I’ve been a massive fan of Borderlands since the very first one, way back when nobody even knew it’d become the franchise that it is nowadays. I saw a trailer for the first game while eating lunch at an Outback Steakhouse with my family, and right there and then, I knew that I had to get the game.
I’ve got an Xbox 360 disk of the first one buried among my old junk here, as well as a boxed GOTY edition for the PC. As you can see, I’ve been a day one fan, and I’ve always gotten the sequels on launch. Heck, I pre-ordered the second game despite being a fairly broke college student (bring Gaige back you cowards).
That’s how much I love this genre defining series, and I still do even after being disappointed with Borderlands 3 (I never got around to the DLCs, but I heard they were good). And now, here we are with Borderlands 4, a true return to form that made me glad I didn’t lose all hope for this looter-shooter titan.
So what makes it worth checking out? Let’s talk about it!
The Writing’s Good Again!
I know not everyone plays these games for the story, especially with the wacky tone that it’s had since the beginning, but I’m gonna talk about it before we get to the meatier stuff.
After the wet fart of an ending that the previous game had (among other issues), I didn’t really have high hopes for this sequel. Having avoided literally everything about Borderlands 4 outside of the trailers, I didn’t know what to expect come launch time.
Well, I’m pleased to report that it’s actually pretty damn good. Granted, the bar wasn’t particularly high, but this definitely feels more in line with the second game, which was universally loved. The main antagonist is no Handsome Jack, but he’s a terrifying enough figure that exudes arrogance.
Seriously, it’s a stark contrast from how the villains treat the player in previous games, especially with the aforementioned Jack. Good ol’ Jack would get increasingly annoyed at our actions and eventually do some heinous crap. Bloodwing? Roland? His prolonged crash out up until he died?
With the Timekeeper, well… He just doesn’t give a damn. He’s ruled over this planet for god knows how long now, so why would he be threatened by some vault hunters making a bit of noise?
I’m keeping this spoiler-free as promised in the title, but I can say that the writing has been great when compared with all the previous games. It’s no Expedition 33, of course, but it’s a breath of fresh air after an entry that I can only politely and aptly describe as “peepee poopoo”.
It takes on a much more serious tone, and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying that it’s clearly setting up a larger storyline that’ll be explored through the upcoming expansions and (eventually) another sequel. Think Borderlands 2‘s ending, but dial the stakes up to 11. It will disappoint some people with how it puts forth more questions than answers, but that shouldn’t be surprising by now.
The silly over-the-top jokes are still here too. Those aren’t going away anytime soon, but it’s at least not shoved in your face 24/7. Even Claptrap has a side quest that kinda made me feel sorry for him, which is just wild to even think about. Anyways, let’s get to the fun stuff!
Open-World Goodness
Unlike all of the past entries, Borderlands 4 uses an open-world map. There are still a few instanced areas, but for the most part, they’ve almost completely gotten rid of loading screens.
There’s four major areas of Kairos that you’ll explore throughout the story, and there are a ton of side activities and quests scattered all around the map. It’s a welcome deviation from the old formula, and it isn’t as bloated with stuff as your typical Ubisoft game.
Mobility? We Got That
To make traversal feel smoother, they added a lot movement abilities that serve varying purposes. The game also replaces vehicle stations (RIP Catch-A-Ride) with a customizable vehicle that you can summon on demand.
You can ride your vehicle, double jump, glide, or use grappling hooks to get yourself around the map. From day one, I already figured out that dismounting your vehicle lets you do what’s essentially a triple jump, and stuff like that can sometimes save you from a bit of extra running.
… But It’s A Bit Rough Sometimes
Now that’s not to say that it’s flawless. I’ll give them a bit of a pass since it’s the first time for the series, but the issues are still worth talking about.
First, the pathfinding feels a bit horrible at times, even with map markers. There’s a scanning mechanic that shows you a path to whatever you’re tracking, but it’s not always the “best” way to get there. On top of that, the scanned path only lasts for a few seconds, and there’s an annoying cooldown before you can use it again.
There’s no minimap either, which is such a weird choice considering the previous game had a really good one. You can add a radar to your UI as a band-aid fix, but it’s still just an inferior minimap.
