Borderlands 4

Last updated

Borderlands 4
Borderlands 4 cover art.jpg
Cover art featuring a Psycho Bandit
Developer(s) Gearbox Software
Publisher(s) 2K
Director(s) Graeme Timmins
Artist(s) Adam May
Writer(s) Sam Winkler
Composer(s) Finishing Move Inc.
Series Borderlands
Engine Unreal Engine 5 [1]
Platform(s)
Release
  • PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S
  • September 12, 2025
  • Nintendo Switch 2
  • October 3, 2025
Genre(s) First-person shooter, action role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Borderlands 4 is a 2025 action role-playing first-person looter shooter game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K. It is a sequel to Borderlands 3 (2019) and the fifth mainline entry in the Borderlands series. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on September 12, 2025 to generally favorable reviews from critics. The game is scheduled to release for Nintendo Switch 2 on October 3, 2025.

Contents

Gameplay

As with its predecessors, Borderlands 4 is a first-person looter shooter with elements commonly found in action role-playing games. Gearbox described the game's world as "seamless", and there will not be any loading screens as players explore new areas. New vehicles and traversal tools, such as a grappling hook, are introduced in Borderlands 4. [2] The game can be played solo or cooperatively with three other players. [3]

Synopsis

Premise and characters

Pandora's moon Elpis, after being teleported away by Lilith using her Siren powers, [a] destroyed the protective barrier of a planet named Kairos. [4] In Borderlands 4, players assume the role of a Vault Hunter who must lead the resistance against a ruthless dictator named the Timekeeper and his army of synthetic followers, while searching for "secret alien treasures". [5] [6] [7]

Among the Vault Hunters that arrive on Kairos are Rafa the Exo-Soldier, Harlowe the Gravitar, Amon the Forgeknight, and Vex the Siren. Returning NPCs include Miss Mad Moxxi and Marcus Kincaid, and previously playable Vault Hunters Zane, Claptrap, and the Sirens Lilith and Amara.

Plot

Six years after the Moonfall incident, when Elpis appeared over Kairos due to Lilith, which revealed the planet's location, a new generation of Vault Hunters arrives on the planet to find its Vault, which is protected by the planet's dictator, the Timekeeper, and his Order forces. The Timekeeper quickly captures the Vault Hunters and forcibly implants bolt control devices into them before they are rescued by Arjay of the Crimson Resistance, a group rebelling against the Timekeeper's rule. When the Timekeeper attempts to seize control of the Vault Hunters, Arjay sacrifices himself by jamming the Timekeeper's control, but leaves his own bolt vulnerable. The Timekeeper forces Arjay to kill himself while the Vault Hunters make their escape to the headquarters of the Crimson Resistance, where they find its leader and sole survivor, Claptrap.

Claptrap recruits the Vault Hunters into the Crimson Resistance (a new form of the Crimson Raiders), and tasks them with gathering additional allies from all around Kairos so they can strike back against the Timekeeper. They first manage to recruit Rush and his Outbounders, a group of offworld travelers who were stranded on Kairos, and Zadra, a former Order scientist who defects to the Crimson Resistance. Zadra explains that the Timekeeper has sealed himself away at the Vault, and the only way to access it is to acquire the command bolts of his three top lieutenants: Idolator Sol, Vile Lictor, and Callis. The Vault Hunters assist the Outbounders in eliminating Idolator Sol, who was developing a bioweapon to wipe them out. They then collect Idolator Sol's command bolt while earning the loyalty of the Outbounders.

The Vault Hunters then go to assist the Electi, a group of Order nobles led by Levaine who were left to fend for themselves against the Rippers, a bandit army led by Callis, who betrayed the Timekeeper by ripping out her own bolt and driving herself insane. The Vault Hunters make a deal with Levaine to fight the Rippers and eliminate Callis in return for her bolt. Short on manpower and resources, Levaine is also forced to join forces with her ex-lover and Vault Hunter Zane, who crash landed on Kairos with Moxxi and the Crimson Raiders. They are able to break the Rippers' siege, but not before Callis is able steal her bolt back. Working together, the Vault Hunters and Zane pursue Callis, who they discover is using her bolt to try and reach Elpis to pursue her belief that she can ascend to godhood there. The Vault Hunters eliminate Callis and collect her bolt, which earns the loyalty of Levaine and the Electi to the Crimson Resistance.

