One Change to Borderlands 4’s Humor Ensures I am going to Be Enjoying It For Years to Come

Typically, I have been a fairly large fan of Borderlands‘ distinctive model of vibrant humor since I picked up that first entry all the best way again in 2009. Granted, I used to be simply 11 years outdated after I first received my arms on Borderlands, so I used to be certain to search out something with swearing in it humorous. However I’ve revisited that first entry just a few occasions over time and its humor strikes a stronger chord with me each time.

There’s one thing ingenious in the best way Borderlands is ready to juxtapose darkish themes and excessive violence with tongue-in-cheek one-liners and over-the-top characters, and the absurd, distinctive tone it creates has stored me coming again 12 months after 12 months. That stated, loving Borderlands‘ humor is not at all times frictionless, however Borderlands 4 has simply made a giant change to the collection’ comedy that already ensures I will be enjoying it for years to return.

Borderlands 3 Had a Meme Downside

One of many greatest criticisms I, and plenty of followers, had of Borderlands 3 was the way it approached comedy. Primarily, Borderlands 3 dialed the entire collection’ traditional comedic traits as much as 11. Zany characters had been made even zanier. Over-the-top violence was made much more excessive. And virtually each line of dialogue was supposed to be a joke.

I recently replayed Borderlands 3 in preparation for the fourth entry’s launch, and whereas a stunning variety of the jokes did land for me, the overwhelming majority nonetheless did not. And if something, Borderlands 3‘s humor has solely gotten worse with age.

borderlands-3-claptrap-posing — borderlands claptrap arms on facet

A superb portion of the jokes in Borderlands 3‘s main story (the writing is a lot better within the sport’s DLCs in my view) are targeted solely on referencing memes that had been standard through the sport’s improvement. Provided that Borderlands 3 reportedly took round 4 years to develop, and given how briskly the web strikes, many of those references felt dated lengthy earlier than the sport even hit retailer cabinets. Naturally, they’ve aged like milk within the six years since Borderlands 3‘s launch.

Tyreen and Troy Calypso in Borderlands 3

Earlier than launch, Borderlands 4‘s narrative director Sam Winkler and lead author Taylor Clark spoke with IGN concerning the group’s want to maneuver away from the crass and meme-centered humor of Borderlands 3 and ship a extra grounded story that comprises extra of the darkish comedy followers of the primary two Borderlands entries would count on to see. I am about 15 hours into Borderlands 4 and I feel I can safely say that the group has completed simply that.

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I’ve laughed out loud numerous occasions throughout my first Borderlands 4 playthrough, and I’ve rolled my eyes perhaps a couple of times. That is a reasonably wonderful ratio contemplating the place we had been again in 2019. Together with considerably much less meme-related humor, Borderlands 4 does a superb job of juxtaposing its most weird moments with some genuinely tender story beats, which makes its humor resonate even additional.

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Claptrap’s ‘No Place Like Home’ side quest is the right instance of this, with it juxtaposing the erratic persona of Claptrap with a surprisingly emotional story of grief and acceptance to provide moments of humor which are uniquely Borderlands. This confidence in placing its personal distinctive model of humor on the forefront goes to make subsequent playthroughs of Borderlands 4 a lot extra gratifying, as not solely are the jokes much less prone to really feel outdated in only a month or two, however they could even reward me for paying extra consideration to traces of dialogue that originally slipped previous me.