The long-awaited sequel, Borderlands 4, is finally out. I’ve loved the franchise since day 1, all the way back when we didn’t even know if it’d get a sequel. I guess you could say I’m a bit of a super fan, though Borderlands 3 kind of disappointed me.
Whether you’re a lapsed fan of the games, somebody who still loosely follows it like I did, or are completely new to Borderlands, this fourth mainline entry (or 5th if you count the Pre-Sequel) changes a ton of stuff.
So, if you’re still on the fence or are already sold but haven’t started yet, here are some tips and bits of info that might help you out!
Tip #1. It’s a TRUE Open World!
If you’ve played the older games and have been avoiding any spoilers or even general info about Borderlands 4, you’ll probably be shocked to learn that it has gone completely open-world.
You aren’t going to be transitioning into new regions and instances in this sequel. If you’re a completionist, you’re gonna be in it for the long haul, as there are a lot of optional bosses to kill, side activities to find, and secrets to discover.
Thankfully, exploring the huge map isn’t going to be a slog. There’s a ton of fast travel points to find and liberate. You’ve got a free vehicle that you can summon almost anywhere (no Catch a Ride needed), and ziplines that will launch you into the air like in APEX Legends, if any of you folks here have played ever that.
It’s honestly a very welcome change, and you’ll be glad to know that it isn’t as bloated as your average Ubisoft open world game.
Tip #2. Boss Rematches Are Easier Now
I can’t believe it took them this long to add a feature like this, but you can now easily re-fight bosses. Back in the day, you’d have to reset your save to do this, which seems incredibly silly with how repetitive it can get while target farming a specific item.
Gearbox finally added a feature that solves this issue. With the Moxxi’s Big Encore Machine, which you’ll find right outside the entrance of any (or most) bosses that you’ve beaten in the story, you can simply pay a bit of money to respawn the boss.
It’s as simple as that. You just run over there, activate the machine, run in the arena, and beat the boss. Rinse and repeat until you’re satisfied or tired of farming whichever boss it is. Depending on how the arena is set up, the game will even give you a way to teleport back to the Encore Machine!
It’s so addicting that I’ll admit that I’ve spent a bit of time trying to get something useful out of the very first boss at an early level. Luckily for me, he did eventually drop a pretty decent legendary Torgue shotgun.
If you’re already playing the game, here are some early game legendaries worth farming!
Tip #3. Active Heals and Ordnance Aren’t Afterthoughts
Remember when grenades used to just be something that you’d kinda throw and forget, or maybe even spam all at once? Borderlands 4 changes things around by turning it into an entirely separate weapon category rather than just a simple “grenade” slot.
With a dedicated “ordnance” slot, you can have throwing knives, grenades, rocket launchers, miniguns, and other heavy weapons alongside your four equipped guns. By shifting heavy weapons into their own category with a cooldown, the devs opened up the potential to make more creative weapon effects and enable some wacky ass playstyles.
If you wanna get silly with it, you can straight up tailor builds around ordnance. But that’s not all, you also have the repkits, which is another new feature introduced in this sequel.
Repkits are essentially just medkits that can have varying effects. Aside from having an active heal, these things can activate all kinds of buffs. Some will give you lifesteal in exchange for a smaller heal, while others can increase your movement speed for a short duration.
It’s gonna seem overwhelming at first, even if you’ve been playing Borderlands for a long time now. Trust me though, it’s really not that complicated. The addition of both of these mechanics really ramp up the potential for overpowered and fun setups!
Tip #4. Purples (Epic Items) Are Good, Actually
Gone are the days when legendary items would rain from the skies and completely outclass everything below them. Epics (purple items) are now actually pretty good and will carry you through the campaign.
Now as of writing this, I’m nowhere near the endgame yet, but this experience seems to resonate with most people I’ve talked to and in discussions online. This is mostly due to how they’ve toned down the volume of orange gear drops.
Fire up Borderlands 3 right now and you’d have a bunch of them within the first couple of hours. Here? You’re lucky to find one by level 20. Meanwhile, you’ll still be shredding stuff with even just decent green gear, let alone an epic gun with good effects.
If you were used to getting showered with orange rarity stuff, just know that it’s completely normal for that to not happen here. Even if you play on hard, which has increased loot quality, you’re going to realize very quickly that this is nothing like the previous game, and that’s actually a-okay.
Of course, that doesn’t change how legendaries are still usually a step above. That shotgun I was talking about in Tip #2? It absolutely wrecks things if I aim it properly, and it’s been a blast (literally).
Tip #5. Always Check Your Guns’ Alt Fire Modes!
Most of the guns in the game have distinct alt fire modes that drastically change how they function. Modes can vary from simple “full auto or burst fire” optionsto having two completely different elemental damage or ammo types to swap between.
Always pay attention to what your weapons have, because you might accidentally skip over some really powerful stuff without knowing. Modes like the spread launcher or flamethrower can be extremely useful in varying situations, especially if you’re lacking certain damage types or need some form of AOE.
Later on, you even got things like licensed parts to think about, wherein another manufacturer’s signature effects can appear on guns that aren’t from the same maker. Some long-time players will find familiar corpos that don’t have their own guns in Borderlands 4 through this mechanic, and they add even more variety to the RNG-filled loot system!
Some Closing Words
The game has been phenomenal so far, aside from a few performance issues that some PC players might run into. It’s a huge step up from the previous main Borderlands game, and both new and old players are going to run into so many new and unfamiliar features.
My last bit of advice is to just hop in and explore the game at your own pace if you do decide to get it. It’s not often you get to experience a sequel like this that overhauls so many things in order to keep things fresh and exciting.
As somebody who kind of got burnt out after playing through BL3 when it first launched, I can safely say that Borderlands 4 is probably the best the game’s formula has felt since the very first sequel over a decade ago. It’s been a pleasant surprise, and while it still isn’t my pick for game of the year (Expedition 33 exists lol), it’s definitely somewhere up there.
Anyways, this isn’t a review (I’m working on it), so I’ll just leave it at that for now. Hope this helps!