When the Vault Hunters decide to pursue Vile Lictor, Zadra instructs them to find Defiant Calder, who leads a rebel faction of the local Augers. Defiant Calder instructs the Vault Hunters to recover an Eridian relic sacred to the Augers. Upon obtaining the relic, the Vault Hunters hear a mysterious voice instructing them to "search for the Siren", and that "Eridium is the key". Defiant Calder directs the Vault Hunters to a Siren who has recently visited them, the Vault Hunter Amara. She explains that she arrived on Kairos with the Crimson Raiders to search for the missing Lilith. They raid one of Vile Lictor's labs under the belief that he is keeping Lilith as a test subject for his research into Sirens and the Phase Dimension (the source of Siren powers), but the test subject flees. As reality begins to break down from Vile Lictor's experiments, the Vault Hunters and Augers assault his fortress and eliminate him. The Vault Hunters encounter the test subject again, who reveals himself to be Arjay, who was subjected to torture and experimentation to become an artificial Siren. However, the experimentation has left his mind unstable, and he plans on trapping Lilith in the Phase Dimension forever as his revenge against her for her actions bringing Elpis which lead to his torture before making his escape. With Vile Lictor dead, the Auger clans reunite and pledge their loyalty to the Crimson Resistance.

With all three command bolts in her possession, Zadra reprograms them to gain access to the Vault, but she points out they still need to get inside the Timekeeper's capital of Dominion City to reach the Vault. Amara suggests finding Lilith, who is trapped in the Phase, to aid them with the only known Phase portal being in the remains of Elpis. The Vault Hunters, Amara, and Zane take the space elevator Callis built, fighting off a hostile Arjay on the way. They are also followed by Callis, who was kept alive due to her cybernetic enhancements. Amara uses Elpis' core to open a Phase portal which the Vault Hunters use to retrieve Lilith, and they subsequently kill Callis again, who is furious Lilith is Kairos' prophesized savior instead of her. Lilith teleports the group back to Kairos' surface, while a falling piece of Elpis breaks open a breach in walls of Dominion City. However, the Timekeeper lures the Vault Hunters into a trap and mind controls them into killing Zadra before they break his control. Angered, the Vault Hunters continue their assault and confront the Timekeeper, who reveals his true nature as a Vault Guardian. The Vault Hunters manage to kill the Timekeeper and dismantle his Order, freeing the people Kairos and ending its isolation from the rest of the universe.

The Vault Hunters then proceed to open the Kairos Vault, but are interrupted by Arjay, who is determined to fight them to the death. The Vault Hunters are forced to kill Arjay and end his suffering. Lilith then arrives and leads them into the Vault, where they find it contains a future version of Lilith who warns them about the impending end of the universe. The future Lilith gifts the Vault Hunters a mysterious cube, which she explains will hopefully be the key for them to survive what's to come before disappearing. Lilith then takes the Vault Hunters back to Moxxi's bar, which will serve as the new base for the Crimson Raiders and she instructs the Vault Hunters to continue dealing with the threats that remain on Kairos.

Development and release

Developer Gearbox Software began working on the game prior to the release of Borderlands 3 (2019). Gearbox described Kairos as a "seamless" playable space, in which players can explore various locations of interest without being interrupted by any loading screen. While the team avoided using the term "open world", Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford claimed that Borderlands 4 was "the most open and free" game in the franchise, contrasting Borderlands 3's planet-hopping structure, which resulted in a more "compartmentalized" design. [2] As with its predecessors, Borderlands 4 was envisioned to be a humorous game, though the team wanted to ensure that the humor derived from emergent gameplay, in which the playable Vault Hunters will react to actions performed by players. [8] As Borderlands 4 was set in a new planet, the game features an all-new cast. It also offered an opportunity for the art team to create landscape distinct from those on Pandora, with art director Adam May describing Kairos as a "high-tech but lo-fi" setting. [4]