Next, there’s a lot of invisible walls that might get in your way. I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as what others have been saying online, but they’re noticeable enough to be worth noting, especially near tall cliffs. Like, why give us plenty of new tools to explore the map if you’re going to add some arbitrary restrictions in such weird spots?
Banger Gameplay
Look, I can save you a lot of time in this section and just say this off the rip: The gameplay is GREAT!
Guns, Guns, and More Guns
The devs have calmed down a bit with the gun drops, as legendaries don’t just rain from the skies like before. To compensate for that, most of the guns feel amazing to use, even the ones that are of a low rarity.
I’ve already gotten a lot of legendaries throughout my time playing, and they’re definitely still a significant step up from the regular guns. Even early on, you can easily farm the Lead Balloon shotgun from the first boss, which is a hilariously strong weapon that feels so weird to aim. With that said, you can still make some extremely broken synergies with normal weapons.
I’m not exactly a fan of some of the new weapon manufacturers they added (Order and Ripper), but they’re not bad. Order, in particular, can be insanely good at times. I just find them clunky, but that’s just me. Everything else feels great, especially Jakobs guns, which have always been my favorite throughout the series.
They got rid of the dedicated “grenade” slot too, and rightfully so as it has mostly been forgotten in previous games. It’s replaced by the ordnance weapon slot, where you can equip grenades, rocket launchers (they’re not “guns” anymore), autocannons, and more!
There’s also a lot of experimenting to be had with the new licensed parts mechanic, in which guns can spawn with parts from other manufacturers. A Jakobs gun, for example, can have a Torgue part that makes them shoot explosives. This adds another layer of grinding for min-maxers, and I absolutely love it.
Right now, my Harlowe has a Jakobs shotgun that borrows Torgue’s signature explosive shots. With the build I have on her at the moment, I’m just blowing everything up and clearing enemies at the side with copious amounts of ricocheting bullets.
Insanely Fun Vault Hunters
Speaking of builds, this is probably the first Borderlands I’ve played where EVERY vault hunter looks incredibly appealing to me. I don’t even have a max level character while writing this because I keep flip-flopping between all four of them every time I boot up the game.
I finished the story as Harlowe because her giant balls of energy looked so fun. Nowadays, I’m using a support build that turns her into a beast that triggers critical hits 24/7, and as I say this, I’m already thinking about reallocating all my skill points again.
The others? Well, my Rafa is a speed demon that doesn’t even need to shoot his gun. My Vex has a hilarious build that starts fights by cycling through all four of her weapons before shooting. Amon? He has near-infinite heavy ordnance ammo, but I’m thinking about turning him into a melee powerhouse soon.
There’s an insane amount of build variety in the game, and that’s with only three skill trees each. What more if they start adding new trees? That, and we already know that more vault hunters are coming in the near future, so who knows what other broken and fun stuff we can come up with.
A Promising Future
Overall, I’d say that Borderlands 4 is a pleasantly surprising return to form that corrects some of the mistakes they made with the previous entry. While it does introduce new issues (mainly UI and performance-related), I’d imagine these ones are much easier to fix than the problems that 3 had.
Even though the definitive endgame content isn’t out yet, like raids, it already has enough content to keep you hooked until they release more stuff over the following months. With an actual boss respawning system in place (finally), farming the same bits of content over and over again is so much more fun now too.
Remember, the previous game didn’t have raids on launch either, and 2 only had a thresher that people humiliated with their pre-nerf Conference Call + Bee loadouts. If you’re disappointed that the devs didn’t immediately add one of these challenges, that’s understandable, but it isn’t uncharacteristic of them.
The roadmap is looking stacked, and I’m already excited to see what that first DLC vault hunter is going to be like. It’s also a really good sign that they seem to be prioritizing buffing other things first rather than nerfing OP stuff.
Overtuned mechanics (like the Penetrator knife) should still be fixed, of course, but the fact that they aren’t just taking away fun stuff like that before offering any alternatives is just an awesome approach to have.
The future’s looking bright for the series, and I hope they keep this up until the next one comes along!