Borderlands 2: Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty

 PC
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 109 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 109
  2. Mixed: 35 out of 109
  3. Negative: 12 out of 109

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Whoahoot
    Mar 9, 2019
    3
    Comparatively a disappointing and boring DLC when compared to the others of this game. Currently $10 on steam; I would recommend only buying when less than $4.

    Cons - 1. Very slow story with boring, static characters 2. Most of the time you will spend is going from one place to another and on elevators 3. Loot at the end is objectively garbage (I received only 2 purples from the    Comparatively a disappointing and boring DLC when compared to the others of this game. Currently $10 on steam; I would recommend only buying when less than $4.

    Cons -
    1. Very slow story with boring, static characters
    2. Most of the time you will spend is going from one place to another and on elevators
    3. Loot at the end is objectively garbage (I received only 2 purples from the final boss and loot room of the campaign and 0 legendaries throughout the entirety of the story).
    4. The character you spend the most time with is so unintuitive, predictable, and a pain in the ass to listen to

    Pros -
    1. It's still Borderlands 2
    2. Sandhawk is a good gun

    I can't emphasize enough how entirely horrendous the ending is -
    1. The final boss is trash: it's immobile and has long periods of downtime where you can't damage it, there is no audio track in the background so there are often periods where there is no sound, and its appearance is highly underwhelming
    2. The loot at the end is series of normal chests and "buffed" chests. The normals chests are the typical White-Purple loot range and the "buffed" chests have a higher chance for purples and a chance for legendaries. I received 2 purples and no legendaries.
    3. The main plot revolves around Captain Scarlett and the ending is completely and ridiculously unresolved with her

    Would not recommend this DLC.    … Expand
  2. Mutini
    Oct 18, 2012
    10
    Awsome DLC for an awsome game! The quirky humor makes you go "what the...??" while at the same time laughing-but thats Borderlands in general, they just made it better, longer, and more in depth for Borderlands 2 and this DLC in particular. Anyway, Captain Scarlet is a very satisfying, off the wall side adventure and exactly what a good DLC should be. Personally, I think the new vehicleAwsome DLC for an awsome game! The quirky humor makes you go "what the...??" while at the same time laughing-but thats Borderlands in general, they just made it better, longer, and more in depth for Borderlands 2 and this DLC in particular. Anyway, Captain Scarlet is a very satisfying, off the wall side adventure and exactly what a good DLC should be. Personally, I think the new vehicle they introduce makes getting Captain Scarlet worth the investment all by itself lol! Omg, driving that thing is a complete hoot! And the new charectors they introduce-especially that creepy guy you meet first, he is so lovable and repulsive at the same time lol! I mean, he's so gross but you stare at him anyway lol! Where do they come up with this stuff???… Expand
  3. blueTeam
    Oct 29, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Let me start by saying that I have spent way more hours playing in the Borderlands than I care to admit. I absolutely love the gritty Heavy Metal-esque (magazine) style world that Gearbox created, which is why this release was so disappointing to me. The first handful of quests seem as if they were outsourced, unvetted, or turned over to interns for development. I know it's is odd to criticize anything in the Borderlands universe for a lack of subtlety, but this add-on tries so hard to be over the top, it often falls flat.

    ***POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW***

    Oasis looks cool as you enter, but within a few minutes, you meet the first character, "Shade", a rubber-stamp copy of Johnny Depp in Fear & Loathing. I know that the core of Borderlands Universe is rife with pop cultural easter-eggs, but up until now every character felt like it emerged naturally from the Borderlands universe, Shade, with his giant sunglasses, large rimmed hat, and long cigarette-rocket-thingy, feels like straight up plagiarism. My first half hour in Oasis was also a bit of a disappointment. One of the early job board quests involves a disaffected girl who wants you to kill her grandmas pet and destroy her ship. The voicing of the character is so flat, it just feels like the voice actress gave up. It again breaks the illusion of a world that the rest of the franchise worked so hard to set up. I found the choice of model-reuse from the main game to be odd. The crystal merchant in Oasis is just the Crazy Earl model, re-skinned with a purple crayon. I would have preferred (assuming the dev team was short on resources), that they just reused Crazy Earl, (or gave him a fake mustache ala Dr Ned, the totally not made up brother of Dr. Zed) and not tried to pawn him off as 'new' content. I had no problem with the "blue" crystalisks you encounter later, They were also recycled models from the main game, but they were believable contextually as enemy variants, and were at least competently re-skinned.

    Regarding level design, unlike the main game, I have in several places encountered areas where the collision meshes did not line up with the visible geometry resulting in my character running in to invisible walls or walking on invisible outcroppings. As the DLC was released less than a month after the core game, I assume this sort of issue can be patched, but in contrast to the perfect alignment of the core game, the breaks in suspension-of-belief were jarring. One of the cool things about Borderlands is the ability to climb on things, and explore. Also generally levels are clearly laid out, and if there is a question about where to go, the level designers usually have big neon arrow that points you in the right direction. In several places of the DLC, I found big neon arrows that seemed arbitrarily thrown in as level 'decoration' without any apparent reason. This minor lack of cohesion to the main games level-design philosophy was disappointing.