Take-Two Interactive, following its acquisition of Gearbox from Embracer Group in March 2024, confirmed that a new title in the Borderlands series was in development. [9] Publisher 2K officially revealed the title in August 2024, [10] and released its first gameplay footage at The Game Awards 2024. The game was originally scheduled to release for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on September 23, 2025. [11] [12] On April 29, 2025, citing progress on the game, Pitchford announced that Borderlands 4 would now release ahead of schedule on September 12. [13] The game is set to release on Nintendo Switch 2 on October 3, 2025. [14] [15]

Reception

Borderlands 4 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. [16] [17] However, the game received criticism for its performance and optimization issues. [29] [30] [31]

Scott Duwe on Destructoid called the game "A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage. Borderlands 4 is easily the best in the series when it comes to gameplay-feel and fun factor, and the best overall game in the franchise since Borderlands 2, but some performance issues on PC are cause for concern." [18] The pro and cons of Jesse Lennox's review on Digital Trends praised the game's more balanced tone but added that the humor still misses quite a bit in their criticism. [19] Brian Shea's conclusion on Game Informer was "Though many of the series’ core elements remain intact, Gearbox has refined and reconfigured them in such ways that Borderlands 4 rises beyond anything the series has accomplished to this point, making for a chaotic looter-shooter worthy of the series’ sterling early-2010s reputation." [20] Jordan Ramée from GameSpot praised the game's starting lineup of playable Vault Hunters and the rewarding efforts in chasing loot and crafting new builds while criticising it for uninteresting main characters, dull optional side quests and repetitive enemy designs. [21] A staggering amount of guns to choose from and beautiful art direction but a dull story and antagonist were the pros and cons of Andrew Brown from GamesRadar. [22] Kevin Dunsmore's Hardcore Gamer review praised its treasure trove of solid side content with excellent level and boss design however criticised its heavily weakened second act and performance issues. [23] "Borderlands 4 gives the series the massive kick in the pants it has needed, with a fantastic open world and greatly improved combat, even if bugs and invisible walls can sometimes throw off that groove." was the review sum up of IGN's Travis Northup. [24] Harvey Randall's conclusion on PC Gamer was "Even a terrible UI and choppy performance didn't spoil several dozen hours of numbers-go-up bliss." [25] Sam Chandler of Shacknews praised the game for its serious campaign and funny side quests but also criticised it for the crashes and performance issues. [26] Steve Boxer from The Guardian said "Familiar and predictable, but also well-honed and significantly less juvenile, the fourth Borderlands game is a blast." [27] Jordan Middler's verdict on Video Game Chronicle praised the rewarding loot and huge number of missions that didn't feel like busy work but criticised the forgettable characters and bland main narrative. [28]

Sales

Pitchford expected that the release of Borderlands 4 will push the franchise's total sales past 100 million units. [32] Its release marked the biggest launch for a Borderlands game on Steam. [33]

