The series that popularized the term “looter shooter” is back for another highly anticipated installment. In almost every measure, Borderlands 4 is a bigger, bolder, and more ambitious game compared to past entries. But that change comes with its own set of growing pains, particularly in the performance department. Now that I have established a few things, let’s get started with this review.
Borderlands 4 is the latest mainline installment in the long-running looter shooter series. The game takes place roughly 6 years after the events of the third game. During which, the prison planet Kairos suddenly appeared in a seemingly unassuming empty patch of space. Players take control of one of four self-proclaimed Vault Hunters who, after crash-landing on the planet, were taken prisoner by the entity known as the Timekeeper. After a harrowing escape, the hunters managed to link up with Claptrap to form the Crimson Resistance. Together, they hope to rally the scattered resistance factions to take down the Timekeeper and finally bring freedom to Kairos.
The map of Kairos is vast and varied. As of the launch of the game, there are four unique biomes, each with its signature look: The Fadefields features lush forests and farmlands, the Terminus Range is an icy retreat perfect for those who wish to isolate themselves, and Carcadia Burn is basically Mad Max with pointy cliffs. When you’ve completed all three questlines in each respective biome, that’s when you get access to Dominion. Here, tight alleyways and deserted streets dictate the flow of combat.
Moving around the new open world is a joy in and of itself. The map is full of points of interest to visit and collectibles to find. Occasionally, you’ll come across world events such as faction fights and world boss bubbles. These little things, along with the settlements, make the world feel a little more alive. And to help you reach distant points quickly, you’ll have access to a Digirunner. (In Destiny 2 terms, a Sparrow.) Don’t worry about loading screens and such; the map is almost seamless between zones. You may run into a slight frame drop between biomes, but it’s a lot better than waiting for a new level to load.
As much as I love the new map, navigating it takes some getting used to. The open world isn’t exactly as free as I would have liked. There are many invisible walls in areas you’d think you can traverse. It’s like the game only wants you to go to a place following a certain path. I understand if it’s connected to a mission. But it’s a large hill in the middle of nowhere. I’m just trying to get to the top of it, and there are invisible walls all around. It’s rather annoying.
Apart from the world events, there are dungeons called Vaults that can be opened. To open a Vault, you’ll need to find and activate silos. These silos will mark the general location where a Vault fragment can be found. Find all three fragments, and the map will point to the general location of a Vault. The Vault is essentially a gauntlet of enemies followed by a boss fight. There are some lore implications attached, but what I’m really after is the boss fight. The loot comes second, for now. I’ll circle back to this later when I talk about boss fights.
Combat in Borderlands 4 is fast and mobile. Unlike previous games, every character has access to a glide, dash, grapple, and wall climb ability on top of a double jump. There is such a greater emphasis on mobility that entire fight layouts have dedicated grapple points to keep the flow going. This is probably going to be very important, especially in the endgame, where every mistake is a costly one.
The four new Vault Hunters bring something unique to a team’s composition. Rafa is DPS incarnate, Vex the Siren can change her elemental type to complement the element of her weapon, Amon is the designated frontliner of the group, and Harlowe uses her science know-how to knock smaller enemies into one another. Each character plays uniquely enough that you don’t really feel like there’s much overlap.
In case you’re wondering, yes, multiplayer is as seamless as the open world, allowing players to drop and add to the chaos without much issue. In a first for the series, each player will be able to decide the difficulty of their own experience without greatly affecting the host’s experience. I know that there will be some difference in damage numbers and the like, but I haven’t gone too deep to notice anything that seriously alters game balance.
Guns are the beating heart of this game, and I can confidently say that each of the game’s manufacturers is viable under the right setup. At first, I wasn’t too keen on Daedalus weapons. I thought of Widowmaker’s sniper/SMG and nothing more. But once licenses became a thing, my vision widened. It’s still quite bland for most builds, but you haven’t lived until you have shotguns that fire sticky bomb AR rounds. Truly, chaos is the order of the day, and I’m for it.
