A Looter Shooter Comeback With Caveats

It’s been six years for the reason that final mainline Borderlands recreation. (No, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands doesn’t depend.) So much has modified within the final six years, each within the land of video video games and in the actual world. Gamers anticipate much more from co-op shooters. And the folks in cost are power-hungry losers. Borderlands 4 tries to vary with the occasions, with blended outcomes. 

Whereas it’s a rattling high quality shooter, the perfect Gearbox has made, and one which lets the franchise now stand comfortably subsequent to style titans like Future, its makes an attempt to handle life residing underneath a fascist regime don’t work out as nicely. However you’ll in all probability be too busy speaking and joking with your mates to note. 

Borderlands 4, in numerous methods, looks like a comfortable reboot of the collection. The previous video games nonetheless occurred and are referenced in huge and small methods all through the story, however the sequel is ready on the brand new planet of Kairos and options new villains, allies, and issues to kill. And unlike Borderlands 3’s story, which revolved round saving the universe and hopping throughout the galaxy, Borderlands 4 is a smaller, extra contained yarn principally targeted on what occurs when highly effective folks take management and by no means let go. 

A New World To Be Saved

Whereas I received’t spoil any particular particulars on this evaluation, I’ll let you recognize forward of time that in case you are coming to Borderlands 4 to take pleasure in a satisfying story of individuals rising up underneath fascism to defeat evil, you’ll get that—proper up till the tip of the primary marketing campaign. Then it form of falls aside. 

A twist within the recreation’s finale turns its essential villain, the Timekeeper, right into a far much less compelling character. However earlier than that, I actually loved the period of time Gearbox dedicated to displaying how evil the Timekeeper and his cronies are, and the way characters cope with the query of how a lot they’re prepared to sacrifice for freedom. And what occurs when some go too far, or not far sufficient? Don’t anticipate Andor-like depth and writing about genocidal leaders right here. Nonetheless, I used to be pleasantly shocked by how usually I cared about what was taking place to each new and returning characters alike. Gearbox’s writers do a implausible job of actually making you hate the Timekeeper and his numerous underlings. Don’t get too connected to anybody on this story. That’s all I’m saying… 

In fact, in case you play Borderlands 4 with a bunch of your rowdy, foolish buddies, numerous its writing will get buried underneath your friends screaming about loot drops or laughing about inside jokes. If you happen to care in any respect in regards to the story Gearbox is telling right here, do a run via the story by your self and take your time to work together with characters and take heed to audio logs. 

No matter whether or not you play alone or with others, to defeat the Timekeeper and break his ironclad maintain over Karios and its struggling populace, you’ll must kill 1000’s of troopers, aliens, monsters, and robots utilizing among the billions of weapons obtainable to loot in Borderlands 4. 

Killin’ In The Identify…Of Enjoyable

What’s going to maintain me coming again to Borderlands 4 for (seemingly) years is the gunplay and motion. I’ve by no means outright hated the fight in previous Borderlands video games, however that is the primary one the place I believe Gearbox has really nailed it. And never simply because they tossed in additional weapons than ever earlier than. 

Borderlands 4 lets gamers double soar, glide, grapple, and wall climb across the open world of Kairos. This, mixed with weapons that, total, really feel extra distinct and punchier, actually helps elevate Borderlands 4 into the higher echelon of first-person shooters. 

Additional elevating fight in Borderlands 4 are the shooter’s 4 distinct and new playable Vault Hunters. Each shakes up how fight encounters play out because of their completely different powers and talents. Taking part in alongside a strong Rafa, a cybersoldier, will result in fight encounters that really feel very completely different than once you play alone or subsequent to different hunters. 

Actually, you get like 12 characters, as a result of every hunter has three talent bushes that every function mini-skill bushes inside. Maybe you and a pal each play Vex, the brand new Siren character. Properly, you’ll seemingly be very completely different variations of Vex by the point you each attain degree 50, because of all of the completely different talent and talent choices obtainable to every of you. 

As I leveled up, discovered nice weapons I favored, and obtained extra comfy with the brand new motion choices, I’d usually get into circulate states the place I’d misplaced observe of time. I’d find yourself shedding 10 minutes to a random encounter on my approach to a giant quest just because I simply love taking pictures shit on this recreation a lot. 

I did discover, although, that Borderlands 4 has a nasty behavior of throwing a number of too many waves of enemies at you throughout numerous encounters. I’d wipe out the fourth or fifth wave of offended psychos or house buffalo, after which one other wave would arrive. After which one other. It usually felt like an excessive amount of, and made some missions and actions drag on. Nonetheless, I wasn’t too mad as a result of as soon as I’d wiped each enemy out, I used to be left with piles of loot. 

Crappy Inexperienced Pistols For As Far As The Eye Can See

The loot in Borderlands 4, like in previous video games, is the actual secret sauce. It’s what retains you going via a boring mission, or makes it arduous to cease taking part in regardless of feeling drained and needing to go to mattress. That promise that the following gun, protect, or grenade that drops shall be higher than something you’ve. 

Positive, more often than not, what drops is rubbish you received’t use, however because of Borderlands 4’s improved loot management options, amassing and promoting truckloads of horrible rifles and shotguns is simpler than ever. And when that incredible piece of loot does come out of a lifeless enemy or chest with a definite ping noise, it’s the most effective emotions ever. If I might bottle it and promote it, I’d be a really wealthy man. It feels even higher in Borderlands 4 as a result of among the greatest loot, Legendary weapons, are a lot rarer than within the final recreation. 

And since practically the whole lot you do across the open world of Karios rewards you with loot, it may be arduous to not simply preserve taking part in for hours and hours. Kairos is a giant map, chockablock with small actions to finish–like activating a radio tower and defending it from baddies–in addition to larger or sillier facet quests, world bosses, collectibles to search out, secrets and techniques to search out, and random occasions to finish. 

In consequence, the open world of Borderlands 4 is extra lively and alive than in any earlier entry within the franchise, and all of this content material rewards you with extra loot. Thank god you’ll be able to junk most of it in seconds. In any other case, I’d have drowned in all of the inexperienced pistols that the sport dumped on me over my 60 or so hours with it throughout PS5 and PC. 

Loot additionally turns into a forex amongst buddies. Get a cool sniper, however you don’t snipe? Drop it in your good friend. After which, in the event that they discover a badass protect that fits your character construct higher, they’ll share it with you, or you’ll be able to at the very least guilt-trip them into giving it over. And since weapons can spawn with all kinds of untamed further elements that flip SMGs into rocket snipers or no matter, attempting to find loot and sharing it with friends is extra thrilling than ever. 

Properly, assuming you’ll be able to see the weapons you’ve. A nasty bug affected one in every of my buddies and made all his weapons invisible. Which leads me to my largest disappointment with Borderlands 4: the technical issues. 

Excuse Me, There’s Some Bugs In My Looter Shooter

On PlayStation 5 Professional, I routinely needed to restart the sport as a result of efficiency tanking after a few hours of play. I additionally encountered a number of bugged quests that required restarts, too. Over on PC, many players and I have experienced optimization and performance problems. Even on my RTX 5080, which might run the whole lot I throw at it, Borderlands 4 calls for I activate DLSS and body gen whereas additionally turning down visible settings. And regardless of getting the sport to run at a principally steady 120FPS, I nonetheless encounter microstutters. 

On each platforms, I’ve additionally discovered empty merchandising machines, seen characters hovering off the bottom, had animations break, occasions not begin, and encountered audio traces chopping out randomly. 

None of this has fully ruined my enjoyment of Borderlands 4, and I’ve had some periods during which all of it labored fairly flawlessly, minus some hitches or stutters. However it will be irresponsible to not point out these technical flaws and annoyances in a evaluation of Borderlands 4, as they’re simply as a lot part of the sport because the loot, fight, and story. Hopefully, Gearbox can patch the sport over the following few weeks and months to create a greater expertise, and this a part of my evaluation will then develop into a bizarre artifact from the previous. 

Nonetheless, regardless of some annoying bugs and efficiency issues, Borderlands 4, in some ways, is the perfect recreation Gearbox has ever made. 

It takes what the studio has discovered about creating looter shooters and builds upon that in a manner that looks like a giant second for the franchise. A big leap ahead in each gameplay and narrative. I joked with colleagues that critics and gamers would counsel that is the place the collection “finally grew up,” however actually, that’s what it looks like. 

The story isn’t as cringeworthy, with far fewer memes, extra character-driven jokes, and a way that you just may not get out of this journey with all your mates in a single piece. The fight and motion are extra refined and expanded, not feeling like an afterthought as was the case in previous video games. And the world of Kairos is visually diverse and full of good causes to discover it alone or with buddies. 

Bugs, efficiency issues, a less-than-memorable villain, and a grindy endgame are disappointing for positive, however what Gearbox has put collectively continues to be a principally enjoyable, action-packed, and hand-crafted looter shooter that proves as soon as once more that this studio continues to be the perfect at making these sorts of over-the-top FPS RPGs.