Borderlands 4 review: Rewarding RPG shooter reminds us why we loved the originals

Make no mistake: Borderlands is absolutely massive. At nearly 100 million sales, the series is one of publisher Take-Two’s biggest and a genuine mainstream hit. Tiny Tina, the Psycho mask, and Claptrap are all part of the gaming furniture and even inspired a recent (though terrible) Hollywood movie.

Which is why it’s so strange that, since Borderlands 2, pretty much every release in the series has been met with broad apathy from my own gaming circle, the biggest stumbling block being the series’ odd tone and inconsistent sense of humour.

You’ll never hear me argue that the Borderlands franchise’s shooting isn’t fun: It’s been fun since the very start. But in a world where making funny games is extremely difficult, and making a funny game, built on reference humour, on the timescale of current AAA games is impossible, Borderlands faced an uphill battle.

Watch our Borderlands 4 review video…

Borderlands 3 was the nadir of this. While, as usual, the game played perfectly well, it was, to use that utterly overused word, cringe. That goes some way to explaining how many felt after the announcement of Borderlands 4. But now that I’ve played over 50 hours of the game, I’m happy to say that Gearbox learned that lesson, too.

By doubling down on gunplay and smart RPG systems, Borderlands 4 is the best entry in the series since Borderlands 2. While the characters fall somewhat flat, the game’s tone is dialed back, the writing is sharper, which leaves it feeling like the sequel to Borderlands 2 we’ve wanted for a decade.

Borderlands 4 takes place on Kairos, which is under threat by this game’s big bad, The Timekeeper. As one of four Vault Hunters, you’re tasked with blowing his head off, and collecting everything shiny you come across. While the game will feel familiar to those who’ve dabbled in the series before, the biggest departures come in both movement and the world itself.

The thrust of the game sees the player chase down a boss in each of the game’s regions, on the way to defeating The Timekeeper. The missions themselves are well designed, even if the game’s final third runs into some serious pacing issues, meaning the end slowly unwinds rather than concludes with the same energy and bombast of the rest of the story.

Borderlands 4 features an entirely seamless open world, as opposed to the segmented, semi-open design of the previous games. This makes the world feel far more interconnected, and incentivises exploration. The downside to this is that we didn’t feel like many of the locations were all too memorable. There’s nowhere in Borderlands 4 as memorable as Sanctuary from Borderlands 2, for example.

“While the game will feel familiar to those who’ve dabbled in the series before, the biggest departures come in both movement and the world itself.”

Interior locations like vaults, boss arenas, and inside of certain buildings are all highly detailed and well-designed. Though you generally only notice this after a fight when you’re picking through loot, as the gunplay and number of enemies are so hectic, it’s pretty difficult to pay attention to the wallpaper.

Player movement is the game’s other biggest change, though it does feel a bit undercooked. This time, the player has a grappling hook that can be used on specific in-world grapple points.

When it was first introduced, we’d hoped the grapple would add another dimension to gameplay, perhaps by allowing us to grapple enemies towards us, or use it in a more free-form manner to get around; however, in practice, it’s virtually on rails. It feels born of a need to do something to differentiate the movement in this game, but it ends being clumsy and forgotten about. The enhanced jump, and the ability to glide, are a much more tangible, impactful difference.

What remains from previous games in the series is the fantastic gunplay. It is difficult to put into words how satisfying it is to hit headshot after headshot in his game. Enemies explode like bin bags full of mince that have been hit by a truck. It’s this gunplay that kept us engaged with the post-game long after the credits rolled.

New additions to the weapon system add to this. Now, most weapons have alternate fire modes that range from sniper rifles that can fire all of their bullets at once like a shotgun, or SMGs that fire grenades. Even within that system, there’s further depth that goes as granular as the weapon manufacturers themselves. While these manufacturers have been a part of the series from the beginning, they were largely set dressing to give you an at-a-glance view at what type of weapon you had found.

Now, shots from weapons with Jakobs parts can ricochet off enemies, meaning, if you find the same style of sniper rifle we did, one critical headshot from an enemy can cause a chain of heads to explode in unison. Extrapolate those benefits out across all the different in-game brands, and add them to the already ridiculous number of gun variations in the game, and you can see why we’ve been so enthralled by the simple act of shooting in Borderlands 4.

“It is difficult to put into words how satisfying it is to hit headshot after headshot in his game. Enemies explode like bin bags full of mince that have been hit by a truck.”

Another significant change from the previous games is a reduction in the frequency of high-tier loot dropping early in the game. Loot-based RPGs always struggle with when the right time is to give the player their first piece of legendary loot.

We’re of the opinion that legendary loot only remains special if it’s hard to get, or it’s incredibly rare. Borderlands 4 follows that. If you want a legendary drop early, you can follow a difficult side quest, or you can wait until you face one of the game’s major bosses. Even in the post-game we’ve yet to fully kit out our Vault Hunter with legendary gear.

Finally, much of the talk before Borderlands 4 was released centered around the sense of humor. While humor is obviously subjective, and there’s clearly an audience for the type of skin-crawling cringe that was rife in the third game, Borderlands 4 is much more subdued.

There’s still reference humor and some lines that will make players roll their eyes, but the cheap Rick and Morty tribute has thankfully ended. Even the love-or-hate-him mascot Claptrap has a hugely reduced roll, and Tiny Tina, the poster child for the humor bypass of the third game, is absent.

Borderlands 4 feels like the sequel to Borderlands 2. It’s full of great gunplay, with an infinite list of interesting guns, there are a ridiculous number of missions, and it won’t make you cringe your skin off. Borderlands feels like a franchise that could have easily gone away following the reception to the third, but thankfully, 4 is a strong platform to build on.