Notes

  1. ↑ As seen in Borderlands 3

References

  1. ↑ Fischer, Tyler (December 21, 2024). "Borderlands 4 Confirms Popular Feature Introduced in Borderlands 3". ComicBook.com . Retrieved December 23, 2024.
  2. 1 2 Ramée, Jordan (December 12, 2024). "Borderlands 4's Seamless World And Movement Mechanics Will "Make It Hard For Players To Go Back"". GameSpot . Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  3. ↑ Kennedy, Victoria (December 13, 2024). "Here's our first look at Borderlands 4, featuring a brand-new planet and four new Vault Hunters". Eurogamer . Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  4. 1 2 Wilde, Thomas (September 6, 2024). "Borderlands 4 leads discuss 'making the best Borderlands game to-date'". Epic Games Store . Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  5. ↑ Webster, Andrew (December 13, 2024). "Borderlands 4's first trailer is all out war". The Verge . Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  6. ↑ Williams, Deni (December 14, 2024). "Borderlands 4 has been revealed and, yeah, it looks very Borderlands to us". TechRadar . Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  7. ↑ Hore, Jamie (August 20, 2024). "Borderlands 4 is real, and it's going to drop in 2025". PCGamesN . Retrieved December 16, 2024.
  8. ↑ Wilde, Tyler (August 31, 2024). "Gearbox says Borderlands 4's humor will be grounded in its world: 'We want to make sure that it's situational, that it emerges naturally'". PC Gamer . Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  9. ↑ Valentine, Rebekah (March 29, 2024). "Take-Two Buys Gearbox From Embracer, Confirms Development on New Borderlands Game". IGN . Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  10. ↑ Peters, Jay (August 21, 2024). "Borderlands 4 is launching in 2025". The Verge . Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  11. ↑ Maas, Jennifer (December 12, 2024). "'Borderlands 4' Trailer Teases New Storyline for Gearbox Franchise". Variety . Retrieved December 14, 2024.
  12. ↑ Romano, Sal (February 12, 2025). "Borderlands 4 launches September 23". Gematsu. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
  13. ↑ Lewis, Catherine (April 29, 2025). "Borderlands 4 is releasing over a week earlier than expected because 'the game is awesome, the team is cooking,' and its own dedicated State of Play is coming up 'imminently'". GamesRadar+ . Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  14. ↑ Shutler, Ali (June 17, 2025). "Switch 2 owners will have to wait to play 'Borderlands 4'". NME . Retrieved June 22, 2025.
  15. ↑ Brian (July 22, 2025). "Borderlands 4 reveals Nintendo Switch 2 release date". Nintendo Everything. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
  16. 1 2 "Borderlands 4 for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  17. 1 2 "Borderlands 4 for PlayStation 5 Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  18. 1 2 Duwe, Scott (September 11, 2025). "Borderlands 4 review – The looter shooter crown has been reclaimed". Destructoid . Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  19. 1 2 Lennox, Jesse (September 11, 2025). "Borderlands 4 review: refining the looter shooter identity". Digital Trends . Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  20. 1 2 Shea, Brian (September 11, 2025). "Borderlands 4 Review - Cathartic Chaos". Game Informer . Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  21. 1 2 Ramée, Jordan (September 11, 2025). "Borderlands 4 Review - Too Much Of An Overcorrection". GameSpot . Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  22. 1 2 Brown, Andrew (September 11, 2025). "Borderlands 4 review: "Undeniably an excellent looter shooter, but one that requires a bit of tunnel vision to fully enjoy"". GamesRadar . Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  23. 1 2 Dunsmore, Kevin (September 11, 2025). "Review: Borderlands 4". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  24. 1 2 Northup, Travis (September 11, 2025). "Borderlands 4 Review". IGN . Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  25. 1 2 Randall, Harvey (September 18, 2025). "Borderlands 4 review". PC Gamer . Retrieved September 18, 2025.
  26. 1 2 Chandler, Sam (September 11, 2025). "Borderlands 4 review: Taste of chaos". Shacknews . Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  27. 1 2 Boxer, Steve (September 17, 2025). "Borderlands 4 review – the chaotic, colourful shooter has finally grown up a little". The Guardian . Retrieved September 17, 2025.
  28. 1 2 Middler, Jordan (September 11, 2025). "Borderlands 4 review: Rewarding RPG shooter reminds us why we loved the originals". Video Games Chronicle . Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  29. ↑ Walton, Steve (September 15, 2025). "Borderlands 4 GPU Benchmark". TechSpot. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  30. ↑ Evanson, Nick (September 11, 2025). "I've tested Borderlands 4 on a minimum spec PC and a monster RTX 5090 rig, and it runs just as 'Borderlands-at-launch' as you'd expect". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  31. ↑ Williams, Isaiah (September 15, 2025). "Borderlands 4 maker says your old PC hardware is to blame for the game's poor performance – even though it struggles to run on an RTX 5090". TechRadar. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  32. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (August 22, 2025). "Borderlands 4 Will Push Franchise Beyond 100 Million Sales, Gearbox CEO Says". GameSpot . Retrieved September 12, 2025.
  33. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (September 12, 2025). "Borderlands 4 Is the Biggest Borderlands Ever on Steam Just an Hour After Launch". IGN . Retrieved September 12, 2025.
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