    On a positive note, the cavern level beneath Oasis is gorgeous, the land speeders are fun, and Captain Scarlett and her ship are all up to the traditional BL standards. There is a lot of fun to be had in this pack once you get past the initial swallow.

    I am being somewhat overly critical by giving this DLC a 3, but only because I see Gearbox going in a direction that veers away from it's track record of pure awesome. It got 90% of everything right, but like a perfect veal milanese sprinkled with feces, the choice of garnish makes a huge difference in one's enjoyment of the experience. Experience: Ultimately, the experience of the game is what one is left with, and playing the first part of the DLC after finishing the main BL2 story was a big let down. It feels like the target audience shifted from everyone's inner sex addled 15 year old, to a potty-joke loving 7 year old. It's still sort of fun, but I felt a little insulted. It was like watching a magician perform a perfect set, and then watching his kid come on stage with a card trick and flub the encore, I pray that Gearbox, with this DLC is just using classic misdirection, to set us up for a flawless finale by lowering our expectations early so that we are again bedazzled by the excellence we have come to expect from this series.    … Expand
  4. Havocs
    Oct 30, 2012
    5
    Borderlands was nigh flawless and the DLC made the game perfect, almost. Borderlands 2 doesn't have that. Captain Scarlett and her pirate's booty is decent. This DLC falls in line with Borderlands 2. It's uninspired, lacking content, repetitive and got no variation in enemies. Did I mention that the humour flopped?
  5. Ghoster
    Dec 1, 2012
    9
    Very nice addon to the awesome game! More than enough missions for DLC and gameplay same as in original game make it worth. Hope all future DLC's will be like this one!
  6. Captain_Chaos
    Jun 22, 2016
    8
    The campaign add-ons for Borderlands have proved to be tighter experiences overall then the base games, and Captain Scarlett her Pirate's Booty is no exception. This add-on puts a piratical spin on the all of the game's normaly straight desert punk proceedings, with piraty-talking bandits, treasure chests, piraty guns, and of course, a Big Daddy-esque heavy enemy. Scarlett also adds ReturnThe campaign add-ons for Borderlands have proved to be tighter experiences overall then the base games, and Captain Scarlett her Pirate's Booty is no exception. This add-on puts a piratical spin on the all of the game's normaly straight desert punk proceedings, with piraty-talking bandits, treasure chests, piraty guns, and of course, a Big Daddy-esque heavy enemy. Scarlett also adds Return of the Jedi-style hover skiffs that are much easier to manuever then the runners and technicals, as well as new sandworm enemies to keep you on those skiffs and out of harm's way. This add-on also boasts a soundtrack that is a tremendous improvement over the base game, in particular the battle music from the Wurmwater area. I would have liked some NPCs other then Shade to talk to, and the message in a bottle hunt quests really fall short and mar the overall experience, but besides that, the new guns and combat quests are excellent.… Expand
  7. Brumbek
    Nov 24, 2012
    8
    Scarlett delivers memorable locations and zany questing in the BL2 style. After finishing it, I can't imagine BL2 without it, which is just about the highest praise any DLC can receive. Not only are the environments extremely impressive, the Sandskiff vehicles are a total blast to pilot since they allow keyboard strafing for proper maneuverability. **** The couple new NPCs are greatScarlett delivers memorable locations and zany questing in the BL2 style. After finishing it, I can't imagine BL2 without it, which is just about the highest praise any DLC can receive. Not only are the environments extremely impressive, the Sandskiff vehicles are a total blast to pilot since they allow keyboard strafing for proper maneuverability. **** The couple new NPCs are great personalities, even if they are basically there just to direct you to your next quest. And a few of the music tracks are truly epic, if underutilized. The DLC does get a bit fetch questy from time to time, but overall Scarlett is a very worthy DLC that fits perfectly into the BL2 universe. It will be enjoyable to come back to Oasis to visit between main quest playthroughs with many a character to come!… Expand
  8. xZippy
    Jan 7, 2013
    7
    A well done expansion with good presentation, storytelling and original content (enemies, weapons, good quests, etc.). As expected, that great Borderlands humor still remains and never gets dry. It's a fun DLC that will keep you entertained from start to finish. Though I said this DLC is well done, I didn't exactly find it completely groundbreaking. To me, it felt like there were someA well done expansion with good presentation, storytelling and original content (enemies, weapons, good quests, etc.). As expected, that great Borderlands humor still remains and never gets dry. It's a fun DLC that will keep you entertained from start to finish. Though I said this DLC is well done, I didn't exactly find it completely groundbreaking. To me, it felt like there were some aspects of this DLC that could have offered a little more. Regardless, this expansion is worth the money and no fan of Borderlands should miss out on it.… Expand
  9. GolovA
    Nov 22, 2015
    7
    My third favorite (first being Tiny Tina's D&D, and second being Torgue's quest). Still, this one is a lot of fun, and the vehicles here rule! Love Oasis as well - one of the most memorable and beautiful places in the entire game. Pretty awesome NPC's here as well. Recommend to any BL2 Fan! :)
  10. MrZellian
    Jan 23, 2013
    7
    Enjoyable DLC, the invincibles nice addition kinda frustrating till you find out their patterns(more difficult than the base game or 2nd DLC's invincibles). The rewards in the end were kinda dissapointing but good overall and the some interesting characters. Worth buying but a lot of space for improvement!
  11. SaydaNeen
    Sep 13, 2019
    6
    Good DLC all in all but if your looking to complete all side quests, you'll be doing a lot of revisiting the same area to run around the entire map, and sometimes seems unnecessary, time wasting, and just there to extend gameplay time. For example; the last side quest you have to do to get the trophy/achievement is to do the final quest in the story over again. It's the exact same quest,Good DLC all in all but if your looking to complete all side quests, you'll be doing a lot of revisiting the same area to run around the entire map, and sometimes seems unnecessary, time wasting, and just there to extend gameplay time. For example; the last side quest you have to do to get the trophy/achievement is to do the final quest in the story over again. It's the exact same quest, same cut scene...… Expand
  12. elle_m
    May 17, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. My God, did this DLC feel rushed. I loved Borderlands 1 and its DLC especially The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. Borderlands 2 was even better. But then THIS dlc comes along and is a total let down. The game is just not well crafted when compared to Borderlands 2 and even Borderlands 1 + DLC's. It dragged on so many times, you could get stuck in a million different places because of invisible barriers, the boss fight was just the worst (no music, the boss waits around for you to kill him?, the loot is not even worth putting in all of that work) and 60% of the time youre just running between a couple places and that back and forth gets old fast.
    The main villain in the game just disappears in the end as well? Where does Captain Scarlett go? I was really let down by this DLC because I went in having played Borderlands 1 + DLC's and Borderlands 2.

