Borderlands 4

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Borderlands 4 doesn’t reinvent the Vault—it just rebuilds it stronger. The writing occasionally misfires, and the performance hitches are unacceptable in a AAA series like this. Still, the moment-to-moment thrill of firing absurdly designed weapons at even more absurd enemies carries the experience. It’s messy, noisy, and entirely too much at times—but that’s Borderlands at its most honest. Gearbox hasn’t made a flawless sequel, but it’s made a hell of a fun one.

Borderlands has become one of 2K’s go to franchises between the mainline entries from Gearbox Software and even the Telltale Games spin-offs. The series may just seem like your typical repetitive looter shooter on the surface, but the charming characters and overall style have been the secret sauce that has kept players coming back for more with each subsequent entry.

Borderlands 4 has been out for a while and I'm glad I gave it a chance after its rocky start on console, especially with how fun it all is.

The worst that can be said is that the story is on the bland side, and the Timekeeper doesn't help. Most gripes with Borderlands 4 are saved by the third act, with many thrilling surprises awaiting fans there. Fun side characters and inside jokes sprinkled into the game show how much passion developers poured into the game to make Borderlands 4 a success. Even with a sea of new game releases, Borderlands 4 should be on every gamer's radar.

Borderlands 4 takes everything that worked about the previous games, removes the majority of the hindrances (cough Claptrap cough), and refines its RPG aspects, all of which make this easily the best Borderlands I’ve ever played. It has its share of issues: not just the tech stuff, but also what sometimes feels like endless travelling and the overabundance of terrible weapons. But what is Borderlands, even a much-improved one, without its billions of garbage guns?

I’ve played most of the Borderlands games, though I wouldn’t necessarily say I’ve always been a massive fan of the games themselves. I just like looting, shooting, and co-op, and these games always have those things. Frankly, even when I was younger, I found the humour to be something to be endured rather than enjoyed, but hey, numbers going up always feels good, and that’s pretty much the whole reason why I was looking forward to Borderlands 4.

There are a few things holding Borderlands 4 back from being a must-play for everyone, but for longtime fans of the series, it ticks all the right boxes and makes shooting enemies to get loot as joyous an experience as it ever has been.

Despite its somewhat underwhelming story and lackluster open world, Borderlands 4 is a fantastic new entry in the series that offers hours of entertainment through its new, refreshing, and engaging gameplay elements.

Any franchise that’s been around for over 15 years and spanned three console generations is going to have its ups, downs, and remasters.

After the boring and buggy Borderlands 3, Gearbox is trying to be serious for the first time. Well, kind of… It’s still Borderlands, the bot is still an irritant, and that ‘lower Claptrap volume‘ setting was put to good use even if they’re not quite as objectionable this time.

Borderlands 4 brings a more sensible script and a true open world to its cel-shaded gun-show. But these moderate improvements are undermined by frustrating exploration and combat that takes too long to properly shine.