For this playthrough, I ultimately settled on a precision build utilizing mostly Jakob weapons with Torque sticky bomb parts. The idea is simple and effective. Go for crit shots for that ricochet bounce with sticky bombs. It’s become my go-to for crowd control. Throw in a rocket launcher ordinance, and I have something that’s carried me all the way to the end of the campaign. And that’s where I left things off until the release of the game.
The thing I am most looking forward to is Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. It’s a post-campaign game mode you’ll unlock at around level 30-35. In this mode, you have the entire open world as your sandbox. There are 5 difficulty levels wherein you gradually increase the difficulty after completing a Wild Card mission. Here, your build is put to the test. Don’t worry, though, if you are unable to take up the challenge just yet, know that you can always farm boss encounters via Moxxi’s Big Encore Machine. It essentially allows you to respawn a boss without going through the hassle of multiple instances.
Speaking of bosses, they are very much like dungeon bosses in Destiny 2. There are a few mechanics you need to be familiar with to be effective against the boss. This usually involves using the grapple to hook onto something during a particular phase. Trust me, if you love D2 dungeon fights, then you’ll love the boss fights in Borderlands 4. Here’s a hint: if you see Vile Lictor putting up his arms and dropping an energy ball, that’s your cue to look for a nearby grapple point.
For intents and purposes, the writing for Borderlands 4 has taken a dramatic shift compared to Borderlands 3. There seems to be some actual steaks this time around, so the tone is a little more serious. It’s not Marvel Cinematic Universe levels of joking around, but there is a generous sprinkling of humor, especially during the side missions. Hey, I’m just grateful that we’ve moved away from the cringe influencer humor. Furthermore, for all those wondering, the inclusion of past characters is integral to the game’s story. The characters didn’t have a short cameo and flat-out died without so much as any fanfare. They actually grow as characters as the story progresses.
Now, I’m not the biggest fan of the base story. For me, it’s a solid good vs evil story where evil seems to have the upper hand in all turns, until they don’t. There’s also this whole storyline about free will and the Timekeeper being 5 steps ahead – you know, megalomaniac stuff. It’s definitely not the worst thing we’ve ever had. (Goodness knows we’ve had worse.) He’s no Handsome Jack, is all I’m saying. Jack set the bar so high for Borderlands villains that it’ll take more to knock him off.
And finally, here’s the thing everyone’s keen on finding out: “how does it run?”. Frankly, the game crashed on me at least twice per session. It’s always something with these Unreal Engine 5 games that we simply haven’t figured out yet. I’m hoping that they fix it ASAP. I don’t want it to end up like Monster Hunter: Wilds, if it can be helped. I want the devs to focus on creating new content faster rather than fixing whatever leaky holes that spring up that week. Otherwise, the game looks absolutely amazing in all of its cell-shaded glory. The small bugs, like character pathing and objectives not appearing, I wouldn’t worry about them too much. I usually just go back to the main menu and load back in.
The sounds and background music are amazing. I love listening to rock music BGM whenever you go into combat in Carcadia Burn. I think that’s where I spent the most time roaming around outside of the Fadefields.
Borderlands 4 proves that you can aim for higher without casting aside everything your franchise is known for. Truly, this game contains all the cheek and wit the series is known for while introducing changes to practically every aspect of gameplay. The groundwork is set for a game that could sustain itself long term through DLC and story expansions. But there needs to be some semblance of stability ASAP. Truly, I want this game to succeed. Very few games scratch that looter shooter itch the way Borderlands does, and that’s coming from a guy who farmed Destiny 2 god rolls for the longest time. If you were a fan of the first two Borderlands games, you have good reason to return. For everyone else, this could be a good starting point if you’re looking to get into Borderlands games. And that’s about it. 40 hours in and I’m not close to doing all the activities. Good luck to us, Vault Hunters.
This review is based on a PC review code provided by the developer/publisher
Borderlands 4 (PC)
Borderlands 4 proves that you can aim for higher without casting aside everything your franchise is known for.
The Good
- Everything you've come to expect from a classic Borderlands game
- Insane build variety
- A sizeable open world
- Learned from the mistakes of past games
The Bad
- Persistent performance issues
- A handful of small bugs & glitches
- A mostly ok story
- Invisible walls in the open world