    On the positive side : Shay was a really fun and interesting character--very Borderlands 2 kinda guy. He was so entertaining. There were also a few moments in the game that were cool--like when Captain Scarlett introduces her pet.

    Overall. I expected more and craved proper game play. It was a let-down with a few good moments that could have been made better with a little attention to detail that all the previous games had.    … Expand
  13. ProfAmateur
    Oct 18, 2020
    6
    I played all the 4 DLC's. While Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep is far the best, the other ones (like this) are okay but nothing innovative or very special. So i only recommend to buy it when it's on sale.

    + Funny Story (like always)
    + Nice final Boss
    - Leveldesign a bit boring / nothing new
    - Environment feels a bit empty
  14. Ciocolici
    Jul 31, 2023
    9
    "Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty" DLC for "Borderlands 2" takes me back to the first game's first DLC, where zombies were aplenty. In this installment, we encounter pirates. The sheer absurdity of psycho pirates sailing on boats that soar above the sandy landscape perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Borderlands.

    The story of the DLC is overall quite enjoyable, but the beginning    "Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty" DLC for "Borderlands 2" takes me back to the first game's first DLC, where zombies were aplenty. In this installment, we encounter pirates. The sheer absurdity of psycho pirates sailing on boats that soar above the sandy landscape perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Borderlands.

    The story of the DLC is overall quite enjoyable, but the beginning stands out as a true masterpiece. It immerses players in a captivating experience filled with pirates, hidden treasures, epic boat battles, and thrilling adventures on the high seas! Yarr! Not to mention, the introduction of a memorable new BFF that will have you in stitches!

    One standout feature of this DLC is the inclusion of the best melee weapon in the game. For assassins and melee enthusiasts, "Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty" is an absolute must-have. The new weapon adds an extra layer of excitement and satisfaction to the already action-packed gameplay.

    I think the one thing this DLC lacks is Luffy, and his crew. (joking)

    In conclusion, "Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty" brings a dose of nostalgia while introducing fresh and exciting content to "Borderlands 2." The DLC offers a thrilling adventure filled with pirates, treasures, and outrageous antics, staying true to the spirit of the game. With its memorable beginning, must-have melee weapon, and hilarious pirate-themed escapades, it's a delightful addition that will keep players entertained for hours. Yarr!    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

52
#52 Best PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. GRYOnline.pl
    Jan 14, 2013
    80
    Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty is a very well made DLC, but it's not for everyone. Fans of the first game, people who love the constant grind and looking for better loot, will have the most fun. If you want to complete this DLC once (and only for the story) you'll be disappointed. The plot is really cliché and without anything special, and fighting the same opponents between episodes can be a bore. What is more, the notice board has some really dull side quests. All in all - even though guys from Triptych Games missed the goal here and there - this DLC is a must buy for every Borderlands fan.
    Read full review
  2. Gamereactor Denmark
    Oct 30, 2012
    80
    We'd have liked a little more diversity in the environments, but as for content and quality, this is right on the mark.
    Read full review
  3. ZTGD
    Oct 23, 2012
    90
    I would have to say I'm very impressed with the first piece of DLC Borderlands 2 has to offer. It constantly keeps you moving from one area to the next, and nothing ever gets monotonous.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »