Borderlands 4 – Review

So, you want to hear a story, eh? 

Well, old Marcus still has some tales left to tell, and this one is the start of something new, not just another tale of Vault Hunters and hidden treasures, but one of guns, more than ever before, and most importantly, one about redemption.

It’s no secret that Gearbox Software’s Borderlands looter shooter franchise has had a tough time following the less-than-ideal reception to its 2019 threequel, Borderlands 3, which established a shift in fans’ expectations, who were no longer content with just more guns and more shooting action, but also wanted a strong narrative foundation to go along with it. Alas, the game missed the mark in this aspect.

With its newest entry, Borderlands 4, the studio seems to be taking a two-pronged approach to redeem itself, not only continuing to build upon its solid looting and shooting foundation to ramp up the action, but also dialling back the absurdity of its narrative for a grounded story experience that still presents that grandiose feel and high stakes for players to overcome. And while this latest entry isn’t without its fair share of flaws, Gearbox has largely succeeded in both regards, providing fans a follow-up worthy of the Borderlands name.

When it comes to the storyline of Borderlands 4, one question any fan would be wondering is if it is as good as Borderlands 2, but the short answer, unfortunately, is still a firm no. But that is to be expected, considering the lofty bar set by the latter. Instead, the fourth title takes its narrative in a completely new direction, literally, as the game leaves the previous title’s setting, the planet Pandora, completely, setting its sights on a new horizon, the planet of Kairos.

Set six years after the ending of Borderlands 3, which saw the Siren Lilith sacrifice herself by using all her power to teleport Elpis, Pandora’s moon, away before it destroyed Pandora, what no one realised was that Elpis was teleported too close to the once-hidden planet of Kairos, shattering its protective barrier and revealing its existence to the galaxy.

The thing is, Kairos was shielded from sight for a reason, as it was home to a ruthless dictatorship by an immortal being known as the Timekeeper, who kept his subjects in check using a massive army of synthetic followers alongside control chips implanted in the population known as Bolts. With Kairos revealed to the galaxy, this led to an influx of explorers known as Vault Hunters, who converged on the planet with the lure of a massive vault said to house equal parts riches and power. It also just happens to be situated directly beneath the Timekeeper’s fortress city of Dominion.

In series tradition, players will take on the role of one of four Vault Hunters – The Siren Vex, the Forgeknight Amon, the Exo-soldier Rafa, or the Gravitar Harlowe. Armed with guns and devastating abilities, the Vault Hunter must build up their army, known as the Crimson Resistance, as they track down the Timekeeper’s three commanders – Idolator Sol, Vile Licter, and Callis the Ripper Queen – in order to acquire their bolts and access Dominion to defeat the immortal ruler and discover the secrets of Kairos’ largest and most elusive vault.

Unlike the nonsensical and oftentimes cringe-inducing nature of Borderlands 3’s influencer antagonists, the Timekeeper is a much greater threat, and goes against recent series tradition by offering a completely serious main antagonist, something not seen since the original Borderlands’ Commandant Steele.

It’s a shame then that the Timekeeper hardly gets any screen time at all throughout the 30-plus-hour campaign, and is instead just a voice in the player’s head, mocking them even as they cause havoc within his ranks, at least until the game’s closing chapters. The majority of the time, players will be dealing with his three commanders, and although they are all unique in terms of personality, looks and ambitions, the trio merely serve as just another target to strike off a list, rather than a memorable threat to deal with.

For fans concerned about the franchise’s trajectory, at least in terms of its narrative, the good news is that Borderlands 4 at least has a tolerable storyline this time around. This improvement, however, has come at a cost, as Gearbox seems to have overcorrected on this front, as while its story is easy to follow, it can’t help feeling slightly generic, and like the studio has played it a little too safe.

Luckily, the same cannot be said about its gameplay, as Gearbox has gone all out to ensure combat feels both fresh and exhilarating. Borderlands 4’s multitude of new mechanics have already been explained via a recent hands-on preview session, but in short, overall combat flow has become much more fluid due to the introduction of traversal abilities, such as a grappling hook and the ability to double jump and glide, making combat akin to 2020’s Doom Eternal. 

Minor additions and tweaks also give players better options in terms of their builds, such as the inclusion of a healing ability known as a Repkits, alongside making heavy weapons like rocket launchers and miniguns operate the same way as grenades, freeing up an additional weapon slot in the process.

Not seen in the previous preview however, were the two remaining Vault Hunters, Harlowe and Amon, with the latter being the choice character for our playthrough. Harlowe excels in controlling the battlefield and crowd control, able to damage or disable multiple enemies at once using her gravity-based skills, with each skill inflicting the “entangled” effect on foes. Once entangled, she can then use her character trait effectively, which shares a portion of gun damage or skill damage with all other entangled enemies.

Amon, on the other hand, uses summoned weaponry to overwhelm foes, choosing between a shield which can absorb and reflect damage back, a flaming fist that can close the gap, or a personal favourite, twin axes that can prime enemies to be detonated using his character trait, Forgeskill, which grants Amon an additional ultimate action skill unique to each of his three skill trees. Amon’s playstyle will feel instantly familiar to fans of the Mass Effect franchise, with players timing their skills to prime and detonate foes for maximum damage output.

As for the series’ bread and butter –  guns, and a massive arsenal of them – Borderlands 4 holds nothing back and provides some of the most diverse weaponry seen in the franchise to date. Apart from its two new gun manufacturer additions, the Order and Ripper, which both operate on a charging system, the former to fire multiple shots at once and the latter to shoot rounds like a minigun at high firing rates, the game also features guns with parts from multiple manufacturers, meaning a Jakobs rifle can now have a shotgun underbarrel, or an Order assault rifle, which usually fires in semi-auto, can now be equiped with a Ripper magazine, meaning it now charges up to fire rounds in full auto, dealing devastating damage.

With each gun now possessing up to three separate traits, the combinations are virtually endless, making players rethink how they see traditional firearm archetypes, and keeping the shooting experience fresh throughout dozens of hours of non-stop firefights. And this explains the billions of guns that the game has been touting since it was announced. 

If there was one major critique about combat, it’s with regard to the game’s bland enemy design. On the positive side, the Rippers make a return, and these psychotic freaks are always a joy to deal with, possessing all sorts of mechanical augments that make them as impressive to look at as they are to dispatch. It’s the game’s other main faction, the Timekeeper’s Synth army, that can be downright boring to deal with.

This is largely due to their design philosophy, which seems to be in direct contrast to the Rippers for thematic reasons. Unlike the unpredictable nature of the Rippers, the Synths are basically a mass-produced robot army that share the same uniform look, as skinny, uninspired gold humanoids lacking any personality whatsoever. Of course, there are bulkier variants, some that crawl on all fours or hover in the air, but dealing with the Synths never feels exciting. To make matters worse, this will be the primary faction players will have to contend with, and fighting the same robots over and over again gets tiring, fast.

Shooting samey foes in Borderlands 4 might get old over time, but at least the game constantly keeps things intense by ramping up the difficulty, especially when it comes to its Badasses – amped up enemy variants that can possess unique and powerful skills. Every encounter with a Badass is always challenging, as, unlike the previous game, they now actually pose a substantial threat and force players to handle them strategically. Weapons drops have also seen some tweaks, meaning Legendary items are actually much more of a rarity, with players easily going 10 or more hours without seeing a single Legendary drop, so stumbling upon one is now a much more rewarding experience.

When it comes to the locales where players will be doing all their shooting, Borderlands 4 might not provide the biggest map in the series, but it does offer one of its most dense and activity-packed. The main playable area of Kairos is split into three zones – the grassy plains of The Fadefields in the South, the barren deserts of Carcadia Burn to the Northwest, and the icy mountains of Terminus Range in the Northeast, and at the map’s centre lies Dominion, and a player’s ultimate goal.

Visually, Borderlands 4 retains the franchise’s cell-shaded comic-book-style aesthetic, with perhaps the biggest graphical upgrade stemming from massively improved lighting, shading and particle effects. Environmental effects such as God rays and light shafts are a standout here, although the game does showcase some impressive texture work, particularly when it comes to its guns, with some intricately rendered minute details, such as a serial number etched on the side of a Jakobs rifle.

It’s a shame then that the experience is bogged down by unstable frame pacing and massive traversal stutters when travelling from point to point, even on a beefy RTX 4090 gaming rig. As is the case with all early review copies, these performance issues may eventually be patched out upon release, but it’s still a pertinent point to bring up, especially for those prone to motion sickness.

In almost every aspect, Borderlands 4 is a massive step up compared to its predecessor, and marks the tale of redemption that so many fans are hoping for. This isn’t a flawless journey by any means, as it still has a long way to go before it can reach the heights of Borderlands 2, but for now, this is certainly a step in the right direction.

Kevin Low

Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.