Borderlands 4 Review — Quadruple Badass

My entry into the Borderlands series was Borderlands 2. A holiday gift I never saw coming, I instantly fell in love with the game’s colorful yet absurd and dangerous world, infinite loot mechanics, clean shooting, and cast of hilarious and lovable characters. I’ve played every Borderlands game since, save for the Telltale games, and I’ll never forget the hours I put into the games alone and with friends. That being said, I would be lying if I said I was hyped for the fourth entry in the franchise when it was announced. Borderlands 3 didn’t sit with me as well as the other games, and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands was a total miss, albeit a bold and interesting one. Though I loosely followed the game’s development, this latest entry in the franchise and its new cast of characters failed to win me over in marketing. Regardless, I was given the chance to review the game myself, and without many expectations I went in for yet another Borderlands release.

What I found, to my surprise, was an astonishing title that rekindled my love for the franchise, even if it was a bit rough around the edges.

Borderlands 4 is the latest entry in the franchise, and if it’s your first Borderlands title, you haven’t picked a terrible starting point. The game ditches the familiar yet tired setting of Pandora for the planet Kairos, a world hidden from the rest of the galaxy and ruled by the authoritarian Timekeeper. The story features a brand new cast supported by returning characters, and while it continues from previous events in the franchise, it is written and presented from the perspective of an outsider well enough that brand new players can jump in without worrying about the lore while franchise veterans can appreciate the change of pace and new story set within the game’s universe.

It’s not just the story and setting that are new, however. While every Borderlands title evolves a bit from the last, Borderlands 4 was the first that felt completely fresh to me. The old linear maps of the franchise are exchanged for a large, truly open-world map filled with activities outside of the main story and side quests. The game also uses the new setting to introduce a new kind of aesthetic to the world. While it is still definitely Borderlands, it feels fresh, devoid of scenery we’ve seen before or familiar corporate logos dotting the environment. It truly feels like a unique setting within the Borderlands universe, something I couldn’t really say about all the planets we visited in Borderlands 3. The new open-world format also makes the world feel vast and alive, rather than a series of linear levels connected via loading screens.

The gameplay mechanics are refreshed by combining some updated favorites from previous installments with some new ideas. Movement is king in Borderlands 4, which arms players with grappling, double jumping, gliding, side-dashing, and sliding with very little limitation on how or how often you use these mechanics. The increased range of movement is also baked into the level design, which allows you to grapple-throw objects at enemies and gives you wide open spaces to dash past bullet-hell attacks, or conversely, sticks you in a tiny ring to keep you running, dashing, and sliding from a hard-hitting psycho.

The familiar Borderlands shooting is only made better by improved hit feedback, better gun animations, and, of course, newer and more creative weapons. An active heal on a timer has been introduced so players don’t have to rely as much on RNG heal-hypo drops, and the grenade slot has been expanded with the inclusion of new weapons such as throwing knives or super-heavy ordnance weapons like miniguns.

The most surprising change from Borderlands 3 to Borderlands 4, for me, was the writing.

There is an incredible shift of tone between the two games. Where Borderlands 3 often felt like it couldn’t take itself seriously, throwing joke after joke at the wall and cashing in on meme-y, sarcastic humor, Borderlands 4 takes a step back and allows the weight of its story to settle on the player’s mind. The game’s main antagonist is a force to be reckoned with who also takes himself seriously, never making a fool out of himself or feeling like anything but a heavy, dreadful presence when he shows up, which means a story about stopping him is one you can take seriously.

The Vault Hunters now have even more to say and more agency in the story itself, which is helped by the fact that the game’s characters are also written in a more believable, digestible tone. Gone is the need for every character to be a sarcastic, quip-spitting comedian, finally allowed to be sincere. When comedy is present, it’s usually character-driven or slapstick, with the occasional reference or meme quoted for laughs, but never in a way that takes away from the sincerity or serious tone the game wants to share. A joke is never told at the risk of undercutting tone or tension, and I did get quite a few legitimate laughs from the game.

They even managed to make Claptrap less annoying.

All of this is to say that the game’s writing is great when it’s at its best, and never distractingly bad, insulting to the player, or diminishing of the tone. This isn’t something I can say about Borderlands 3, and is, moreover, the biggest complaint players had about that game.

It is a shame then to admit that one big problem holds Borderlands 4 from being perfect: performance. Look anywhere online and you’ll find players complaining about frame drops on machines that should be able to run the game. I was no stranger to these performance issues myself, and while they weren’t bad enough to irritate me or take away from my experience, I can’t rightfully call a game with so many consistent framerate issues across all platforms perfect, nor would I say you should buy one for $70.

Borderlands 4 has the potential to be one of the greatest, maybe even the greatest entry in the franchise. However, I warn players to keep an eye on the game’s patch notes, waiting for developers to address the current optimization issues and make the game run as it should on the machines that should run it. Then, and only then, would I call Borderlands 4 a perfect 10 and worth the hefty price tag.

Try Hard Guides was provided a Steam code for this PC review of Borderlands 4 . Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Borderlands 4 is available on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Epic Games.