Started this excited to have an excuse to play some more BL2, but I quickly remembered that this DLC was never lauded for its gameplay, but for its script. The writing is still fun as ever, but man, did this DLC always suck with the god damn Skeleton Seers that teleport around constantly, the annoying-ass archers that stun you like five times per second and... Well, everything is more or less annoying in this DLC. Orcs are pretty fun to fight, I guess, because they're stupid and not very annoying. Also, this time, they added glitches that weren't there before! I've never had the brother quest in the dungeon glitch out but it did now and none of the corpses resurrected when they're supposed to.

I made it to the ultra-annoying raising platform "puzzle" in the dungeon, the one that has always had annoyingly mismatched platform movement, which just makes it random if you survive or not, and realized that I just wasn't having fun and that this was always my least-favorite DLC on a gameplay level and that, in previous BL2 playthroughs, I always rushed this DLC as hard as possible to unlock the dragons. It was fun to collect the absurdly increased amounts of seraph crystals and eridium in this version, which was satisfying compared to how rare those currencies were in the original, but Borderlands will just never again be what it was back in BL2's prime, will it?

I don't know what @Assenemy is talking about, I found plenty of loot :p

For my actual review, this is pretty good dlc for a ps3 game thats now being released as a standalone. Kinda scummy it was on PlaystationPlus but its a good way to get hype for the new game coming up. Having played the original before I wasnt quite jumping to play it again but, a co-op game is a co-op game and I said why not lets do it. Overall I had a lot of fun, but some areas just have way too many enemies and feel like slogs only to pad out playtime. The story is pretty humorous (and a little touching), its a pretty creative idea for a dlc after all, and I can say for sure after playing this me and the partner are gonna play Wonderlands together too

Trophy Completion - 40%
Time Played - 8 hours 30 minutes
Rating - 70/100
Completion #20 of 2022

Seeing as how this has its own standalone entry on Backloggd, I want to talk about both the DLC itself and this re-release.

For those unaware, this "One-Shot" is a re-packaging of the 2013 DLC for Borderlands 2, basically for marketing the upcoming successor Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, It not only adds a Platinum trophy (if you're into that), but also some extra unlockables and cosmetics. I only explain this because of how leveling has been tweaked in this version. Obviously the original DLC release required Borderlands 2 to play, and it pulled your experienced character from the campaign itself, making things already leveled out. In this re-release, your character begins at Level 1 and you gain experience pretty quickly, so keep that in mind. I ended my playthrough at around Level 16.

Anyways, this DLC is really good. The idea is that it throws the gunplay and combat of Borderlands into a fantasy setting, but more specifically, a literal Dungeons & Dragons campaign. This brilliance shines through the writing, as we see Tiny Tina controlling the campaign as the dungeon master, alongside the other supporting cast who are constantly shifting variables within the environment. For example, a mission objective would prompt the player with something completely ridiculous, then background dialogue will lead into changing said objective. There's even a sidequest that involves fetching crumpets, in which the supporting cast in the background attempts to feed Tiny Tina some salad. I won't get into spoilers (because it goes pretty deep into certain events that occur in Borderlands 2), but this plays out way more like a parody of RPGs than the main series. It's hilarious, poking fun to other games like Dark Souls and Elder Scrolls among others.

Short, but sweet campaign with sidequests that favor quality over quantity. I adored this content and its characters, and now I'm really excited to see how Tiny Tina's Wonderlands improves upon this creative formula.

Playtime: 9 Hours
Score: 8/10

Finally finished this DLC only now in 2022, even though I have replayed Borderlands 2 a dozen times I never finished this DLC, as no matter what level I was going in, the enemies would always be overpowered and I could never beat it. Fast track to now that Tiny Tina Wonderland is releasing, they rereleased this DLC as its own standalone expansion game, which is how I finally played all the way through and beat it.

The standalone version starts you at level 1 and you get 2 skill points per level as opposed to 1, which makes the leveling process much quicker and makes you more equipped to deal with the later enemies, but you can obviously play this normally as part of DLC for the main Borderlands 2 game.

I can finally see why this DLC is the most beloved of the whole series as its really cool to have the Borderlands formula mixed with DnD like roleplaying. The music as well is amazing and evokes fantasy RPG vibes, especially the main town theme. The story for this DLC also serves as the best epilogue to Borderlands 2's main story, and how Tina deals with the consequences of Handsome Jack's actions. The story was overall well done and it was nice to experience as a Borderlands fan.

Only real compliant I have is Handsome Jack who is the villain for this one again, barely gets any great lines or scenes like he did in the base game, and is more an afterthought villain, like they couldn't think of a new one. Also while this is more geared towards the standalone version then the original add on one, the loot progression mostly sucks, as a lot of the guns I picked up weren't all that great and I only picked up 2 legendries in my playthrough, with one being useless and not for my playstyle. But overall, no matter which way you play this, its worth a playthrough!

Is Tiny Tina the most annoying character in videogame history? Every time this goblin opened her mouth in this game I wanted to mute the TV.
This is a Borderlands 2 DLC with a fantasy theme. The fantasy theme is not done well. Borderlands 2 had a bright color pallette that fit its cartoony theme and graphics. Assault on Dragon Keep is a grungy mess of earth tones. The game is so freakin' dark that I often was unable to clearly see enemies despite having the brightness turned all the way up.
Gameplay wise, this was just Borderlands 2, with nothing new added. In fact, it destroyed all my good memories of Borderlands 2 by reminding me viscerally of the game's flaws. Movement in this game is painfully slow. Strafing is so useless that all the enemies might as well be hitscans. Doesn't matter because you can and will cheese through every fight. Guns come in 51 flavors of unbalanced. RNG means you can find a god-tier pistol at the beginning of the campaign and use it to cheese your way through every fight. Level design goes from "OK" to "brain-dead stupid": there are literally temporary buff items placed so far away from the places where enemies are that your buff runs out before you can get to a fight.
Overall, this game was "Facebook fun." It kept my attention and was marginally better than watching paint dry, but the longer I kept playing it, the more repetitive and uninspired it felt. I have had enough of Borderlands in my life, and do not intend to play any more of the games, especially when I can play Doom or Rage 2.