and in the air, Snowbound effectively transforms Borderlands 2 into a Quake-like experience.
While Gearbox continues to tarnish the Borderlands franchise with receptive failures infused with Sam Winkler’s progressive pro-DEI ideology, and a disastrous film adaptation headed straight to streaming after a staggering $90 million loss at the box office, dedicated fans are breathing new life into Gearbox’s older titles.
These dedicated modders are reimagining and enhancing 2012’s Borderlands 2, providing new and immersive ways to experience the classic game. If you’re interested in downloading Snowbound, you can find it on its Nexus Mods page.
