14 DAY TRIAL // Gearbox Software, after confirming a release date and some more details about Borderlands 2 last week, has now talked in-depth about Maya, the new Siren character from the game, offering fresh pieces of information about her powers and origins.
Borderlands 2 features all-new protagonists, with some representing new classes, like Salvador the Gunzerker. The Siren class, however, makes a return in the new game, in the form of Maya, who takes over from Lilith.
According to Gearbox Art Director, Jeramy Cooke, Maya’s presence is explained in the story and players will guide her on a trip to find out more things about her special class.
"What we wanted to do with the Sirens this time around was to have a kind of a different flavor," Cooke told IGN. "There's some Siren lore that says that there's only a certain number of Sirens around at any given time in our universe and we wanted them to all kind of have unique back stories.”
“[Maya] knows a bit about where her power comes from. We kind of patterned her a little bit after Indiana Jones to some extent. You know, she's the adventurer, roving the universe trying to find the secrets of where she came from and what the Sirens are all about."
In order to give Maya a new flavor as opposed to Lilith, Gearbox gave her a new basic Action Skill called Phaselocking, that’s quite different from the phasewalking seen in the original.
Instead of going invisible, phaselocking allows Maya to trap enemies in a sort of energy bubble. This works wonders on powerful opponents, although you won’t be able to trap bosses.
Based on the choices of the player, phaselocking can grant all sorts of bonuses to Maya and her teammates, who can earn extra health by killing a locked enemy. If players develop her Action skill in a different way, phaselocking can then be used as an area-of-effect weapon by shooting multiple spheres.
Players shouldn’t be upset if they miss an enemy when attempting a phaselock, however, as the game, if it sees that you missed the attack, allows you to immediately shoot it again, instead of forcing you to endure a cooldown.
As you can see, Gearbox has certainly taken care of Maya in the new game. Hopefully, we’ll get to learn some more details about the rest of the protagonists in Borderlands 2 soon.
Until then, look forward to the game’s release on September 18, in North America, and September 21, in Europe, for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.