Play Borderlands 2 for free this weekend on Steam

By Will Fulton August 21, 2014

play borderlands 2 free weekend steam mechromancer — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Gearbox Software’s fantastic RPG shooter Borderlands 2 is free to play on Steam from now through Sunday, August 24 at 1pm PT.

By no coincidence, the free weekend is part of a larger sale for games published by 2K that is also running this weekend, reducing the price of the publisher’s entire catalog by up to 80-percent. That includes some of our favorite (and most universally praised) games from the last few years, such as Civilization V, BioShock Infinite, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Within.

It is now also possible to pre-order the next iteration of the Borderlands franchise, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. If you’ve never played Borderlands 2, there’s no better time to check it out. With a complete cycle of DLC already out in the wild, there’s more than enough gameplay to keep you occupied for the rest of the summer before the fall 2014 release madness begins.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

PC Gaming

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Gaming

Xbox Game Pass loses some horror greats, but gains a kid-friendly racing game

A custom car built drives around Lego 2K Drive.

We've learned what games will come to Xbox Game Pass over the first half of this April, and leading the batch is Lego 2K Drive, a Lego racing game that's a solid alternative to the Forza Horizon games that are also available on Microsoft's subscription service.

Lego 2K Drive was released in May 2023 and is an enjoyable racing game where players can build their own Lego vehicles and race throughout several open worlds. It found the middle ground between the likes of Mario Kart and Forza Horizon and thrives in that space, even if the microtransactions can be a little aggressive for a game aimed at children. Playground Games has not yet confirmed if another Forza Horizon game is in the works at this time, so Xbox fans can play this game to fill that void until a new one is announced.

Gaming

Embracer Group finally sells Gearbox Software, but keeps Gearbox Publishing

Mordecai in Borderlands 1.

Embracer Group finally confirmed that it is selling Borderlands studio Gearbox Entertainment to Take-Two Interactive, but there's a catch: Embracer Group will retain ownership of Gearbox Publishing.

Embracer Group acquired Gearbox Entertainment in 2021 but is now offloading much of it as part of a restructuring plan meant to recoup money after a deal fell through in 2023. Take-Two Interactive's 2K already published all the Borderlands games, so it's a sensible $460 million purchase that also nets them franchises like Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Homeworld, Risk of Rain, Brothers in Arms, and Duke Nukem. In terms of studios, Take-Two Interactive is only acquiring Gearbox Software, Gearbox Montreal, and Gearbox Studio Quebec, the company's primary development arms. Randy Pitchford will remain CEO as well.

Gaming

PlayStation Plus’ most notable free April offerings come from Microsoft

Four players stand together in the 4v4 PvP mode of Minecraft Legends.

Sony outlined all the new offerings PlayStation Plus Essential subscribers can expect in April; surprisingly, Microsoft is the company behind two of this month's four offerings, Minecraft Legends, and the Overwatch 2 Mega Bundle.

On April 2, PS Plus can get those two things free of charge in addition to Immortals of Aveum and Skul: The Hero Slayer. Immortals of Aveum is a single-player shooter where players use magic instead of weapons. Although the thing it's most notable for is flopping upon its release, Immortals of Aveum is still a solid shooter that you might have missed out on, and you should give it a shot now that you can get it through PS Plus. Meanwhile, Skul: The Hero Slayer is a tough 2D platformer roguelike that should entertain fans of that genre for quite some time.